Tag: Music Gorilla

Review of Online Music Licensing Services

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…

Licensing Music with Music Gorilla

Today’s installment of our ongoing look at avenues for licensing music brings us to Music Gorilla. This Austin-based company’s model is to charge an annual fee of $299 and let the artist keep all earnings from any licensing, publishing or other deals that arise.

How it Works

When you sign up and upload your tracks, your music is kept in their database and accessible by music industry reps that have signed up with the company. New relevant song additions are displayed to reps automatically. Music Gorilla also sends out a few opportunities via email each month, where users can respond by submitting specific songs if the project seems appropriate.

Music Gorilla markets its services more as a way to get heard by record labels than a way to have your music licensed. But they do send out regular licensing opportunities, mostly for indie projects.

Showcases

Music Gorilla also puts on about three showcases a year, where bands can perform for major label reps in Austin and NYC.

Click here for a full list of Music Gorilla services.

 Particulars:

  • The site’s co-founders are very accessible and always willing to talk with artists.
  • The graphical design and user interface are not the best, but hopefully this will change soon…


Interview with Co-Founder Alexia Erlichman
We posed some questions for Alexia, one of Music Gorilla’s co-founders, on how to use Music Gorilla to maximize your chances of music licensing success:

Continue reading “Licensing Music with Music Gorilla”

Using Online Services to License Your Music

As CD sales continue to dry up, music licensing has taken on an ever-increasing role in the independent artist’s career. In the old days, the barriers to license music were very high, and the opportunities much fewer for the musician without connections. Today’s web-based world has changed all that; more opportunities than ever exist, but the competition has increased dramatically.

There are several ways to go about finding licensing deals for your music:

1) Contact ad agencies directly
2) Seek out music supervisors (the people that select the music for film/TV)
3) Have your record label do it for you (we all have record labels, right?)
4) Use an online service that connects music buyers with music sellers

We are mostly in interested in #4: the services like Taxi, Pump Audio, Music Gorilla, Song Catalog, Sonic Bids, The Orchard, etc. that aggregate content from various artists and make it accessible in a centralized location for the ad agencies, music supervisors, and whoever else that wants to license music.

There are many permutations among the online licensing opportunities. Here are some basic questions / differences to keep in mind:

1) Do I retain control over when and where my music is licensed?
Some companies require that you agree beforehand to accept whatever deals they generate, while others will give you a choice based on the particular opportunity.

2) Is there an annual fee for participation?
Fees can range from $0-$400+ annually. Are they worth it? Sometimes…

3) Do I have to pay (additional) fees to submit to individual opportunities?
Some companies charge no fees but take a higher percentage of the licensing income. Others may charge to screen candidates and earn a little extra for themselves.

4) What rights am I ceding by using a particular service?
Most of these types of companies use non-exclusive agreements, meaning you are free to list your music with any and all of these companies at the same time. If a deal comes through and the buyer wants to have the exclusive rights to your song, then you can negotiate on a case-by-case basis.

Maximize Your Exposure and Get Better Results
While each of these companies has a slightly different model, most of them are legitimate and represent new ways for your music to get heard. Don’t just use one and expect to make millions. Your best bet is to try using as many channels as you can and thereby improve your odds. If your budget is tight, you can still submit your music to the services that don’t charge anything up front.

Further Reading

Go here for an overview article on licensing from Larry Mills, VP at Pump Audio.