8. Now, let’s find out how we can get you started on Pond5 as a contributor. New Year – New Start, International Creativity Month and Arab Spring: 10th Anniversary. The more placements you get, the more passive income you can earn for the rest of your life. Let me share my experience after 1 year selling stock footage in microstock platforms. I ask because you may have difficulty getting your tracks out. You need to know what rights you’ll be keeping and which ones you’ll be giving away (if any). Sure, they’re not actively promoting your music, but how many people do you have coming to your website on a daily basis? Even if I were to hire a lawyer one day, I’d want to speak the same “language” as him/her. Pond5 templates are just templates you can create to save yourself some time when uploading multiple tracks. It’s very important that you take care of that first though. I think that’s what would benefit you the most, not uploading to more non-exclusive libraries. If you haven’t released the track in the past, you’ll be assigned one if it’s required by the platform you’re uploading to. Pond5 doesn’t actively promote your music, although they do run marketing campaigns. Hey, great article just had my first song approved on Pond 5, I have a few questions that would help me out and I’m sure others reading this. If you want to know more about Music and Sounds Effects at Pond5, you can also check our full Pondcast Episode 4: Music (the Infauxmercial below gives you a hint of what’s there), our MediaMaker’s Spotlight and interview with Joel Hunger or start browsing Pond5’s collection of Music and SDX right now. 8. Exclusive agreements, on the other hand, mean that you are exclusively selling your content with that company and that company only. If you are exclusively selling still photos, I would say don’t even waste your time with Pond5. However, you’ll need to double-check for the time being using services like TuneSat (it’s the one I personally use). Which country do you have residency with? I recommend typing into Google: [your country] performance rights organization. By empowering artists to set their own prices, Pond5 is unique among its competitors. You could even include your different alt-mixes titles, but that’s optional as well. Youtube monetization) because that would violate their terms of use. Since Pond5 is non-exclusive, you basically get to keep 100% of your writer’s share and 100% of the publishing. 7. If you’re just starting out in the music licensing business, this is much more to your advantage. It’s actually kind of insulting (so no, you’re completely right to think that your music worth more than 15$). After all, there’s a big difference in selling stock footage and selling stock photography. Welcome to Pond5! What most people won’t tell you about uploading music to sites like Pond5 is that it should be “licensable”. ... New Start, International Creativity Month, Arab Spring: 10th Anniversary. There aren’t any specific genres or styles that sell more, but there are certainly trends. 1. editing the songs (15sec, 30sec, 45sec). To elaborate on what I mentioned earlier, yes, Pond5 is royalty-free. You’ve actually got the right strategy increasing the price on your most successful tracks. Statistically speaking, you’ll be getting tracks accepted much more easily on Pond5. Similarly, you can also research your country’s PRO for more information. Although they’re technically the PROs for the United States, foreigners can also join. With a new video added literally every second, Pond5 is one of the leaders of the stock video industry. There are a LOT of non-exclusive libraries out there…are you aware of any aggregation services that will allow you to upload tracks to multiple platforms at the same time? Selling licenses to your music (especially through music libraries) can become quite problematic if you use one of these services. Can you earn your living by selling music on Pond5? Host: ftp.pond5.com . One of my favourite parts about Pond5 is that you retain complete creative freedom! For starters, I keep the name of my track in the title and include the additional information like this: I’ve seen others do similar, but with slight variations as well. Getting the ball rolling takes some patience, but I promise you that it’s possible! Thanks a lot for this valuable information. 3. (Instrumentation? It seems like it’s becoming a standard in television and film, but I have no way of confirming that. If you have music that’s just sitting on the shelves, you should totally leverage Pond5! Sorry if these questions are a bit silly since I probably missed some important information throughout the article, but I would really appreciate your take on these as it would really clear things up for me. What this means is that you’ll be free to distribute your music to other non-exclusive libraries. It’s important to realize that BMI doesn’t do any “tracking” for you. 2 Upload Your Images. Started by Dreamframer Pond5. The automatic selling price Pond 5 suggests is $15. 9. Please, make sure that you don’t forget to include the special keyword in your metadata, which you can find attached to the themes so we can track down your work. I am a music writer but I just do it for fun but this article is an eye-opener! That’s the general consensus though! Started by melastmohican Pond5. In other words, music libraries (exclusive/non-exclusive) are like brokers. Here are few guidelines to make sure your track is licensable: These are just a few guidelines I followed while learning how to create licensable music. If you want other options, you can search for non-exclusive libraries on Google, but trust me when I say these two are the best (in terms of traffic, that is). The disadvantage with non-exclusive libraries though, as I already stated, is that they’re not actively marketing your tracks, BUT…, Not all exclusive libraries will do your music justice. Hover your cursor over your account avatar, prompting the drop-down menu . The length usually correspond to the length of commercials/trailers. You just need to configure that when uploading your music (or after). Thanks for reading! You have nothing to lose by giving it a try and if ever you find a better library to work with, you can always move your music to their catalog. 6. Click. It isn’t a perfect system, so you’ll still need to do your homework to make sure you’re receiving your royalties. Why does Pond5 offer me to have my songs in a ‘collection’? I had trouble making sales on Pond5 as well which is why I eventually moved away from non-exclusive libraries. I’m not demonizing AudioJungle, I think it’s still an excellent alternative. What do you recommend regarding ISRC codes? Just remember to register with your local PRO before submitting so that you maximize your income. – ISWC is for compositions. 8. 7. That being said, you can in fact make your living by learning how to sell music on Pond5. If nothing else, Pond5 is the ultimate educational resource for music licensing. While all platforms give contributors a similar upload experience, some offer better rates than others. In other words, you can’t have multiple ISRC codes for the same track, so make sure to keep track of these. Press the button START SELLING That’s why I suggested using TuneSat in the previous section for both television and online placements. I really appreciate and like what you are doing. 6. I just want everyone to realize that with a bit of hard work, having success in your music career is within arm’s reach. Based on those media types, I can say that Pond5 seem to … PRO stands for performance rights organization. Also I have never even considered with a P.R.O. Wow! For example, they may offer you an opportunity to provide free downloads of your music for the occasion, but you can obviously refuse. To do this, use the button: Sell your media; at the bottom of the page. (with a few clips on dissolve and fotolia that never started selling like the other agencies). The reason I recommend bouncing your projects in 24-bit/48 kHz is because most music libraries usually ask for that. – ISRC is for recordings Click. According to Pond5 “Before uploading clips of public buildings or landmarks, do a bit of research to see if you can legally sell images of it. Although I’m no lawyer, I make it a point to have the same understanding as one, why? – Email marketing … Trust me when I say there’s room for every genre of music in this industry, especially if it’s upbeat. As far as costs, it’s completely free to sign-up. To answer your second question… Pond5 allows you to publish non-royalty-free music. This is exactly what I have been looking for and I think giving it a try won’t be a bad idea. For me, it’s a mixture of photography, vectors, video footage and sound effects. I also have my tracks in content ID but if I get licensed seems I will have to opt out. Explore our free apps below to start reinventing your workflow today. What does pricing method ‘exclude from template’ mean? However, rest assured that Pond5 is NON-EXCLUSIVE which means you can withdraw your music at any point. Every track you submit needs to be reviewed by Pond5’s team before being added to the marketplace. To answer your first question, you’ll need to do some promotion on your end to get your music discovered by potential content creators and/or music supervisors. I’m not an expert in music licensing, so I’m simply sharing my experience. You can determine for yourself which platform suits your production style the best. 5. Lastly, congratulations on getting your tracks accepted! However, AudioJungle fixes the price for every track on the marketplace at $19. If you aren’t familiar with these terms, you’ll need to understand them before moving on. Your PRO issues a different code called the ISWC. At the same time, I don't think anyone can really expect consistency in sales there with videos until you have at least 1,000 clips online. I have wondered for a while on how I’m going to sell my music. ... Start Selling. For about six months I only had around 50 clips at each agency, then around 300, finally growing to around 750 for the last six months. Does Pond 5 have an edit mechanism, or do I have to pay my sound engineer do that? FOX is the one responsible for paying “blanket fees” to performing rights organizations (PROs). I sell some at game sites and their prices are very low. I’m thrilled to hear that you’ve started looking for solutions. As far as performance royalties are concerned, you’ll only need the ISWC code. 3. For example, if your music gets placed in trailers and those trailers end up broadcasting on FOX…. See our Policy to change cookie preferences on your device. In my honest opinion, it’s the best marketplace if you’re just getting started in the music licensing business. It’s true that music streaming doesn’t provide much income (unless you get millions of plays, that is). Although still trying to understand the licensing part. It means the DAW(s) used to create the track. So I say you have nothing to lose by learning how to sell your music on Pond5. This includes the use of personal data and cookies to enhance site usage and enable personalized ads. PROs are simply responsible for collecting royalties on your behalf. In these types of deals, you don’t hand over any of those rights. News & Updates. The idea is to create music that will serve the needs of others. It’s actually almost identical to blogging in that respect and I encourage you to focus on growing both of these assets. T alking about earnings, the particularity of Pond5 is that it allows contributors to fix the selling price of their works (but it is also possible to leave to Pond5 this faculty) with a single and unchangable type of commission of 50%, one of the highest in circulation.It is not yet scheduled a subscription plan for buyers. And there’s more, let’s compare searches on Google for Pond5 along the time. Here are my tips for everyone who starts in stock footage industry: Start small. What is a Pond 5 ‘template’? It’s worth noting that these issues are easier to resolve with exclusive libraries because they have more incentive to help you out (part of your royalties). It is really great for one to turn his passion into a full time income. Those are the PROs for the United States, but foreigners are capable of joining as well. You’ll quickly start to see which songs are selling and this’ll allow you to refine your music production skills to meet the industry’s demands. If you don’t do that, you won’t be earning royalties! What do you name your tracks? If at any point you’d like to sign exclusively with another music library that can GUARANTEE you placements, then go for it! I also send out weekly newsletters to keep you informed on all our latest content (blog posts, courses, etc…), so consider subscribing. Also, be prepared to have your tracks rejected if they’re not up to point. That’s why I encourage you to consider exclusive music libraries instead. This included any alternate mixes of your projects. You’ll need to provide your own artwork though. First of all, how does BMI actually track the use of my works from Pond5? Reinvent the Way You Work With our free AI-powered search tools and custom-built integrations for popular editing software, you can find what you need faster and bring the power of Pond5 directly into your timeline. What is an “AE” template? ... is granted the right to synchronize this music to film or other media, and to apply basic editing (such as setting start/end points, fades, etc. Sell Your Media. No tracks rejected on Pond5, every other track rejected on Audio Jungle, and I really dig Pond5's 50% commission rate vs Audio Jungle's 33% (for non-exclusive authors.) If my covers get used, all the writers, publishers get paid, right? You’ll be violating Pond5’s terms of service if any of their clients have difficulty when using your tracks (i.e. I personally think it’s the best platform to get started. Luckily, it’s easy to forgive Pond5’s licensing pitfalls thanks to the plethora of payment options the site offers.