Administrators Andrew Reid Posted May 28, 2014 Administrators Share Posted May 28, 2014 I am in talks with some professional musicians and film scorers here in Berlin and have discovered some real talent... The average quality of their work far exceeds the current music licensing libraries and it is more original, more interesting. I am thinking therefore some kind of music licensing service might be useful to offer on EOSHD especially with the Vimeo copyright problem filmmakers are facing. I don't want to see people sued for copyright infringement when they are just trying to express themselves and their art. Some of the pros I know here are doing really high end audio - we're talking Hans Zimmer & feature film standard. However these are professionals and we need to pay them. It is simply not going to wash using a track for free that took them 6 months of recording time in studios that charge $400 per day. I'm wondering what a fair and acceptable rate would be for licensing? I want it to start low to be accessible to artists but scale up to commercial work in the right way. Typical prices at the Music Bed range from a minimum of $50 for non-profit to $399 for commercial work and for larger scale commercial work custom quotes are required. EOSHD music licensing would be different. For personal work or zero budget short films on Vimeo / YouTube (non-commercial) $19 - 1 track $50 - 5 tracks $99 - 10 tracks For commercial work - small clients (<10 employees) and non-profit organisations $50 - 1 track $99 - 5 tracks $199 - 10 tracks For commercial work - large clients (>10 employees) and advertisements $199 - 1 track $399 - 5 tracks Custom quote - 10 tracks For features, documentaries and short films with a crew $199 - 1 track $499 - 5 tracks Custom quote - 10 tracks Of course before you buy you can play all tracks in full on EOSHD to see if they are what you need. I'd like some feedback on this first before I decide to go ahead with it or not as the amount of work involved here is very significant. In particular what do you need from such a service? What projects do you need music for... And what do you think of the pricing? Cheers! Nick Hughes, Rudolf, Inazuma and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy lee Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 this is a good way forward - nice one ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest d5f8611fa423d0e628c016f9d5c93b47 Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 Cool. I highly approve. As you say the mainstream offerings from the likes of the Music Bed are not for everyone. I think EOSHD would be a superb home for a more artist-orientated setup. By the way - where the hell do you find the time to do all of this stuff? I assume you're either superhuman, insane, or using industrial quantities of amphetamines. Andrew Reid 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varicam Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Pricing is reasonable if the quality of the music is decent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonesy Jones Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Well, if the music is good then those prices are EXTREMELY reasonable. That would make me very happy. If it works out, here are some of my thoughts as to what would be useful for me. 1. Allow non watermarked lower quality download before purchase. I know this is kind of a tough pill to swallow for content creators, but I'm thinking that most will be glad to pay for high quality music at those prices. Then let us download a useful temp track without an annoying watermark. The higher quality file that will be obtained upon purchase needs to be the identical duration and volume so that an easy "replace file" command can be done. 2. Get cinematic stuff, and beddy stuff. The Music Bed has some great stuff, but much of it seems to end up crescendoing, which is great for films and a bunch of stuff, but not for simple videos where you just need a light filler in the background. 3. It'd be great if you could offer different versions of the same track that are included with the purchase. Like one with and without piano, or drums, or vocals or whatever. I find that when I have 2 or 3 different versions (all the same duration and volume) I can easily arrange them and end up creating something unique and useful for my project. I'll probably have some more thoughts, but those are first ones to come to mind. I think the idea is great, and there's a wide open market. jonesy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafreaking Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 The prices are great, the only issue you could possibly face is the amount and variety of tracks you will need to have available to make it worth it for all in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quirky Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 I'd like some feedback on this first before I decide to go ahead with it or not as the amount of work involved here is very significant. In particular what do you need from such a service? Versatility & Quality Not just 'cinematic' or hipster pop&poll. Sometimes I may need more ethnic stuff, percussion only, solo instruments, and/or different variations of the same theme. With real, acoustic instruments! Short musical sound effects would be welcome, too. Packages & Bundles In certain projects, I might want to have a set of different soundtracks, like two different variations of the same theme, as per described above, along with shorter pieces for highlights or other key elements, cuts etc. There could be another bundle price for a music bundle. Suppose that's the second best thing for collaborating with a composer/musician directly. What projects do you need music for... And what do you think of the pricing? For documentaries, short feature films / interviews for small company/entrepreneur, non-profit and municipal clients, commercial / online ads for the same kind of clients, personal and other non-profit projects, demoreel, that sort of things. The pricing seems fairly reasonable. Although I wouldn't mind if there was even more versatility between the personal work on zero budget on YouTube / Vimeo (non-commercial) and the features, documentaries and short films with a crew. What if there was yet another category, like For documentaries and short films without a crew, (non-commercial), or something along those lines? Another addition could be the music bundles, separate from the single track prices. One thing is for sure, though, with or without these, the amount of work would indeed be significant, and it'll likely take a significant amount of time, too. Good luck if you do decide to go for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonesx24 Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 As a former (professional) composer, if the quality of work is up to the standard you say it is, these prices are more than reasonable. Never understood why us composers are so willing to sell ourselves out like this...but hey I'm on the other side now. Separating "small client" and "large client" seems like a challenge. I would recommend just splitting it into for profit and non-for profit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Andrew Reid Posted May 29, 2014 Author Administrators Share Posted May 29, 2014 As a former (professional) composer, if the quality of work is up to the standard you say it is, these prices are more than reasonable. Never understood why us composers are so willing to sell ourselves out like this...but hey I'm on the other side now. Separating "small client" and "large client" seems like a challenge. I would recommend just splitting it into for profit and non-for profit I agree the distinction between small and large scale commercial work is a bit unnecessary when it comes to music licensing fees. And it is unlikely they will need 10 tracks so I have reduced this to 3 of their choice and for more than that it will be on a case by case basis. Here's the simplified pricing... Personal work on Vimeo / YouTube (non-commercial, non-profit) $19 - 1 track $49 - 5 tracks $99 - 10 tracks Commercial work $199 - 1 track $399 - 3 tracks Custom quote - more than 3 tracks Features, documentaries and shorts $199 - 1 track $499 - 3 tracks Custom quote - more than 3 tracks As you can see the pricing for personal work on Vimeo is very low as musicians want to give something back to the community and so I do I. You'd get a lot of use out of 10 tracks for uploading personal work, reels, camera tests, etc. so I think $99 is worth the money, to have that weight off one's shoulders over the legal implications of using non-licensed copyrighted work. andy lee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quirky Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Okay, with another look and thought, the simplified pricing looks pretty reasonable. Let's hope the project will take off, with plenty of musicians opting in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafreaking Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Would wedding films also come under commercial work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy lee Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 eeer ....yes if you get paid!! thats commercial work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Andrew Reid Posted May 29, 2014 Author Administrators Share Posted May 29, 2014 Correct, commercial work = paid work. Reward the musician not just yourself :) trafficarte, Rudolf and andy lee 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Andrew Reid Posted May 29, 2014 Author Administrators Share Posted May 29, 2014 Okay, with another look and thought, the simplified pricing looks pretty reasonable. Let's hope the project will take off, with plenty of musicians opting in. It won't be about quantity, but quality. Hand picked stuff. I can't compete with The Music Bed on the sheer amount of sleep inducing ambience ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucian Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Impressed to see you taking matters into you own hands. No requests here, all sounds great! well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafreaking Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 eeer ....yes if you get paid!! thats commercial work Correct, commercial work = paid work. Reward the musician not just yourself :) Err, So does commercial apply to stuff that could go on television too? If so, it's a bargain. And will these be single use or multi use (obviously with a limit to the uses). Still feel the price for use in Shorts as well as Documentaries should be less than commercial use. It won't be about quantity, but quality. Hand picked stuff. I can't compete with The Music Bed on the sheer amount of sleep inducing ambience ;) Amen! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quirky Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 It won't be about quantity, but quality. Hand picked stuff. I can't compete with The Music Bed on the sheer amount of sleep inducing ambience ;) Well duh, that much should be screamingly obvious. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudolf Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 I think it is great if such an initiative is launched. For sure this is also a big amount of work. The concept and pricing is very promising and looking good! However I see some problems: Probably everybody who makes a video spends some/a lot of time to choose the right and unique music in order to make the video/piece of art very special and unique. You don't want to share your soundtrack with hundreds of people as you don't want to share your footage. This is a big dilemma with library music. That is also the reason why I don't use preset sounds... So, if this shall work I think there has to be an archive or pool which offers the possibility to find something unique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Andrew Reid Posted May 30, 2014 Author Administrators Share Posted May 30, 2014 There would likely be an option for custom scores at a higher price. Uniqueness doesn't become a problem until the track has been sold 2000 times or so, and by that point, we'll have more material... and be able to invest back into the material... upping the quantity AND quality at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikkor Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 If you need a classical pianist you can PM me, I live with one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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