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…
