Audiosocket is launching a new plan that will deliver access to its commercial music catalog through its Music-as-a-Service platform. It launched that platform in 2011 to make it easier to license music. Now, it has updated that to make it easier to license music.
The company says that it is addressing a problem that all app, games and online worlds face. That is, the traditional music licensing process that can take weeks or even months to complete.
To speed things up, Audiosocket will automate access to their globally licensed commercial catalog of 85,000+ songs from 3,000+ curated indie bands and artists to developers, content creators, and world-builders. It claims, “With the MaaS Integration Plan, companies creating digital products and experiences can now curate music they want, and license it for sync and streaming use instantly.”
Jenn Anderson-Miller, CEO & Founder, Audiosocket, said, “Our mission is to make it easy and affordable for companies to build music into their digital products. We connect the dots between amazing indie bands and artists with innovators in the digital realm to empower hassle free, immersive music integrations for any creative purpose.
“We launched Music-as-a-Service (MaaS) in 2011 to digitize and automate the licensing process for individual users, and today, we’re excited to introduce the first of our MaaS Integration subscriptions for companies who need to offer music within their own products. This plan, which allows for synching or streaming is available at the click of a button. In Q1, we will roll out MaaS Toolkit, featuring a cutting-edge suite of AI capabilities to enhance the users experience.”
What does the launch of the MaaS Integration Plan mean?
In its press release, Audiosocket lists six things that the MaaS Integration Plan means:
- Fast and Easy Licensing: In what typically would take 6-18 months of red tape to license music for broad usage, Audiosocket’s globally-cleared music catalog provides product developers and technology companies with access to licensed tracks, ready for immediate and full use.
- Musician Reach: Audiosocket’s artists are trending on TikTok, charting on Spotify, and touring around the globe – amassing over 300M+ views this year. With 75% of TikTok users saying they discover new music on the app, social media is a huge opportunity for indie musicians.
- Audiosocket’s music is available on TikTok, and has been used by some of its biggest influencers such as Charli D’Amelio, Miss Universe, and the Philadelphia Eagles.
- Musician Revenue: Making music licensing simple and affordable will also capture more revenue for musicians that is otherwise and often lost due to copyright infringement.
- Curated and Quality Tracks: Users can explore the robust music sampler for curated tracks based on specific genres, moods, or criteria. Whether the top trending songs, out-of-this-world inspirational vibes, or Barbie-esque energy – MaaS connects users to the best and highest quality music available.
- Unparalleled Flexibility: Deliver the perfect music experience with MaaS. Our robust APIs, advanced AI, and white-label solutions adapt to meet your needs and bring your vision to life.
- Affordability: SMB plans start at $7,500 per year for up to 1M users to access over 85,000 songs – bringing a single price to wide ranges of access.
What does Anderson-Miller say about the launch?
To understand more, Enterprise Times editor Ian Murphy spoke with Anderson-Miller about the launch. People have been embedding music into adverts, promotional videos, games and a host of products for years. There are proven mechanisms, so what is changing?
Anderson-Miller sees the change as being about simplifying things. Licensing music from big stars and their agents or recording companies takes a long time. What Audiosocket is addressing is a market that doesn’t have the time or money to do that.
She commented, “I’m talking to all of these startups and effectively, they’re early stage companies, they’re looking to do things, right, they can’t get popular music just there is there it is not affordable. It’s really just there’s not a path forward. But what I have is a catalogue of over 3000 bands and artists whose music is fantastic.”
Anderson-Miller also has a long history in this business from traditional licensing of music through launching its Music-as-a-Service Platform in 2011. She said, “We were the first people that made it available to like personal users and independent films and small businesses.” she continued, “I want to take that music, and I want to give my end users rights.”
What does giving rights to end users mean? According to Anderson-Miller, it means allowing them to, “publish it on social media. We have a number of these startups who are doing things where you sync music to video. In those scenarios, they have the right to go take whatever it is that they’ve created and publish it to other channels. But they also have the right to listen to the music in whatever capacity the app enables.”
It’s about getting artists paid
Look around social media, and you see people publishing their own videos to music and trying to disclaim responsibility for copyright theft. But the big companies are getting smart about that. Not only do they track down and issue cease and desist notices, but they also go after the platforms. In the case of YouTube, Anderson-Miller says that means paying out around $6 billion per year for music rights.
Anderson-Miller just wants to see artists get paid. This is where the automation comes in. By making it easy to get a license, there is little friction to doing things properly.
But there is a more complex problem than just getting some money for using music. Multiple rights holders can be involved in a track, from lyrics to the music. Everyone has their own copyright for what they have created. How does Audiosocket get people paid?
“Our agreements are tight”, said Anderson-Miller. “If it’s a band, and there are multiple rights holders, every rights holder, even if you own 1% of write or share or publish or share every single rights holder has to sign off.
“They all sign warranties and indemnification, and they cannot sample unless it’s legal sample packs that you can buy. They do have to claim that it’s all original work and every rights holder is accounted for and signed off.”
Audiosocket also has a team that enforces agreements and looks for things that aren’t right. Its musicologists have spotted things and confronted artists when things are not right.
A revenue share model that works for artists
Like all music services, payment per use is in fractions of pennies. But, at the moment, Anderson-Miller admits they cannot track every play or use of the music. What Audiosocket does do, is to help identify commercial from non-commercial use to make sure people are paying the right amount.
The music business, like other creative industries, has a very tiered payment system. A small number make big money. A slightly larger group make enough money to focus on what they create. The majority, however, still see this as a hobby with varying degrees of earning. How will Audiosocket change this?
Part of doing that is understanding the users. They have different budgets, and it is important to pitch any solution at the right level. Anderson-Miller says that by doing that, Audiosocket is able to price for the market and help artists make more money.
Much, of course, depends on the quality of the music. The better the quality, the more people want it and the more money that the artist will make. As Anderson-Miller says, there are artists making very good money and others who may not make anything over a year. Surprisingly, Audiosocket also has in-house artists. At present, that is not many, but could increase. Around 10 have had advances on albums because they do so well.
Enterprise Times: What does this mean?
This is yet another interesting evolution in music licensing. Some platforms, such as streaming music sites, have focused on new markets, such as online DJs. But that is still a niche market and one where it is hard to see where the revenue for artists really stacks up.
What Audiosocket is doing is evolving a model it knows well. Everyone wants music to make presentations, advertising materials, social media videos, apps and games more engaging. Some choose to just steal music and hope they get away with it. Others have experience in licensing music and plan for it.
By automating its MaaS Platform, Audiosocket is making it easier for a much wider body of people to legally license music. It is also returning money back to its artists and even taking some in-house.
With an increasing number of influencers on different social media markets licensing music, life looks good for artists. One viral video can be a huge boost to an artist’s career. For artists, this means a potentially huge boost to their public presence. For those licensing the music, it is a cost-effective and legal solution.
