Audiosocket Launches Music Licensing Storefront, New Indie Artist Revenue Stream

Audiosocket has entered the second phase of its Music as a Service (MaaS) suite of offerings with the launch of MaaS: Storefront. It takes the music licensing service they've provided via API (like Vimeo Music) and turns it into a plug and play solution for digital media companies and for sites featuring user-created content. In the process, they've expand the potential licensing revenue for indie artists.

I spoke yesterday with Jenn Miller, the President and Co-Founder of AudioSocket, who filled me in on the new product, the bigger picture and what it means for indie artists. Today's announcement describes MaaS: Storefront as:

"delivering Audiosocket's well vetted catalog of more than 33,000 pre-cleared songs from emerging artists to communities that need legally licensed music for their content creators. Hosted and managed by Audiosocket, MaaS: Storefront is completely customizable, with no integration requirements. Once deployed, communities will be able to easily search for, discover, and license songs for non-commercial or commercial purposes."

The launch of MaaS: Storefront includes partnerships with IndieFlix, LearnCreate and The National Film Festival for Talented Youth.

As you can see in the below control panel screenshot, the Storefront is designed to service music based on a variety of characteristics which is a key element in helping those with licensing needs sort out the growing library that includes music from "more than 1900 emerging bands, composers and record labels."

LearnCreate MaaS: Storefront Control Panel (Click to Enlarge)

Miller revealed that they are only accepting 2 to 3 per cent of the music submitted and their emerging critera is based on what they're actually placing. I have to admit, when I previously wrote about the Vimeo Music Store, I was a bit dubious about how well musicians would do, given that their flexible pricing at Vimeo includes $1.99 tracks for noncommercial use. As it turns out, many artists are doing quite well.

Miller shared the information that out of the last two check runs they paid one third of the artists. Payments have ranged from $15 to $20,000 since licensing options do include high end placement in such outlets as commercials. But what really struck me is that some artists are making over $1000 a month off licensing for use in noncommercial videos and that the limited $98 commercial licenses are also showing positive results.

In addition, some artists are finding that new fans are discovering their music through its use in such videos. While yet another opportunity for discovery may cause one's eyes to glaze over, the fact that discovery is coming through paid placements is a significant development.

Launching plug and play storefronts that can be setup within 24 hours or less means that the terrain available for music licensing can be greatly expanded. In addition, Audiosocket has plans for numerous variations on this theme tailored to specific communities that need affordable licensed music.

For example, folks shooting videos of weddings have very specific needs including licensing that allows their clients to post wedding videos on sites like YouTube. Though one might stretch current offerings to include those needs, by targetting specific communities and tailoring pricing to those communities, Audiosocket will be able to reach a much broader market in the long run.

This development means that Audiosocket will become an increasingly powerful means of revenue generation for artists whose work is regularly licensed. Though they are focusing on recruiting musicians directly via their own A&R team, you can submit your music at the site at any time and then be included in the pool of music powering both current and future licensing channels.

Hypebot contributor Clyde Smith maintains his freelance writing hub at Flux Research and blogs at All World Dance and This Business of Blogging. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.