NYTimes: For $1.99, a (Legal) Song to Add to YouTube Videos
June 27, 2010
FINALLY! We non-commerical music makers, including teachers, family archivists, and video artists have an affordable way to buy a license to use the full version of a copyrighted song for a soundtrack, and edit it as well.
No longer will we Mac-ers have to create our own songs with Garageband loops — although that’s been creative fun, and I’ll probably continue to do it on occasion, but Friendly Music sounds far, far, far more efficient.
The music licensing company, Rumblefish, will launch Friendly Music Tuesday.
[The service] offers access to more than 35,000 songs, although none of them come from the four major labels,” according to the Times. “The company says that it hopes to have deals with what it is calling name artists in the coming months. Mr. Anthony [chief executive of Rumblefish] said that the service hand-selected the songs added to the service, picking only those it thought would work well for film. Users can search the music in a variety of ways, including by genre or by mood (like love or warm summer day) and can eliminate songs with vocals…”
Being able to skip vocals in your search is invaluable. As we digital storytellers know, vocals must be used cautiously because the words can detract or contradict your narration. For instance, in a recent video I created about Peggy and Jerry’s 40th wedding anniversary after marrying at a Texaco filing station, I wanted to use either “Walk the Line” or “Folsom Prison Blues” for the Texaco scene, our crowd’s favorites at the time, but I didn’t want Johnny Cash’s words, because they had nothing to do with the story. Friendly Music hasn’t gone live yet, so I can’t check whether those songs are available without JC.
Low-Cost Graphics/Image Copyrights
Last winter I discovered Big Stock, which gives access to nearly five million images and graphics. I probably paid about $35 for copyrights to use photos and graphics, especially graphs, for the presentations I gave for the U.S. State Department in Chile in March. Again, like Friendly Music, the copyrights aren’t for commercial purposes.
Big Stock made the difference for me between trying to draw graphics — I’m lousy at it — and quickly searching for the concept, and if that concept didn’t work, then finding another that did. Sometimes a drawing worked, sometimes a stylized graphic-photo did. Sometimes, a photo.
Previously, I’d looked longingly at Flikr, et al and wishing to use some pix, but being righteous, I didn’t steal them, especially when I was modeling good behavior to teachers to use with their students. Now, I don’t have to worry.