The second half of 2026 is stacked. From July to December, the sync and production music industry moves through a dense sequence of conferences, briefs cycles, and business moments that shape the deals and relationships of the year ahead. If you work in music licensing, this is the calendar you need on your radar.
July 2026
AI & Sync Symposium: July 14, New York City
SyncSummit opens H2 with a one-day symposium entirely focused on artificial intelligence and its impact on the sync business. The event brings together music supervisors, publishers, library executives, and tech developers to work through what AI-driven discovery actually means for the industry - from how tracks are searched and surfaced, to what it changes in the brief-to-placement workflow.
The agenda covers AI-powered search tools, metadata strategy in automated environments, and the broader question of how industry consolidation and new technology are reshaping the relationships between rights holders and licensees.
Format: One day, in person in New York City. Registration open at syncsummit.com/events.
Sync Summer Camp: Starts July 28
SyncSummit's multi-week online education programme launches at the end of July. The curriculum covers the end-to-end licensing workflow: understanding briefs, pitch structure, rights clearance, and library submissions. Aimed at composers, artists, and music business professionals looking to sharpen their sync fundamentals.
AUGUST 2026
Listening Sessions: SyncSummit
Throughout July and August, SyncSummit hosts a series of curated listening sessions with working music supervisors. Each session brings a small group of catalog owners and composers into direct conversation with an active supervisor - structured around real feedback on real music, not panel-style discussion.
Dates: Sessions run across Saturday mornings in July and August. Check syncsummit.com for the full schedule.
August is also when advertising briefs for Q4 campaigns begin circulating among publishers and libraries with established agency relationships. Holiday briefs - retail spots, brand campaigns, end-of-year activations, often carry longer lead times than broadcast, and the early submissions tend to be the ones that get shortlisted.
September 2026
The Pre-Conference Month
No major conferences are scheduled in September, but it sits directly between the summer listening sessions and October's packed event calendar. It's the month when the industry quietly prepares: EPKs are updated, submission pipelines are reviewed, and the conversations that will happen at October events are set in motion.
For anyone attending the NY AdSync Summit, PMC, or Mondo.NYC, September is when the groundwork gets laid. Attendee lists, pre-registered networking platforms, and confirmed speaker lineups for all three events are typically finalized this month.
October 2026: The industry busiest month
NY AdSync Summit: October 1–2, New York City
SyncSummit's advertising-focused flagship event returns to New York for two days dedicated to music in brands, commercials, trailers, and promos. The format combines keynote conversations, panels, and networking, with confirmed programming structured around real brief-to-placement case studies.
The 2026 edition includes panels on music in trailer and promo production, a conversation centered on the most impactful uses of music in advertising based on 2026 Clio Music winners, and sessions on how studios approach music strategy from the top level down. The event draws a high concentration of music supervisors, ad agency creatives, and rights holders working specifically in the advertising space.
Registration: October 1–2. In-person and online options. syncsummit.com/events..
Production Music Conference (PMC): October 6-8, Los Angeles
The PMA's annual flagship event is the central gathering point for the global production music community. The 2026 edition takes place at the Hilton in Universal City, Los Angeles, with attendees representing more than 80 countries - publishers, composers, technology partners, and financial stakeholders. Panel programming runs live in-person and is also streamed through the conference platform and app.
The PMC is built around the specific infrastructure of production music: catalog administration, licensing economics, composer relationships, and the standards and business models that govern the sector. It is the event where the production music industry takes stock of where it stands and where it is heading.
SyncMusic.Rocks will be part of the PMC 2026 in Los Angeles as a proud PMA partner. We'll have something new to show - solutions we've been building specifically for the production music industry that we can't wait to share in person. If you're attending, come find us. Or reach out before the event to schedule time at syncmusic.rocks.
Registration: Tickets on sale through October 1st at pmamusic.com/events/pmc-2026. In-person and virtual passes available.
Mondo.NYC: October 13–16, New York CityNovember 2026 — Execution Season
Now in its 11th year, Mondo.NYC returns to the Arlo Williamsburg Hotel for four days at the intersection of music, technology, and the broader music business. The conference brings together label executives, publishers, tech companies, investors, and media, alongside four nights of live artist showcases at independent venues across Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The 2026 programme includes panels on the future of music and industry counterculture, artist management in a changing landscape, the decline of the major deal model, and global artist knowledge networks. On the sync side, Mondo’s focus on the use of music in media, one of the Mondo Innovator Award categories, makes it a relevant touchpoint for licensing professionals tracking where the broader industry is moving.
Dates: October 13–16. Conference HQ at Arlo Williamsburg Hotel, Brooklyn. mondo.nyc.
NOVEMBER 2026: EXECUTION SEASON
Holiday Brief Cycle: Peak Period
By November, advertising briefs for end-of-year campaigns are running at full speed. Network and streaming broadcast slots for holiday content are being filled. This is the most time-pressured brief cycle of the year: responses need to be fast, targeted, and technically complete.
For libraries and publishers managing high-volume catalogs, November is also when the tracking infrastructure built earlier in the year either pays off or shows its gaps. Cue sheets from Q3 placements are being processed through PROs, and the first performance royalty data from fall broadcast is beginning to come through.
Post-Conference Follow-Trough
The weeks after October's three major events are when the relationships built at those conferences either move forward or go quiet. Supervisors and publishers who connected at the NY AdSync Summit, PMC, or Mondo are in active follow-up mode. Submissions requested at conferences have deadlines. Catalog reviews initiated in October need responses in November.
december 2026: Close the year, open the next
Year-End Wrap
December is the quietest month for new briefs and conference activity, but it carries its own business weight. Licensing agreements with calendar-year exclusivity windows close out. Performance royalty statements for Q3 broadcasts are issued. Year-end reporting cycles for publishers and labels require clean, up-to-date rights records.
Looking Ahead: LA Sync Summit – February 8-9, 2027
The first major sync event of 2027 is already confirmed: SyncSummit returns to Los Angeles on February 8–9. The LA Sync Summit covers the full spectrum of music for media - film, TV, advertising, trailers, games - with keynotes, panels, and structured networking. For teams planning Q1 2027 activity, December is when the preparation for that event should begin.
Registration: LA Sync Summit 2027, February 8–9. syncsummit.com/events.
The end of 2026 is a dense calendar. The teams that make the most of it are the ones with the right infrastructure behind them: clear pipelines, clean data, and the operational clarity to move when the right opportunity lands. That is exactly what SyncMusic.Rocks is built for. As a purpose-built CRM for the sync and production music industry, we help licensing professionals manage what the calendar demands, from brief intake to deal closure, across every relationship and every rights type. If 2026 is the year you decide to get serious about how your operation should run, let’s discuss!
