BIGSOUND 2025: Anne Booty on the latest sync licensing trends

Originally published by Big Sound.

Well hey there peeps! How’s it going? I’ve been tasked to put together a little thought piece about what’s trending in sync land right now so here goes… 

2024 saw a lot of love for heritage artists in the brand world. Certainly in the UK; I’m talking licensing the big tunes from the 70s through to the 90s, and in 2025 there’s been a sway toward the noughties! The noughties! So close yet so far away!

But fear not, oh Modern Artiste. As artists making music today this trend might feel a little isolating. Bear in mind decisions are often made on budget, so if a brand can’t stretch to the sizeable figures required for a big recognisable tune, they’ll often look to music that feels reminiscent of it, regardless of when it was released and that’s where the upcoming artist steps in. Also lyrics. If you’re hitting the right sentiment – themes like togetherness, looking out for each other, pushing yourself, doing your best – stuff like this never really falls out of fashion. 

This year has actually seen a lot of love for independent and upcoming artists. We’ve had rock and psych syncs through to pop and ambient to give a couple of examples. Hip hop is always on trend, but can be difficult to license if filled with uncleared samples and / or again too expensive if it’s a big tune. So again there’s a space here for beat makers and rappers who make wholly original tunes. 

Female empowerment has been on trend for a while now. We find the lyrical sentiment usually aligns with a tune that is upbeat, catchy, generally poppy in texture. 

So a lot of the above is with brand/commercials in mind, but if you’re interested at what’s hot in film and TV, then I’d say compared to the ‘invite only’ world of commercials, film and telly is a big old party and everyone’s invited. By its nature it accommodates more styles and genres because it’s story (and often budgetary) led. I always think fondly of the time we licensed a couple of tunes from an unknown South African punk band for an independent film. Unlikely their stuff would’ve landed as well for a brand because they were full of swears and the recording was super lo-fi (still awesome), but an indie trying to land the perfect soundtrack for their character on a budget… well, it was the perfect fit.