The brief is where most music searches go wrong. Not in the search itself, not in the catalog, not in the licensing, in the brief.
A vague brief produces a vague playlist. A good brief produces music that makes the work better and saves everyone hours. It’s maybe the highest-ROI thing you can do before a music search, and it takes fifteen minutes.
We’ve received a lot of briefs over the years. Here’s what separates the useful ones from the ones that send us in completely the wrong direction.
Why the Brief Matters
A music supervisor or library curation team isn’t a search engine. They’re applying creative judgment informed by years of experience across hundreds of productions.
When you give them the right information, they apply that judgment to your specific problem. When you give them nothing useful, they’re guessing, and even excellent guesses waste time.
A strong brief:
Shortens the search process.
Reduces revision rounds.
Produces tracks that actually serve the creative.
Makes the working relationship better over time.
What to Include
1. The Project
Be specific: commercial vs. editorial vs. promo vs. trailer, brand or show name (if you can share it), length of the piece(s), target audience, where it will air or be distributed.
2. The Emotional Direction
This is the most important part. Don’t describe music, describe the feeling you want to create in the audience.
Less useful: “We need something upbeat.”
More useful: “We want the viewer to feel optimistic and slightly surprised, like they’ve discovered something they didn’t know they needed.”
Less useful: “Something cinematic.”
More useful: “The tone should feel like a decision has been made that can’t be undone. Weight without melodrama.”
3. Reference Tracks and Anti-References
Reference tracks from other productions that capture something of what you’re going for, the tempo, the instrumentation, the emotional register. They don’t need to be perfect matches.
Also include anti-references. “Don’t send anything that sounds like a tech startup commercial” is genuinely useful. “Nothing with whistling” is also, surprisingly often, a necessary thing to say.
4. Technical Specifications
Duration(s) needed, vocal or instrumental preference, any hard tempo requirements, whether you need stems or cutdowns, any instrumentation requirements or prohibitions.
5. Timeline
When you need options. When the edit needs to lock. When it airs. Being honest about a tight deadline is better than surprising the library with an impossible one at the last minute.
Brief Templates
Commercial / Advertising
Project: [Campaign / brand]Spot length(s): [15s / 30s / 60s]Target audience: [Demo, geography]Distribution: [TV, digital, social, OOH]Emotional direction: [3-5 sentences]Reference tracks: [List or link]Anti-references: [What to avoid]Technical needs: [Stems? Cutdowns? Vocal or instrumental?]Options needed by: [Date/time]Lock date: [Date]Air date: [Date]
TV Promo
Show: [Title]Network / Platform: [Where it airs]Promo type: [Season launch / episode / franchise]Promo length: [15s / 30s]Show tone: [Genre, emotional register]This promo is selling: [What moment / stakes]Emotional direction: [How should viewers feel?]References: [Tracks that worked on similar promos]Hard deadline: [Time]
Film / Documentary
Project: [Film title]Use context: [Trailer / scene / title sequence / end credits]Genre and tone: [What kind of film]Specific moment: [What is happening on screen]Emotional arc needed: [Setup / build / payoff]Approximate duration: []References: [Similar films or contexts]Budget context: [Theatrical / festival / streaming doc]Selections due: [Date]
What Not to Do
Lead with musical descriptions only. “Give me something like a cross between Ennio Morricone and Hans Zimmer” tells us nothing about what job the music needs to do.
Send a brief with no references. Even one reference is dramatically better than none. It’s a data point, something to move toward or away from.
Obscure the timeline. If you actually need it tomorrow, say so upfront.
Change direction mid-search without saying so. If the creative direction shifts, communicate it.
Be vague about technical specs. If you need a 30-second cutdown without lead vocals, say so.
What Good Briefs Produce
The best briefs result in a playlist where the first or second track is essentially the answer. Not because the library got lucky, but because you gave them enough to actually solve the problem.
VideoHelper accepts briefs at search@videohelper.com and returns human-curated playlists, typically within a couple of hours.
The worst briefs result in 40 tracks, none of which are quite right, and a follow-up conversation that is really just a delayed version of having written a good brief in the first place.
Related articles:→ What Is a Music Supervisor?→ Music for Advertising: What Agencies Need to Know→ Production Music for TV Promos→ Best Music for Movie Trailers→ What Is a Production Music Library?