Earlier this month, antipodean songstress Kimbra revealed how she still manages to earn a buck in today’s notoriously choppy music industry. According to the talented young singer, “These days most of the money comes from syncs and merchandise.”
It’s not entirely surprising. With record sales dwindling more and more each year, cannibalised by illegal downloads and now streaming, artists and record labels have come to rely on non-traditional sources for income, with syncing coming out as a frontrunner.
Empire of the Sun recently experienced a renewed surge in popularity for their hazy 2008 single ‘Walking On A Dream’ after it was featured in a US car commercial. The track was Shazam’d by television viewers en masse and the newfound interest actually translated into chart movement.
However, even fellow Aussie artists who don’t quite have the profile of Empire of the Sun — who it bears noting have had high-charting albums and recently sold out a show at the Hollywood Bowl — are gaining international traction thanks to syncing.
In fact, Meg Mac recently took to Facebook to reveal her surprise at being featured in an episode of the hit US television series slash cultural phenomenon Girls. Mac’s song ‘Roll Up Your Sleeves’ is currently No. 3 of TV’s Most “Shazam-ed” Songs In February 2016.
“I don’t know how they found me but my song was in episode 2 of Girls Season 5,” she wrote on Facebook. “It played at the end of the episode and it was so strange to watch it because I’ve been watching this show since it came out when I was still at uni in Perth.”
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“I won’t give it away if you haven’t seen it but it plays at the end, Hannah is walking and then the piano starts and then I’m singing. I was watching it in LA, getting into the whole story and then I am one tiny part of it and I am in America too? Who am I? Very nice life moment for myself.”
“AND then people must have been watching it, LOTS of people and they heard my song and Shazam-ed it and now it is #3 on TV’s most Shazam-ed songs. Thanks Girls, I loved you even before my song was on your show.”
Mac has been spending quite a bit of time overseas lately after she caught the attention of the local industry there at SXSW and was tapped to support R&B legend D’Angelo on his North American tour. Somehow, she still finds the time to be one of the coolest Aussie musos on social media.
