Preparing Your Catalog for International TV Buyers: Tips from EO Media’s Content Slate

Make your tracks irresistible to international TV buyers — before you get to the market

If you’re heading to Content Americas (2026) or preparing your catalog for buyers who will be scanning EO Media’s expanded slate, you know the pain: great songs get ignored because assets are scattered, rights are ambiguous, or the file an international music supervisor needs doesn’t exist. This guide gives a practical, industry-tested checklist — stems, cues, metadata, and rights clarity — so songwriters and publishers can convert interest into fast sync deals.

Why EO Media’s 2026 slate makes catalog prep urgent

EO Media’s 2026 Content Americas lineup — with rom-coms, holiday films and special‑interest titles (including festival darlings like A Useful Ghost) — is a reminder that international buyers are actively hunting diverse sonic palettes. At markets in late 2025 and early 2026, buyers moved faster and more directly than ever: hybrid negotiations, digital dailies, and on-the-spot licensing are now commonplace. That raises the bar for creatives and rights holders: deliver complete, clean, and clearly-licensed materials up front, and you will win the pitch.

What international buyers and music supervisors are asking for in 2026

• Immediate deliverables: 30–60s previews, high-resolution stems, and a picture-sync demo (if possible).
• Clear rights: who controls sync + master, PRO splits, sample clearances, and territory/exclusivity windows.
• Fast licensing: a simple fee grid and a ready-to-sign sync + master license template.
• Scene-ready cues: short underscores, loopable beds, and action-specific variants for editing.
• Metadata for discovery: ISRC/ISWC, publisher info, keywords and emotional tags that map to supervision briefs.

Catalog Prep Checklist — Technical assets (what to deliver)

Below are the non-negotiable technical deliverables. Treat this as your “market pack” and host it on a fast CDN or dedicated licensing portal so buyers can download instantly.

1. Stereo masters

• WAV files, 48 kHz / 24-bit (broadcast standard). Include a 44.1 kHz / 24-bit variant for web preview if you want.
• Headroom recommended: leave peaks below -6 dBFS (no brickwall limiting). Buyers need headroom for picture mixing.
• File naming: Title_Artist_Version_BPM_Key_DURATION.wav (e.g., "LoveScene_JVocal_Main_120BPM_Cmaj_2m30s.wav").

2. Stems

Stems are the single biggest upgrade you can make to a catalog in 2026. Supervisors and re-recording mixers want discrete elements to tailor music to picture: shorten intros, duck vocals, or isolate a motif for a montage.

• Basic stem set: Drums, Bass, Keys, Guitars, Vocals (lead), Backing vocals, FX/atmos, Additional instruments.
• Deliver as WAV, 48 kHz / 24-bit, unstuck to non-destructive fades; leave EQ and dynamics for the production mix but avoid final limiting.
• Optional advanced set: separated rhythm (kick/snare), pad/strings, guitar doubles — helpful for genre-heavy placements (rom‑com string swells, holiday bells).

3. Instrumental / Vocal-off versions

• Instrumental: full mix without lead vocal for dubbing or underscore needs.
• Vocal-off (bed): full instrument mix with backing vocals present; useful for emotional underscoring.

4. TV-friendly edits & cues

• 30s and 60s radio edits, and a 2–3 minute TV-cut with shorter intros/outros and a clean ending suitable for picture tail.
• Underscore cues: 15s, 30s, 60s variants that loop cleanly and can be used to cover dialogue or montage.
• Loopable versions: provide seamless loops for background beds.

5. Sync-ready session data and tempo/key info

• Tempo (BPM) and key (e.g., 96 BPM, D minor) in file name and metadata.
• DAW session markers or exported tempo map (.omf/.aaf if requested) to help editors conform to picture.
• Optional: SMPTE timecode or a visual cue track for picture-synced demos.

Catalog Prep Checklist — Metadata & rights (what to document)

In 2026, a music file without clean metadata is functionally invisible. Don’t give buyers a reason to move on.

6. Essential metadata fields

• Title, Artist, and Version.
• ISRC (recording), ISWC (composition) where available.
• Duration, BPM, Key, and Genre/Tags (mood, instrumentation, suitable scenes).
• Contact email and a direct link to licensing portal or EPK.

7. Rights and ownership clarity

Provide a short, human-readable rights summary next to machine metadata. Buyers want to know in seconds whether they can license the recording and composition without a chase.

• Master owner (label or artist) and publishing owner (publisher or songwriter).
• PRO and split percentages for each songwriter (ASCAP/BMI/SOCAN/PRS etc.).
• Sample clearance status and documentation — include a PDF if a sample is cleared.
• Territories available, exclusivity windows, and any pre-existing sync deals that affect usage.
• Neighboring rights owner for international claims where applicable.

8. Licensing templates and fee guidance

• Attach a standard Sync License and optional Master Use Agreement with blank fields ready for signatures.
• Provide a suggested fee grid by territory and by use (non‑exclusive domestic TV, exclusive worldwide feature, promos, trailers).
• Offer an expedited licensing option for market deals — buyers love a “fast lane.”

Pitch materials that convert interest into sync deals

A well-organized folder can win a placement in minutes. These are the pitch assets supervisors expect in 2026.

9. Professional EPK / One‑sheet

• One page with rights summary, contact, short bio, three recommended cues for different scene types, and licensing terms.
• Quick links to full packs, stems, and picture-sync demos.

10. Scene-matched demos (picture or script)

If you can, send 20–60s demo syncs cut to a short clip or script beat sheet. For Content Americas buyers looking at rom‑coms or holiday movies on EO Media’s slate, suggest where the cue would sit — montage, reveal, credits — and deliver a cut to picture.

11. Playlists & mood folders

• Group tracks by mood and use: "Romantic Underscore", "Holiday Uplift", "Found-Footage Texture."
• Include tempo and key tags so supervisors can search by technical needs.

Case examples — what to deliver for EO Media-type titles

Three examples show what international buyers will appreciate.

Rom-com (EO Media rom-com or holiday rom-com)

• Deliver a vocal pop master + instrumental, a 60s TV-edit, a string-motivic underscoring loop, and a 30s romantic swell cue for montages.
• Metadata: tag scenes (first date, reveal, montage) and provide lead sheets for melody reuse in underscores.

Holiday movie

• Provide bells and chime stems, choir vocal stems, and a low‑latency instrumental bed for promos.
• Offer alternate arrangements (acoustic, orchestral) and emphasis on multicultural instrumentation for international markets.

Found-footage / specialty title (e.g., A Useful Ghost)

• Supply textured atmos and fx stems, editorial loops that can be pitched under diegetic footage, and versions with phone-mic/lo-fi processing if the director wants authenticity.
• Document the creative rationale for each cue so buyers can imagine placement.

Advanced strategies & 2026 trends to leverage

These are the differentiators that savvy catalogs use to close deals faster in 2026.

• Adaptive stems for streaming platforms: deliver stems intended for dynamic mixing in OTT players (dialogue‑aware beds, alternate intensity layers).
• Metadata automation: adopt DDEX-compatible delivery packages where possible; include ISRC/ISWC and CWR-ready publishing splits.
• Audio fingerprinting and ACR readiness: register tracks with BMAT/Audible Magic to support detection and post‑use reporting.
• AI-assisted cue creation: use AI tools for quick alternate edits (tempo shifts, instrumental‑only stems) but ensure rights and authorship are clear — buyers will ask.
• Localization-ready assets: provide language-neutral instrumentals and cue sheets for dubbing; consider alternate lyrical versions in key languages for major territories.

Music supervisors tell us: “If you hand me usable stems, a clean rights summary, and a quick price, I can clear and deliver within the same market week.”

Day-of-market playbook — how to pitch at Content Americas (or any market)

1. Pre-market: email a single, concise one-sheet with three scene-matched links and a clear contact for licensing. Mention EO Media titles you believe fit — specificity wins.
2. At the market: have QR codes or a short link to the downloadable asset pack. Be ready to send a “fast lane” license over WhatsApp or email.
3. Post-meeting: follow up with a 1‑page summary and attach the relevant files directly (stems, TV-edit, rights summary). Include a 48‑hour hold window to encourage decision-making.

Quick printable checklist (condensed)

• Masters: 48kHz/24‑bit WAV, labeled, headroom -6dBFS
• Stems: drums, bass, keys, guitars, vocals, FX
• Instrumental / vocal-off versions
• TV edits: 15s/30s/60s + loopable versions
• Tempo, key, SMPTE/DAW markers
• ISRC / ISWC / PRO splits / publisher contact
• Sample clearance docs / master & publishing ownership
• Sync + Master license templates + fee grid
• EPK, one-sheet, and picture-sync demos where possible

Final takeaways

In 2026, international TV buyers at markets like Content Americas — and companies championing reels like EO Media — reward clarity and speed. The catalog that anticipates a supervisor’s needs (clean stems, clear metadata, documented rights, and concise price/options) is the catalog that gets licensed.

Start by assembling a single market-ready folder: a professional one-sheet, three prioritized cues with stems, clear ownership and licensing templates, and a fast delivery link. That small investment turns market interest into signed licenses more often than polished but incomplete catalogs.

Next step — get the downloadable market pack template

Ready to streamline your catalog for Content Americas and international buyers? Download our free market-pack template, or schedule a demo to see how lyric.cloud can host, tag and automate metadata, cue delivery, and license workflows so you can close deals faster.

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