Pump Audio connects independent music with Television, film and advertising music supervisors. If your music gets used, they keep 50% and you get 50%. No upfront fee.
Your thoughts? Have these guys made you any money?
Music culture, strategy and thinking in the digital age
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These guys have had my music for almost two years and I haven’t seen a dime.
Now, maybe that’s because my music sucks – who am I to judge? – but I think the likelier explanation is that Pump’s database is a microcosm of the Internet, and the whole needle-in-a-haystack thing applies there just as it does in the online world at large.
Take the time you’d spend submitting your music and invest it in a couple of real phone calls to individual music supervisors who are looking for songs like yours.
Pump Audio was bought by Getty Images for $47 Million so the guys who started the company have definitely made some cash. Rumble Fish is another one that offers much of the same services. The biggest problem is that people looking to license music have so many different requirements and budgets that Pump Audio and similar companies can only satisfy a small section of the market.
If you need music to hit certain cues in your visuals, then you need to go to a composer or a music house. If you’re on a very small budget then you’ve got to use stock music. If you want a well-known recording then you’ve got to go through the major labels & publishers, but if you want to re-record a popular song like Grey NYC did for the Hess Truck, turning “Free Ride” into “Hess Ride,” then you just have to go through the publisher.
With so many different angles that a client can come from, only a fraction of the market for music licensing is looking for original, not-scored, music by independent artists. However Pump Audio seems to have a fairly dominant hold on that niche.
got my first cheque the other day from pump. it was quite a nice surprise actually. good too with the current dollar to sterling exchange rate.
The problem with these ‘libraries’ is:
1. You have to sift through a lot of music to find something you like – most Production Music libraries will have a consistent level and will be easily searchable
2. You don’t know if the music will be available in time-specific edits (15, 30 and 60 seconds) – again, library companies will do this with every track they release
3. People looking at your music don’t know if they can get alternative versions easily – they are only likely to use your music if the version available is suitable – if they went through a library they would have a choice of underscores, beds and alternative mixes
If you’re interested in taking this route, go and listen to the music in an existing library (see, for example, Boosey & Hawkes – link on my name) and make sure you are offering services on a par. There is a long-established, professional industry out there that you are competing with. And the prices for your music and theirs probably aren’t that different!
Our music is in their database for about 9 months. It was quite a lot of paperwork tot get it there. No results yet. But what’s to blame?
Just having a butchers at them now,
What’s the deal with regard to Publishing Royalties here?
FWIW, I’ve seen Pump Audio listed in the credits of quite a few cable TV shows. That’s doesn’t necessarily mean you have a decent shot at that just by submitting. But those kinds of shows are using them as a resource.
Obviously it comes down to the quality of the music and familiarity with the artist. If you’re submitting and just waiting for someone to randomly find you on there, you might never make a dime.
Pump Audio has sent us a few checks in the 2-3 years of being signed up with them. Not sure if anyone is getting rich out there, but it’s certainly a nice surprise each time.
PUMP AUDIO as of March 2009 has been a major disappointment for me. If your a little guy trying to get your music heard, DO NOT join PUMP. Try other smaller libraries who NEED to sell music. I have not had my music placed even once with PUMP because I was filed under “INDY ARTIST”. Now, with their GETTYS ISTOCK MUSIC page, your song will sell for $ 40 -$80 dollars at most. When I asked PUMP on the phone why they were selling my song for $40 bucks (In which they get 20 , I get 20 in the 50-50 split) they said their “experts” said it was all my Tunes were worth. I told them I was installing a pool in my back yard with the licensing fees other libraries had gotten me for the same music, and would they reconsider pushing my tune for more than $40 buck, they said no, send in a written request and we’ll remove you from the PUMP AUDIO catalog. Gladly I will do that, PUMP sucks.