Sync.Land Launches: Awen’s Peer-to-Peer Music Licensing Platform Goes Live
After years of development, community building, and blockchain innovation, Sync.Land is officially live, and it is set to change the way music gets licensed forever.
Direct. Transparent. Decentralized.
250+ songs already in the catalog, ready to license now.
Rights holders set their own terms: territory, duration, type of use, and price. Payments go directly to musicians. Deals close in minutes, not months.
The Problem with Sync Licensing
Getting a sync license has always been broken. Musicians face opaque agencies that take enormous cuts, delayed payments, and zero transparency. Filmmakers and indie game developers face a slow, expensive, and legally murky process just to use a song. The sync industry runs on gatekeepers.
The Solution
Sync.Land removes the gatekeepers entirely. Built by Awen and funded through Project Catalyst, Cardano’s decentralized community innovation fund, the platform is a peer-to-peer marketplace where musicians connect directly with the people who need their music.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) no longer has to mean free. On Sync.Land, it means free to use with fair compensation flowing directly back to the creator.
Cullah tracks already placed in films, games, and videos
Cleared and licensable the moment you arrive
Sync.Land takes a flat 20% fee. Most sync agencies and libraries take 30-50%.
For Musicians & Rights Holders
List your catalog and set your own terms: territory, duration, type of use, and price. Payments land with you directly, in minutes, not months. Prefer the open culture route? List under a Creative Commons Attribution license and still get paid every time your music is used. You keep control, and you keep 80% of every license.
For Filmmakers, Game Devs & Creators
Browse 250+ pre-cleared tracks and license the one you want in minutes. Pricing is transparent, the rights are airtight, and there is no agency standing between you and the artist. Find the sound your project needs, license it on the spot, and get back to creating.
See Sync.Land in Action
The peer-to-peer marketplace where artists list their catalogs and creators license the perfect track in minutes.
How It Works
- 01
Browse or list
Find the right track in the catalog, or list your own music in minutes.
- 02
Agree on terms
Territory, duration, type of use, and price, all set by the rights holder.
- 03
License instantly
The license is issued on the spot, with the option to mint it as a certificate on Cardano.
- 04
Get paid directly
Payment flows straight to the artist. No middleman, no waiting.
The Old Way vs Sync.Land
- Opaque agencies and gatekeepers
- They take 30-50% off the top
- Months of waiting for clearance
- Payments delayed and unclear
- Rights buried in legal fine print
- Direct, peer-to-peer licensing
- Flat 20% fee, the artist keeps 80%
- License in minutes, not months
- Payments go straight to the artist
- Clear terms, optional on-chain proof
Artists keep 80%. Sync.Land takes a flat 20%. Traditional sync agencies and libraries take 30-50%.
The sync industry has been running on a middleman model for decades. We built Sync.Land to make that model obsolete.
, Ian McCullough, Awen
From freemusic.land to Sync.Land
Sync.Land’s roots trace back to freemusic.land, a Web2 proof-of-concept platform launched by Awen founder Ian “Cullah” McCullough in 2021. Cullah, a Milwaukee-born musician who has released open-source music annually since 2006 and personally placed his tracks in over 10,000 projects, built freemusic.land to prove the demand was real. It worked.
Now that catalog and community has fully transitioned to Sync.Land, with blockchain infrastructure, smarter licensing tools, and real revenue for artists.
Creative Commons Meets Commercial Licensing
One of Sync.Land’s most powerful features is artist choice. Musicians can opt to list their music under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, the same philosophy that drove the open-source music movement, while still earning revenue.
The key distinction: these are paid commercial sync licenses. When a filmmaker, game developer, or content creator uses a song from Sync.Land, the artist gets paid. CC BY doesn’t mean free anymore, it means free to use with fair compensation flowing directly back to the creator. This model honors the open culture ethos while finally making it financially sustainable for musicians.
NFTs as Verifiable Sync License Certificates
Thanks to the Cardano ecosystem, Sync.Land is pioneering something the industry has never seen: NFTs as verifiable sync license certificates.
When a sync license is issued on Sync.Land, it can be minted as an NFT on the Cardano blockchain, a permanent, tamper-proof, on-chain record of who licensed what, when, and under what terms. This isn’t just a receipt. It’s the foundation for an entirely new economy: a microsync agentic future where AI agents and autonomous systems can discover, license, and pay for music in real time, without any human in the loop.
The music industry is about to meet the age of autonomous AI, and Sync.Land is building the infrastructure to make sure artists get paid when it does.
The Microsync Agentic Future
AI agents and autonomous systems can discover, license, and pay for music in real time, with no human in the loop. Sync.Land is building the rails so artists get paid when they do.
Open Source & Community Funded
Sync.Land was selected and funded through Project Catalyst Fund 11, with the full codebase released as open source under the MIT license. The protocol belongs to the community, not a corporation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a sync license?
A sync (synchronization) license is permission to pair a piece of music with visual media: a film or TV scene, a video game, a YouTube video, a commercial. If you want to use a song in something people will watch, you need a sync license from whoever owns that music.
What are song rights?
Most songs carry two layers of rights: the composition (the underlying song, its melody and lyrics) and the master (the specific recording). To use a track in your project you need permission for both. On Sync.Land the rights holder lists the music and grants that permission directly, so you get one clean license in one place.
What does it cost?
Pricing is set by each rights holder, and you see the full price up front. Sync.Land takes a flat 20% platform fee and the artist keeps the other 80%. For comparison, traditional sync agencies and music libraries commonly take 30% to 50%, and sometimes more.
Who owns the rights to my music?
You do. Listing on Sync.Land never transfers ownership. You grant a specific license on your own terms and keep everything else.
If it is Creative Commons, why is there a fee?
A CC BY listing on Sync.Land is a paid commercial sync license. The open culture philosophy keeps the music attributed and shareable, while the artist still gets paid every time it is used commercially.
Do I need a crypto wallet?
No. You can browse, license, and pay without touching crypto. The optional on-chain certificate runs quietly in the background for those who want verifiable proof.
Is the license legally valid?
Yes. Every license is a real, enforceable agreement. The optional Cardano certificate adds a permanent, tamper-proof record of exactly what was licensed, when, and under what terms.
Ready to jump in?