Music Licensing vs Commissions: What Pays More?

If you write music for a living, you have probably asked yourself:

Should I spend more time landing commissions or building a catalogue for licensing and sync?

Both paths can make serious money for freelance composers, producers and songwriters. Both can also pay painfully little if you are in the wrong tier of the market.

The honest answer is not a simple either or. It depends on your stage, catalogue size, niche, and how urgently you need cash flow.

This guide breaks down how each model pays, realistic income ranges, and how to mix the two if you want both stability now and upside later.

First, define the two income streams

What is music licensing?

Music licensing is when you grant permission for an existing track you wrote or own to be used in:

• TV, streaming and film
• Ad campaigns
• Games and apps
• YouTube, branded content and social media
• Corporate, trailers, podcasts and more

Most freelancers mean sync licensing here. You earn:

• An upfront sync fee when the track is licensed
• Backend royalties via performance rights organisations (PROs) when the track is broadcast or streamed in that context

Licensing revenue can come through libraries, publishers, sync agents or direct deals with clients.

What is commission work?

Commission work is custom music written to a brief for a specific client and project, such as:

• Original score for a film, documentary or series
• Music for an indie or AA game
• A bespoke track for advertising or a brand film
• Theme tunes, idents, stings and UX audio

You agree on a fee, deliver the music, hand over some or all rights, and get paid. It is classic freelance work with a clearer scope and deadlines.

On Twine, for example, music composers often bill per minute of finished music, per track, or as a flat project fee, with pricing tiers from hobbyist to top-tier professionals.

How each model actually pays you

Money from music licensing

Licensing is extremely spiky. A single placement can be tiny or life changing.

Recent sync fee ranges for indie artists look roughly like this:

• TV placements: around 500 to 20,000 dollars per use
• Films and trailers: roughly 10,000 to 80,000 dollars per placement at higher levels
• Commercial campaigns: 20,000 to 550,000 dollars plus for major brands
• Video games: often 2,000 to 10,000 dollars per track at bigger budgets

Other sources put the general range for a single sync anywhere from 100 dollars to 50,000 dollars or more, depending on usage, territory, term and media.

Then there is the backend:

• You get paid via your PRO on a quarterly schedule
• There is usually a delay of two or more quarters between broadcast and payment, longer for international plays.
• If a show re-airs globally, those royalties can snowball over the years

A motivated sync-focused composer, with strong relationships and a deep catalogue, can realistically earn in the 25,000 to 100,000 dollars per year range and above, once they reach consistent placements.

However, income is very skewed. A minority of artists earn most of the money, while many see little or nothing from streaming and licensing. Studies of music streaming show that more than 80 percent of professional musicians earned less than 200 pounds from their most played track in a year, which tells you how hard it is for royalties alone to sustain a career.

Licensing is powerful, but it is not evenly generous.

Money from commission work

Commission work looks more like traditional freelance pricing.

The Musicians Union media commission guidelines for the UK suggest approximate per-minute fees such as:

• TV documentary: 34 to 400 pounds per minute, average around 117
• TV drama: 100 to 800 pounds per minute, average around 294
• Feature film: 111 to 1,200 pounds per minute, average of 509
• Advertising: 1,000 to 20,000 pounds per minute, average over 8,000
• Signature tunes and stings: typically four figures per minute

For indie games, online communities and discussions often quote anywhere from 75 to 500 dollars per minute for smaller titles, with higher tiers for larger or AAA games.

On Twine, our own pricing data shows:

• Hobbyist or student composers may start with negotiable or low per-minute fees
• Mid-level professionals charge competitive, sustainable per-minute or project rates
• Top-tier specialists price closer to, or above, Musicians Union averages when dealing with funded productions.

The key point:

Commission work is time for money, but the rates are visible, negotiable and more predictable than licensing.

Short term: Which usually makes more money?

Let us run two simple comparison scenarios for a working freelance composer over 12 months.

Scenario 1: Commission-heavy strategy

You focus mainly on custom work and land:

• 1 mid-sized commission per month, averaging 10 minutes of music
• You charge 250 dollars per minute

Let us calculate:

• 10 minutes × 250 dollars per minute = 2,500 dollars per project
• 12 projects × 2,500 dollars = 30,000 dollars per year

Adjust the rate up or down to match your tier. At 150 dollars per minute, the same volume still brings in 18,000 dollars per year. At 400 dollars per minute, you are at 48,000 dollars.

These numbers are very achievable once you have:

• A solid portfolio
• A pipeline of clients
• Efficient writing and production habits

Platforms like Twine help here because you can continuously pitch for briefs that match your niche instead of waiting for a music supervisor to randomly pick your track from a library.

Scenario 2: Licensing heavy strategy

You spend the year writing library and artist tracks, placing them with a few publishers and libraries.

Real-world data suggests that:

• Some composers with active catalogues and relationships can reach 25,000 to 100,000 dollars per year from sync and publishing, but that usually requires a few hundred high-quality tracks and consistent placements.
• For many independent artists, sync is a supplemental income stream, where placements are occasional and can range from around 100 to 50,000 dollars per use.

So if you are early in your licensing journey and only land, say:

• 3 minor TV placements at 500 dollars each
• 1 mid-tier placement at 5,000 dollars
• Backend royalties of 1,500 dollars across all uses

You are at 8,000 dollars for the year. It is real money, but rarely enough on its own for most freelancers unless you also tour, teach or take commissions.

Short term verdict

For the average freelance music composer or producer, serious about paying their bills:

• Commission work usually wins in the first 1 to 3 years
• It is easier to intentionally generate 2,000 to 4,000 dollars a month in commissions than hope for big syncs with a small catalogue

Licensing shines later, once your catalogue and relationships are mature.

Long term: the compounding power of licensing

Commission work is more predictable, but it has a hard ceiling: your hours.

Licensing has one superpower: A single track can pay you multiple times over many years.

If you:

• Build a catalogue of 200 to 500 strong syncable tracks
• Spread them across multiple reputable libraries and publishers
• Get recurring placements in shows that re-air internationally

Then your income becomes less about your current week of work and more about the compounding effect of your back catalogue.

Industry reports note that royalty and licensing payments are an important additional income stream that helps sustain musicians over time, especially once other income sources fluctuate.

However, you must survive long enough to benefit from that compounding. That is where commission work comes back in.

Risk, control and cash flow compared

Risk profile

• Licensing:
  • High variance, high upside
  • You depend on gatekeepers and curation
  • Many tracks never earn anything
• Commissions:
  • Lower variance, more controllable
  • Clear contract and deliverables
  • Revenue depends on your sales and delivery skills

Time to get paid

• Licensing:
  • You might wait months to get a placement
  • Then wait additional quarters to receive backend royalties
  • Great for future you, not ideal for rent next month
• Commissions:
  • You can negotiate deposits
  • Payment on delivery or milestones
  • Better cash flow alignment with your work

Creative control and rights

• Licensing:
  • Often non exclusive or term limited if you own the master and publishing
  • You keep creative control and can reuse tracks in different contexts
• Commissions:
  • Many jobs require at least partial buyout or exclusivity for the client
  • You might earn more upfront but give away long term rights that could have earned royalties

Understanding these trade offs is essential when you negotiate contracts on or off Twine.

So, which makes more money overall?

If you are looking for a simple one word answer, here is the closest honest version for most freelancers:

Commissions win on predictable yearly income. Licensing wins on long term upside for a minority of composers.

Put another way:

• If you need reliable 2,000 to 5,000 dollars per month, prioritize commissions and treat licensing as a parallel long term asset.
• If you already have a stable client base, savings, or other income, you can afford to invest more heavily in catalogue building and sync relationships.

The sweet spot for many working composers and producers will be a hybrid.

A practical hybrid strategy for freelance composers

Here is a realistic blend you can aim for over the next 12 to 24 months.

1. Anchor your income with commissions

Set a target, for example:

• 2 to 3 paid commissions per month
• 6 to 15 minutes of finished music per project
• A sustainable per minute or project fee for your tier

Use:

• Direct outreach to production companies, game studios and agencies
• Warm referrals from existing clients
• Marketplaces like Twine where clients specifically search for composers, sound designers and producers

This gives you:

• Cash flow
• Real world portfolio pieces
• Long term client relationships

2. Turn every commission into licensing leverage where possible

When contracts allow, think about how each commission can also become catalog:

• Negotiate to keep writer share where feasible
• Create alternate mixes, stems, cutdowns and instrumental versions
• After any exclusivity period ends, rework cues into more generic, licensable tracks

Over time, a year of commissions can quietly seed dozens of tracks that you later place with libraries.

3. Build a deliberate licensing catalogue

Give yourself a specific licensing target, such as:

• Write 4 to 8 library ready tracks per month
• Focus on niches that are consistently in demand
• Maintain high production standards that match current sync trends

Treat it like a second business line:

• Submit to targeted libraries and publishers
• Track which catalogues actually place your music
• Prune underperforming tracks or rework them

The goal is to reach a catalogue size and relationship network where licensing revenue equals a healthy fraction of your commission income, and then potentially overtakes it.

Final takeaway

Music licensing vs commission work is not a binary career choice; it is a portfolio decision.

• Commissions give you predictable, negotiable fees, faster payments and clear deliverables. For most freelance composers, this is where the bulk of income comes from in the early and mid-career stages.
• Licensing gives you long-term, scalable upside, but with more uncertainty and delay. It becomes powerful once you have hundreds of high-quality tracks and strong relationships, not just a handful of songs in a library.

If your goal is to make a living, not just a lucky windfall, build your career around steady commission work and treat licensing as the asset that compounds quietly in the background.

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