Here are a few “not straight up pop” lanes that are getting real traction in sync right now, plus what they are great for.
Global and Cultural Specific Sounds
Shows are leaning harder into regional identity and bold cultural texture.
Netflix highlighted a 2025 needle drop using Irish hip hop group Kneecap in House of Guinness, placed in a protest scene for maximum impact.
If you make anything that feels rooted in a place, a community, or a subculture, that can be a strength, not a liability.
Jazz, Standards, and Classy Throwback Vocals
Netflix also called out RAYE covering the jazz standard “What a Difference a Day Makes” for Black Rabbit.
This is exactly why retro formats matter. A timeless vocal with real personality can instantly signal sophistication, romance, tension, or “old money” energy.
Retro Pop and Oldies Instantly Set an Era
Consider all the 80s based placements in Stranger Things over the past 10 years. Yes, many were the original recordings. But some were unknown songs with period-based sounds and moods. And other shows (with smaller budgets that can't afford to pay the original artists) are following suit.
Those placements are doing what retro does best. It time-travels the audience in one second.
This is why you do not need to “modernize” everything you do. Sometimes your job is to help a story feel like a specific year, a specific memory, a specific season of life.
Indie Weirdness, Quirky, and Left of Center
Quirky indie songs are a creative choice that gives a project unique identity instead of feeling factory-made.
If your music is a little odd in the best way, unusual instruments, unexpected lyrics, off-kilter rhythms, that can be exactly what makes a scene memorable.
And let’s talk about the fan-building part for a second, because this is the piece artists miss.
Sync licensing is not just an income stream. It is a fan funnel.
When your song hits a scene at the exact right emotional moment, you are suddenly the artist behind that feeling. People Shazam. They Google the lyrics. They add the track to a playlist. They click through to your profile and start listening to everything else you have.
That is how new fans are made without you needing to record straight up pop.
Film and TV are legitimately one of the biggest discovery engines out there. A recent poll found 33% of respondents cited movies and TV shows as a consistent way they discover music.
And sync is not going away. IFPI reported that synchronisation revenues grew for a fourth straight year in 2024, totaling $650 million, and accounted for 2.2% of global recorded music revenues.
So yes, pop artists get placements.
But so do artists who sound like:
a dusty folk record
a noir jazz club
a string quartet building dread
a Y2K teen movie montage
a punk song that feels like a diary entry
a retro soul vocal that makes a scene feel expensive
Your “genre problem” is often your sync advantage.
One more thing I want you to hold onto: supervisors are not only licensing songs. They are licensing shortcuts to emotion.
That is why retro works. That is why niche works. That is why music with a point of view works.
So if you have been sitting on songs that feel “too out there,” please do not dismiss them as irrelevant or non-commercial.
Know that they are highly licensable.
So, after reading this, if you're like, "Heck yes! I've got music like that - quirky, eclectic, retro, genre-bending, outside-the-box," or even if you've got polished pop (cause supervisors are still looking for that too)...
Then be sure to Click Here To Register For The Free Music Supervisor Panel happening this Sunday January 11 (replay available if you sign up).
Always in your corner,
<3 Bree
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