Several people have emailed me in the past few weeks asking about good resources for music to add to their videos. It prompted me to write a post to help you guys get a jumpstart on finding good tunes to go with your commercial work.
Option 1
How could I not recommend that you search the Poptent network for musicians? There are dozens of musicians, audio engineers and composers there now, and more joining every day. Strike up a conversation with them. Listen to a few of their tracks. Ask them to collaborate! Do you know musicians who should be on Poptent? Invite them!
Option 2
Find some royalty free music. For example, I was just reading on TechCrunch today that iStockPhoto - the great crowdsource photo resource - just launched their new product iStockAudio.
iStock’s Standard Audio collection now includes more than 11,000 royalty-free, user-generated sound effects and music tracks from 500+ artists along with a fresh Pump Audio collection of over 18,000 single-production music tracks. Pricing hasn’t changed since its launch: royalty-free tracks still start at $2 each with Pump Audio tracks going from $29.
And that’s just one option. There are many sites like this out there cropping up on the web. Here is Mashable’s list of 100+ music resources on the web (warning: this list is nearly 2 years old, it might need some updating, but it’s a good place to start).
[update] I’ve just been looking into more companies that sell inexpensive royalty-free music and found Jamendo. They’re definitely worth a look, as well.
Option 3
One of the best thing to do if you have the time and the means, in my opinion, is to make the music yourself. There are great programs out there that offer a platform for creating music quickly and easily. I use Garage Band for Mac, but there’s also several similar music apps for PCs such as Cakewalk Home Studio, Guitar Pro and Fruity Loops.
Option 4
Befriend your favorite local band. Go to one of their shows, walk up to them after they play and say “Hi, would you like to contribute one of your songs to a video I’m making?” Make a deal with them if your video gets purchased. So many indie bands are looking for new and different outlets just as you are. I can assure you (knowing a lot of indie musicians myself), a lot of them will be more than happy to share or collaborate. Search MySpace Music in your area, or keep an eye on the local listings for clubs in your town.
Conclusion
We all know music is a highly important part of the visual medium of film and video. Get creative. Don’t leave the tunes to the last minute or use filler. It’ll show. There are so many ways to find superb music for use in your projects, be they commercials for Poptent or your own personal work.
Good luck, and by all means share your insights on the comments below. I know I’m only scratching the surface, so let me know about something that’s worked for you.
[update 2] Post Script
I thought it’d be cool to add this recent video from Samantha Ettus. In it, she interviews award winning Hollywood soundtrack producer Ali Dee.
March 20th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Hey another good resource for audio is <a href=”http://audiojungle.net/”Audio Jungle.
Nice post though, I always struggle with music.
March 20th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Lets try that again. Here is the link: http://audiojungle.net/
March 20th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
great suggestions! i like a combo of creative commons or public domain music mixed with easily downloadable free sound fx from the Freesound Project. You can make some great music with just Freesound and Garageband - even if you are not a musician!
another favorite of mine is Jazz-on-Line http://www.jazz-on-line.com/. thousands of jazz tunes in the public domain.
One thing is for sure. if you are in doubt whether something is free, get permission! aside from being the right thing to do, there is a good chance that you will end up with a valuable collaborator.
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:44 pm
videocopilot.net proscores.
March 25th, 2009 at 10:34 am
These are all great suggestions Mark! Any creators interested in collaborating can contact me as well! Check out my website for samples of my work.
Also, another great site for music is PremiumBeat.com. Inexpensive licenses with some great artists - I’m there too!
March 27th, 2009 at 5:52 am
Great post and responses. One thing I would add is that although stock music can sometimes work, it’s rarely quite as good as a real score. To see what I mean, check out the score I did for steveola’s Stouffers ad:
http://www.poptent.net/media/9930
It’s hard to imagine library music catching all of the proper hits in the visual, the emotional context, the dynamics, and so on.
I think one analogy would be whether you think stock footage is just as good as shooting specifically to a script. My guess is probably not.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
I’m available for any of your musical needs. I’ve been a musician for over 20 years. I can create original music for your production. I use real instruments and/or computer generated scores to create unique content. As soon as I finish my dog toy ad, I will be finishing up my demo reel. My rates are reasonable and I also love to barter or trade. IOU’s can be really handy!