Music and Sound NEWS

CD Baby is partnering with music licensing company Rumblefish to launch a sync licensing service for independent musicians. CD Baby artists now can generate revenue by licensing their music for movies, TV shows, ads, video games, apps, and YouTube.

(Portland, OR) -- Over the past decade, independent artists have earned significant income from traditional licensing opportunities in TV and film, but with YouTube quickly becoming the most popular online music-discovery platform, there are countless opportunities to license music on a much smaller scale.

"Sure, you can make a bundle by getting placement in a feature film,” said CD Baby president Brian Felsen, “but you also can make money by getting your song in 500 home movies of cats doing cartwheels. We are giving independent artists the opportunity to do both. The equivalent of 9 years of video is uploaded to YouTube everyday. That's a lot of video, and most of it could benefit from including some great independent music."

CD Baby Sync Licensing, which launches today, is powered by Portland-based Rumblefish, a leader in the music licensing industry. The program is free to all CD Baby members. Artists can choose to opt in (or opt out) at anytime.

"CD Baby has always been a leader in independent music, and we're humbled to plug their amazing catalog into the worlds of social media and traditional sync licensing," said Rumblefish Founder and CEO Paul Anthony. "The opportunities in sync licensing have never been bigger.”

In addition to being marketed for use in TV, movies and games, CD Baby artists’ music will be included in a database of songs that YouTube allows video-makers to choose from in their YouTube accounts.

"So if you or I upload a video of our birthday party or camping trip,” said Felsen, “YouTube will allow us to throw some music in the background with just a few clicks. You don't even have to edit the video - it's built into YouTube. When a CD Baby artist's music is used, then that artist gets paid. If the video goes viral, the artist gets paid a lot.”

YouTube also will analyze and identify videos that contain CD Baby music prior to upload and pay royalties on those tracks as well. Artists will even get paid for the videos they upload themselves.

“We're really excited about this new sync licensing partnership,” said Felsen, “as it opens up new revenue streams for independent artists. Millions of people are watching music videos - and videos that feature music - on YouTube every day. Now artists will get paid for it.”





Resources:

www.cdbaby.com