Holy f**k licensing music is expensive! How do I get it super cheap?

Robert M Gouge

Robert M Gouge

Bleh.
Aug 26, 2012
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I've come up with a very interesting idea that I'd like to pursue that involves licensing great music. But, from my limited research, even for something like a YouTube video, it's going to cost you like $10,000 in perpetuity (obviously it varies depending on the song and the artist) for even newer artists.

How do you get kick ass music cheap for video? Not the crappy free license computer beeping music that you find all over the place, but legitimate artists.
 


Thanks for the replies, one song in particular I would like to use is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHjpOzsQ9YI

30 million view, no way I'm getting that cheap.

The type of music I'm referring to is the type that is produced by artists looking to make a career. Really great stuff that, by itself, would garner millions of fans.

edit: damnit, why can't I embed this crap? I tried 4 different links.
 
royalty free music - guarantee if you listen to enough sample tracks you will recognize a jingle form a commercial/advertorial on tv etc
 
If I were you I would just use it and put the video up. If YouTube catches it, usually the various deals they have in place with the labels allow you to keep using it and they just put ads on/in the video and keep the revenue for themselves/the labels. They'll send you a message saying content in your video matched some 3rd party's content and that you don't have to do anything about it.

...or they'll take it down. nbd
 
kingofsp said:
If I were you I would just use it and put the video up. If YouTube catches it, usually the various deals they have in place with the labels allow you to keep using it and they just put ads on/in the video and keep the revenue for themselves/the labels. They'll send you a message saying content in your video matched some 3rd party's content and that you don't have to do anything about it.

...or they'll take it down. nbd
Click to expand...

Yea, I thought about this but with the videos I'm thinking of doing, I imagine they'll have big viral potential. The problem is, I haven't figured out how to make money off of them, except to package them and sell them (which requires the license).

Like having 1 or 2 as YouTube fodder to go viral and then selling the remaining 8 videos of the set as a product.

Hmm...
 
I've thought about trying to compose my own, and with the right type of software I imagine I could probably produce something pretty decent. I just don't know what type of stuff is out there these days. I'd much rather figure out a way to use legitimate, badass music but, if I had to make my own and had the software to make it, I think I could do all right.
 
Here you go, bro, use these :

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G292M5tIfc]Mad Dash For Cash - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwxgpIvQfXE]My Blues - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lyeTMbj5-w]Hang On Irene - YouTube[/ame]
 
If it's lesser known music there's a chance it's just self-published with no labels in the way. Try contacting the artist directly and asking them if you can use it. I've done this a few times and it worked once.
 
here you go, use this
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0]PSY - GANGNAM STYLE ([/ame]

or this
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr2X67iiuC4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr2X67iiuC4[/ame]
 
troll soundcloud for some kiddie producer in his mom's basement and throw $100 at him for it. dubstep is all the same anyway
 
I was faced with a similar issue a while back when developing an OOH intro (rather a set of videos) for a local client's event that was on a pretty considerable scale and was supposed to be telecast on national TV.

Anyhoo, this is what I chanced upon.

Newgrounds.com — Audio Portal

Almost all of the music there is downloadable and the site has an extensive library laden with some pretty decent tracks ranging across multiple genres.

It is free to use in non-commercial entities with a simple attribution. However, for use in commercial videos - you can message the author and if your scale of development is large, they are more than happy with just an attribution. If however, you wish to skip past the attribution channel, you can negotiate a small fee with the author and it is generally not that high.

Do take a look.
 
If you are in the US check with http://www.ascap.com/ace/ or Search | BMI.com for which publishers/authors the song is registered under. But if you are not going to use it for some motion picture or radio commercial you are wasting your time. Just go ahead and use it. Alternatively go on Elance and get some sound-alike produced. Shouldn't set you back more than $100-500.
 
Just contact artists direct from Bandcamp or Soundcloud. Believe me, there is more than enough GREAT music that get's absolutely no recognition for whatever reason, and a lot of these artists are wanting to get airtime.

If you settle for music at the top of the charts, you're going to pay the price.
 
Robert M Gouge said:
Thanks for the replies, one song in particular I would like to use is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHjpOzsQ9YI

30 million view, no way I'm getting that cheap.

The type of music I'm referring to is the type that is produced by artists looking to make a career. Really great stuff that, by itself, would garner millions of fans.

edit: damnit, why can't I embed this crap? I tried 4 different links.
Click to expand...

I went out with Lindsey a couple times in high school and my friends have helped her on some of her videos. If you are interested, we can see about licensing costs, but it won't be cheap based on what she's told me.

I'd recommend doing like some of the other guys have suggested and find some up-and-coming guys and negotiating use of their stuff for cheap.
 
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