Indie publishers win big with Super Bowl syncs

Of the 30 commercials that used music during yesterday’s Super Bowl LI in the US, 26 were sync licenses and four used custom songs. As reported by Billboard, the results represent a sizable contribution from independently published music.

While Kobalt accounted for seven syncs, there were 12 other commercials that acquired music licenses in one-off deals, either from self-published artists or independent companies.

Vampire Weekend, Langhorne Slim and Kid Cudi were among the popular bands who synced music in Super Bowl commercials through independents publishers.

Global syncs is a key market strategy for indie labels as they seek to keep up with the resources and enormity of major labels. The annual Super Bowl event presents a great opportunity for their artists to gain unprecedented exposure by injecting content into a platform that instantaneously reaches millions of people.

According to Nielsen Music, 111.3 million people tuned in to watch Super Bowl LI in the US, keeping a keen eye and ear on the much-anticipated commercials.

Leading the charge with Super Bowl commercial syncs was Sony/ATV with more than 10 sync licenses. Among them was Lady Gaga performing a portion of her hit song A Million Reasons on the harmonica for a Tiffany & Co. commercial, along with lucrative syncs for National Geographic and promos for halftime sponsor Peps.

More importantly perhaps, Gaga’s Super Bowl halftime performance caused an extraordinary spike in album and song sales over the last 24 hours. She sold roughly 150,000 digital albums and songs in the US on February 5. Compared to the sales on the previous day, the pop diva saw a sales increase of 1,000% on the 15,000 digital albums and songs sold on February 4, according to Nielsen.

Kobalt and UMPG (Universal Music Publishing Group) tied with seven Super Bowl commercial syncs a piece, while Warner/Chappell and BMG scored four and three, respectively. The latter featured legendary rock band Chicago’s You’re The Inspiration behind the Super Bowl’s Baby Legends campaign.

The figures do not include promos for movie trailers or TV series and are for consumer products only. When including the film and TV sector, most of the above had at least 2 additional featured songs.