One thing I thought was particularly interesting about our discussion of Creative Commons was the 3rd party Pump Audio bit. If you don’t remember, Fred talked about CC+ and how if someone does want to license the commercial version of a work, Creative Commons will direct them to the third party server in order to obtain such a license….something like Pump Audio. In short, a producer/director/whoever will go to Pump Audio (directed from CC), find the song they want and license the song with few (if any) strings attached. Licensing a song through the label/publisher can be extremely time consuming and a burden on the wallet.
I worked at a small independent production company this summer. We would produce smaller promo videos and educational videos, mostly for web. And we didn’t have much of a budget for music. So we (actually I did most of this) went through this service called First Com, which is essentially the same thing as Pump Audio. It’s basically a HUGE music database, with easy to use browsing tools, designed to let you find the exact song/feel you want. With a few hundred bucks (not even) we obtained a blanket license and the rights to use the works however we pleased….and boom we had our music.
With that said, I also worked at an independent music promotion company, and we licensed one of our bands onto CSI NY. For an 11 second bit, the band made something like 8-10 grand…could have even been more. Now of course CSI NY is a huge production, but there is definitely some money in TV/FILM licensing for the little guy.
I have to say, these websites/services are really cool, and any aspiring filmmaker should keep them in mind when they are working on their next project. What I am curious about, though, is how these types of services are affecting the music industry? I’m not sure about Pump Audio, but I know FirstCom contains a lot of works by a bunch of random computer-geek types (no offense) with a good ear and a half/decent sound recording program. In other words, these guys aren’t your typical struggling artists from Brooklyn. But I feel like these sites are a pretty attractive resource. They supply great sounds/music for really cheap. My question is if they are detracting from “real” artists? In other words, do you think more and more productions like CSI NY will turn to Pump Audio/FirstCom rather than the Indie promo company? Of course these guys work hard to create the music they do, and I’m not saying they don’t deserve any financial reward. I’m just curious how much of a competition these services are? With tight budgets and a crummy economy, they sounds appealing…thoughts? Do you think that the music industry has any future in sites like these?
My computer woke up on the wrong side of the bed and won’t add these in hyperlink.
http://www.pumpaudio.com/
http://firstcom.com
I would be interested in seeing what percentage of the “independent” artists get their music licensed through sites like pumpaudio, and also how much they actually gets per license, ie whats pumps cut? When i went on the site i noticed they had a section of “premier” artists (which were backed by record companies) where license fees were around the 10,000 dollar range you mentioned, and when i picked an independent one it was 500, so i guess it helps producers who want to spend less more than the artists themselves. Although i think this is a good tool for producers, it seems like a luck of the draw for musicians equivalent to getting signed by a record label.
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