Have you ever wondered how to start selling your music and/or sound effects on Pond5? Great! Here’s your chance to find out about becoming an audio artist with Pond5’s audio curator Mike Pace! In this short video he covers the basics of all you need to know, from genres, file formats and duration to information about Performance Rights Organizations (PRO’s, for short!), tagging and much much more!
Now that you know what you need, it’s time you found your own voice and style in the marketplace. That’s why we invited Michael Musco, one of our favorite music contributors, to give his take on what matters most to succeed in the business. Take a look at his tips on what to keep in mind as you invest in you own music production for Pond5.
(By Michael Musco, from MuscoSound)
If you are brand new to the idea of royalty-free music and music licensing, then let me help get you started on the right track (no pun intended!). More than likely, as a music maker, you’ve been used to performing and recording entertainment music. And what does this mean, exactly? This is basically music for the sole purpose of enjoyment and entertainment. However, when it comes to stock or production music, you have to think of it differently.
Produce With a Purpose
Your content is most likely going to be used to complement visuals, so if you can imagine a buyer being able to use your song as a backing track, then you’re probably taking the right steps.
The great thing that I’ve found being a contributor to Pond5 is that you can create whatever type of music you want, and it is up to YOU as the musician to develop your own niche and sound. If you’re into making movie trailer music, you have complete freedom to do that! The key is making trailer music with your unique sound/style, and to make sure the music works great for that purpose.
Test your own music beforehand.
One of the techniques I use is to make sure my music works great with end applications is by sync’ing the music with a preview video from Pond5’s After Effects projects. They are downloadable, small file sizes, and are a great way to see how the music works with video. I have found many times that the melodies I thought were awesome were too much in your face and took away from the usefulness and its overall commercial appeal when sync’d up.
Research the popular music in the niche you want to create music in.
Listen for the common trends or themes and incorporate those ideas with your own unique style. Be original but be relevant.
Finally check out the Pond5 forums. Work on getting to know your potential clients. The more you develop an understanding for what they are looking for the better you can craft your music catalog for them.
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. Welcome to Pond5!