Royalty Free Music Biz Growing
The business of royalty free music (where one pays a one-time fee to license a music track in perpetuity for any use) is growing. Jupiter Images has made an absolute killing in the image licensing industry by acquiring a ton of royalty-free stock photography. Now they're beginning to amass the largest collection of royalty-free music available for licensing, with their most recent acquisition of Crank City Music, an RF music producer.
Apparently, musicians that are able to produce quality, catchy, modern music to serve as generic backing for TV, video, film, etc. can do quite well. (That is, as long as your ego will allow you to produce music for business' sake, and not art's.) Keep an eye out for this industry...
(story and pic via About The Image)
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Comments
Yeah, I wonder what makes one musician go for "royalty-free" and one hold fast to wanting royalties...
It reminds me slight of the screenplay vs. play script business. If a screenwriter sells a script, s/he gets a one-time fee, and no matter how well the movie does, never sees another dime. A playwright, on the other hand, retains the rights and can make money off of royalties for the rest of his/her life. Granted, you get more money upfront from selling a screenplay, but it is just that--selling it. Not "loaning" or "renting" it like a playwright would do.
Anyway, just curious what the motivating factors are for making the decision.
Posted by: Tara | April 1, 2006 02:05 PM
I think it's refreshing to see artists today looking to try a different avenue of work. I think scoring films is one of the hardest things to do. And if a band can do it, and make money from it I say, go for it!
Posted by: Royalty Free Music | September 29, 2006 03:47 PM