In our new series State of Synch we reach out to industry leaders from different fields to get their opinion on where we stand. How do ongoing technical developments, market shifts, customer behaviour and the global economy impact our playing field – and what do we intend to do about it? Thea Zaitsev, artist & producer manager and publisher, who started the first sync company in Estonia “Tier Music”, shares insights on the manager’s perspective and what she expects in the years to come.
“The gaming world has opened up more to musicians and sync opportunities”
How did you experience the last 5 years of Sync within the managers community?
I can not say it has changed drastically but I do recon some changes in license fees especially in some territories like Japan, where you expect the fees to grow every year but it’s been the opposite. Also, I can not say that the fees for music licenses and for sync in general have risen in Estonia or Baltics either even though managers have definitely paid more attention to this “extra income” than previously. Something that have changed is the growing attention in syncs for games both in the USA as well as in Europe, which is great.
What trends are you preparing for in 2026?
To focus and dig more into the gaming world as it has opened up more to musicians and sync opportunities so it seems an area and field to potentially get more syncs in the near future although it takes time to get to know the industry as well. Another “trend” is definitely the usage of AI in syncs and creating songs in general so how to manoeuvre around the threats we have been surrounded with that and how to make it into an advantage other than something that will take away jobs and money from musicians.
What excites you most (and what concerns you) about where sync is heading?
I believe the point about AI and gaming industry as mentioned above but still the opportunities syncs can create to artists these days in terms of extra income they can earn and the chances of making them more visible though syncs.
If you could reshape one aspect of the current sync ecosystem to better serve artists and managers, what would it be?
To have more standardised license fees around Europe at least so artists can also have more bargaining power to negotiate their fees. Also, to create more platforms artists can pitch their music directly to ad agencies and sync agents or even just bigger firms and to their campaigns.
What is the role of cultural and industry institutions in supporting fair, sustainable sync opportunities?
Controlling license fees and misusage or “free usage” of someone’s copyright in their videos.
Thea Zaitsev is an artist and producer manager and publisher who left one of the major record labels in London in 2015 to set up her company initially focusing on management. Since the beginning, she has been developing and working with a successful electronic-pop act NOËP, soon after followed by producer-artist Sander Mölder and Raul Ojamaa. Her first female act is a local Superstar winner ALIKA who represented Estonia at Eurovision and brought home 8th place. She has also set up a publishing branch and first sync agency in Estonia, which has now gained a decent roster of local talent. Over the years, she has been lecturing and consulting local and international music industry in various aspects including music publishing, music export and songwriting camps. She is a winner of Manager of the Year and Entrepreneur of the year at Estonian Entrepreneurship Awards in 2022.
Thea Zaitsev on LinkedIn / Tier Music
