We are opening submissions for our upcoming PTN Live Listening Session, and we pushed it one week to give everyone time to get through the holidays, get back into their flow, and breathe a little before we meet. This session is focused on music for visual media, so please read this before you send anything in. (Submission Info Below) We are looking to listen to cues/tracks that feel purpose-driven, structured, and built with a visual/picture in mind. Think arcs, scenes, Ads, trailers, moments, and pacing. Music that could live under a story. Your cue does not need to be perfect; it just needs intention. If it feels “almost ready” or you want clarity on whether it truly lands for film, TV, trailers, or branded media, this room is for you. Before you submit, ask yourself: • Does this cue move, or can it work in visual media/support Visuals? • Does it have a good structure, or is this something I need help with? • Can you hear it under a scene? • Does it have a Sting? What is a Sting? • Is the mix in a place where someone could judge the idea, or is it even "ready"? If ANY of this FITS, or you can use this help... send it. SUBMIT Via Email HERE - 👉🏼 listenlive@paintthenoise.com-- CUTOFF at 7 pm on TUESDAY - (12/09 ) We will go through the submissions and feature as many cues as we can within the session window. Wednesday night, 12/10, we listen. Bring your best.

Would anyone in the community be interested in doing live music reviews?

Hey composers! I just wondered if you all might drop some tips to getting that first cue placement. I’m really grinding to figure all this stuff out but I was just wondering if anyone here had some good general tips to getting that first big milestone!

This is your space. No filters, no followers, just signal. Drop your weekly check-in below. Share one thing you’re building, wrestling with, or thinking through: - What’s moving right now in your creative world? - Where are you stuck? - What’s one win you had this week (even a small one)? This isn’t for likes. It’s for encouragement, momentum, support, and push! Whether you’re in motion or trying to get there, leave your print here. See you below.

- 📍 1. CONTEXT / INDUSTRY SHIFT TikTok just folded Chordal’s InstantClear licensing tech into its Commercial Music Library (CML). On the surface, that’s another “integration headline.” But the weight is deeper: this marks a decisive turn from licensing as negotiation to licensing as infrastructure. TikTok’s CML already housed around 1 million pre-cleared tracks. With InstantClear, even songs with multiple co-writers and publishers can now be auto-cleared, fractionally split, and paid out in real time. No endless back-and-forth, no weeks of waiting. Why it matters: Music licensing is becoming invisible to the end-user. For brands, this means one-click access to soundtrack ads. For creators, it means your catalog either fits into the pipe -or gets left behind entirely. And the context is bigger: TikTok has been under fire for years (remember Sony yanking its catalog in 2022, the spats over unpaid royalties, lawsuits circling AI training data). CML was born from that pressure-to give advertisers a safe sandbox. Now it’s evolving into a full-scale licensing utility. Parallels abound. YouTube’s Content ID system once felt like a policing tool. Two decades later, it is infrastructure for billions in payouts. TikTok’s CML + InstantClear could become the Content ID of micro-sync. - 📂 2. CASE FOCUS / BREAKDOWN • TikTok × Chordal integration (MBW, Shore Fire, DMW) - Chordal’s InstantClear tech drops inside TikTok’s CML. Songs with fractional ownership can be cleared in seconds, and automated payout flows to rights-holders. • Chordal API expansion (Music Ally) - Chordal opened InstantClear to other apps beyond TikTok, signaling this isn’t a one-off. The goal: any platform that needs music licensing can plug into pre-cleared rights. • TikTok ad market scale - Global ad spend on TikTok crossed $15B in 2024 (Insider Intelligence), much of it reliant on music in branded campaigns. Now, the majority of that ad spend can flow through a single pre-cleared music pipe.