To date we’ve reviewed several web-based services that help artists make a few bucks licensing music. To review the articles and interviews we’ve done, go ahead and browse the Licensing Category.
Below is a table that compares several basic features of each service examined so far…
| Rumblefish | MusicSupervisor.com | Pump Audio | Music Gorilla | Song Catalog | |
| Annual Fee |
0
|
0
|
0
|
$299
|
$199
|
| Licensing Split |
50%
|
50%
|
50%
|
0
|
flat fee
|
|
Back-End Publishing |
0
|
0
|
50% of publisher share
|
0
|
0
|
| Re-Title Publishing |
no
|
no
|
YES
|
no
|
no
|
To help you understand it, here are a few definitions:
Licensing Split: When someone buys a license to your music, they pay an upfront fee to the middleman service. The split determines how this money is divided between you and the middleman.
Back-End Publishing: Another source of income from licensing are the royalties generated when your music is used in certain situations, such as on TV or in a movie. These are generated every time your music is “performed”. In most cases, you the artist will receive 100% of the back-end publishing, because you probably don’t have a separate publisher. But in the case of Pump Audio, they re-register your songs with ASCAP, BMI, etc. under new names so that they can “administer” the royalties “more effectively”, and gain access to 50% of your publishing royalties. Sketchy.
See here for an explanation of this practice, known as Re-Title Publishing.
If you are interested in having us review your service, let me know: brian@themusicsnob.com
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In related news, Rumblefish put a post on their blog about our two part Rumblefish article…
This is great information, just wanted to comment so those finding this post would know that Pump Audio was purchased by Getty Images and are changing their licensing split to 35% for the artist. Even more sketchy. Pump Audio = fail
Have you had a chance to check out this licensing service? http://www.beatpick.com It seems very professional to me, and the music appears to be above average as well.
Even though Rumblefish only takes half of the licensing fee they still charge an additional 15% ‘administrative fee’ 50% – that additional 15% leaves you with what? 35%. Just like Pump Audio. At least Pump Audio is upfront about that. Also when you license music with Pump audio you can be sure that the licenses go through BMI or ASCAP and YOU get an additional check. I have had many songs licensed with Rumblefish and I can assure you that a lot of those licenses are not reported to ASCAP or BMI.