There’s been plenty of noise about how the combination of home recording and the internet has led to a plethora of new avenues for musicians to get their music out to the masses. Most of the hubbub is around sharing your music – using sites like Myspace and PureVolume or using social networking to garner new fans. However, there is another avenue that has opened as well: the ability for independent musicians to license their music for use in television, advertisements and more. The obstacles of licensing your music have become a lot smaller, and overall licensing is much more available to the independent musician thanks to the sites we’ll outline in this article.
There are a variety of music licensing options out there.
Now, before you fire up your mob torches and come burn down my house while chanting “SELLOUT!!”, let me elaborate a bit. Obviously, if you have issues licensing your art for use in television or advertising, that’s completely fine. Nobody is making you do it. However, licensing does provide another potential revenue stream for the indie musician (and we all know how important a role bookkeeping plays in a musician’s career), which allows you to keep doing what you love to do: make music. As well, licensing can expose your music to a potentially huge base of people whom may have never heard it in the first place.
Of course, there are some downsides as well. You don’t always have control over how your music will be used, in what ad or show it will be placed and the like. It’s up to you to weigh the pros and cons of licensing your music and make the decision for yourself.
With all that said, let’s look at 6 of the most popular sites for music licensing. If you’re interested in licensing your music, I encourage you to do some additional research on any/all of the sites below in order to make an informed decision. Remember, these sites are out to make money too.
Pump Audio
Pump Audio is the most well-known and popular site for indie musician music licensing. They are owned by Getty Images, the world’s most popular stock photography website. In their own words, “Pump Audio is a new kind of agent for independent musicians, digitally connecting them with buyers in the mainstream media. With Pump Audio, artists can license their music into productions without giving up any ownership, while TV and advertising producers can discover new music ready for use.”
Broadjam
Broadjam posts opportunities for licensing on their website, to which musicians can respond & submit to. There is a large variety of opportunities currently up on their site; however, it’s unclear whether or not it’s a pay-to-submit site or not.
HumToo
Free submission, you retain 100% ownership, and a few different ways to earn money from your music (such as royalties plus licensing). I’m not sure how strong of a user base it has, but it may be worth checking out.
RumbleFish
RumbleFish is the same sort of deal; 100% ownership as well, and they split royalties 50/5o with the artist. They earn -1 point for having blaring, stupid music playing on portions of their site though.
YouLicense
A well-designed brand and site, you can have a look around YouLicense’s opportunities before signing up. Based on the freemium model, you can sign up for a free account that allows a limited amount of site use, with the option to upgrade to a pro account if you so desire.
SonicBids
Ah, SonicBids. Perhaps the grandfather of these sorts of sites, you’re sure to find an equal split of people who hate and love the site. Sign up is free, submissions to various opportunities are not. I know I never had any luck with any of my bands on SonicBids, but maybe we were just bad. However, Daniel Moir, an Edmonton singer/songwriter and Chorus contributor, had a song of his placed on NBC’s Mercy television show through SonicBids. So there’s one success story for you.
There are many more opportunities for indie musicians to get their music out there while making a buck. Any or all of these sites could be a boon to you and your music; however, be sure to do your research first! I’d be interested to hear if any readers have used any of these services, or related. If so, drop us a line with your experience in the comments!
