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Cool Mark, I also put a link in the “Newbie Info” page to your post.
Thanks!
Hi Mark, there is a library called Action Strings that Native Instruments puts out for Kontakt. Pre-recorded action strings and used judiciously is very believable (IMHO).
Yes indeed. Here’s their FAQ:
FAQ
What is Audiam?
Audiam gets artists paid when their music is used on YouTube.
Where does the money come from?
Advertising. Advertisers pay YouTube for ads on videos. YouTube takes a percentage of this ad money and pays out the rest. When YouTube gets paid, so do you.
How does it work?
Audiam is free to use.
To get going:
Create a free Audiam account,
Upload a recording(s) of your song(s)
Tell us the song name, the artist and who wrote the song.Once we get the song and information, we then go to work using our own and YouTube’s technology to find all the videos in YouTube that have your music in it. When we find these videos, we authorize YouTube to put text ads and/or commercials in or on the videos. When those ads generate advertising revenue, the advertiser pays YouTube and we get you your share.
Click here to get a free PDF explaining in detail Why YouTube Must Pay You When It Makes Money on Your Videos.
When does an ad generate revenue?A video generates revenue if the text or banner is clicked on or if the whole commercial, or a minimum of 30 seconds of the commercial, is watched.
Can’t I do this myself?
You can do this by yourself if you are able to enter into direct licensing agreements with YouTube for the recording of the song (called the “Master”) and the lyrics and melody of the song (called the “Composition”).
Audiam has these contracts as well as staff and infrastructure to:
Find videos that use your music
Get text ads or commercials placed in or on them
Increase the amount of ad money you make
Teach you how to get found more often in YouTube
Get you your share of the money
Make sure other people are not telling YouTube they own your musicWhat rights am I granting Audiam and for how long?
You’re granting Audiam the right to exclusively represent your recordings (the Master) and lyrics and melody (the Composition) for YouTube for the world for twelve months from the day you submit a song to us for the first time. The term renews for another twelve months (renewal is free) unless you choose to cancel. We’ll give you plenty of notice when the annual term is about to expire, so you can choose to opt out of renewal (also free).
You can read the full Terms and Conditions here.
Why Do You Need Exclusive Rights?
We need the exclusive right because YouTube requires us to have the exclusive right.
Do I still control my rights?
Yes. Audiam does not own your copyrights, you do. We work for you.
What do I need to use Audiam?You need:
the rights to the music
a way to upload the song to us
information on who wrote the song
a valid email address
to be over 18 (or have your parent or guardian represent you)
to be a resident of any country in the world except for the United States (the service will be open to U.S. artists shortly).Why can’t residents of the U.S. use Audiam right now?
We are refining the service and will be launching it shortly for U.S. residents very soon.
What’s an ISRC and do I need one?
“ISRC” stands for “International Standard Recording Code.” You pay an organization, and they give you a unique number that you can choose to associate with one of your songs. You don’t need one, but if you have one for your song you can use it at Audiam.
NOTE: YouTube doesn’t track the use of recordings of song by ISRC codes.
Do I need to include album information?
No.
Does my song need to have been “released” or made available on iTunes or publicly some other way?
No.
Do I have to “control the rights” to the recording of the song (the “Master”) to use Audiam?
Yes.
How do I know if I “control the rights” to the recoding of the song (the “Master”)?
You control the Master if:
You recorded the song and never assigned the rights to the recording to anyone else (for example, by signing a label/record contract), or
Someone else assigned the rights of their recording to you.If you recorded the song yourself, you probably control the rights.
Do I have to “control the rights” to the lyrics and melody (the “Composition”) for YouTube to use Audiam?Yes, you must control at least some percentage of the lyrics and melody (the “Composition”). If you control or own the Composition, in whole or in part, we’ll get you your share of the money, just as we do for the recording of the song (the “Master”).
How do I know if I “control the rights” to the lyrics and melody (the “Composition”) for YouTube?The lyrics and melody to a song are called a “Composition.” If you wrote the lyrics and melody (alone or with others), then you (and any others you wrote the song with) own all or some of the “Composition.”
You would only lose this right if you assigned it to someone else.
What if more than one person wrote the lyrics and melody (the “Composition”)?If someone else co-wrote the lyrics and melody (the “Composition”) with you, they may control a percentage. Audiam only represents you, not them, and we’ll get you your share of the money. Co-owners of the Composition either need to find a way get their share of the money themselves or join Audiam and have us get it for them.
Can I use Audiam if I’m a member of a Performing Rights Organization (PRO)?
Yes. There are no conflicts or problems. You are free to be a member of PROs like ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GEMA, JASRAC, PRS and any others.
Can I use Audiam if I’m NOT a member of a Performing Rights Organization (PRO)?
Yes. There are no conflicts or problems.
Does Audiam get any of my money from a PRO?
No.
Why am I sending Audiam a copy of my song?
When we get a copy of your recording, it is digitally “fingerprinted” by both Audiam and YouTube so we can scan through billions of videos in YouTube to find the ones that are using it.
We won’t give away, share, sell or use your recording in any other way.
What kind of audio files can I upload?You can upload any .mp3, .mp4 or .wav file. Upload files with the highest bit rate you have. No embedded tags, please.
What happens after I’ve uploaded my song and information to Audiam?After we get your song and information, your recordings get digitally “fingerprinted.”
Next, all the billions of videos in YouTube (past, present and future) begin to get scanned on an ongoing basis to see if there is a match between the digital “fingerprint” of your recording and the music in the video. When a match is found, we tell YouTube to allow advertising to be sold on that video.
NOTE: When YouTube gets paid for the ad, so do you.
How long until I see results?
About 12-48 hours after you upload your song to Audiam, a digital “fingerprint” is made and then the search begins to find videos on YouTube with your music in them. It can take anywhere from four days to four weeks to scan the billions of videos on YouTube to find the first results.
What if I already know of videos in YouTube that have my music in them?
If you already know about or have found videos on YouTube that have your music in them, email the YouTube URL(s) to: YouTubeVideo@audiam.com. We’ll target the specific videos and get YouTube to allow ads to be sold on them as soon as possible.
What if the YouTube video only uses a part of my recording?When the video is found, we can still cause an ad to appear and get you your proportional share of the money.
What if the YouTube video with my music in it plays on a webpage that is somewhere else besides YouTube?
No matter where the YouTube video appears on the Web, Audiam will make sure you get paid when YouTube gets paid.
Do I make money every time a YouTube video with my music in it is watched?
No. If there is a text or banner ad on the YouTube video with your music in it and the watcher clicks on the text or banner, you make money. If there is a commercial before or after the video and the watcher watches up to 30 seconds or the entire commercial, you make money.
The bottom line is, you get paid when YouTube gets paid.
How do I get links to “buy my music on iTunes, Google Play & AmazonMP3” to appear below videos that have my music in them?
Videos that have your music in them can only get these links if:
Your music is already available to buy in those services (if its not, we recommend you use SongFlow or DistroKid to distribute your music into the music services), and
You entered the same ISRC or Song Identifier on the “Add a Song” page in Audiam that you provided iTunes, Google or Amazon.We deliver this information to YouTube along with which videos have your music in them. YouTube, through its own relationships with these stores, gets information from iTunes, Google Play and AmazonMP3 that allows it to create a link to buy your music in their stores. This link appears on YouTube below the videos.
NOTE: it can take as long as four weeks for these links to appear. In addition, they do not appear 100% of the time. The best was to make sure the buy links appear is to already have your music live in the stores and enter the ISRC or Song Identifier when you’re at the Audiam “Add a Song” page.
Can I see the ad revenue and other analytical information about the YouTube videos with my music in them?
Yes. We’ll provide you this information as close to real time as we can. YouTube sends us the data and we give it to you.
Can the person who used my music in his or her video stop us from allowing YouTube to place ads on it?
No, but if they don’t like having ads on the video, the only thing they can do is take the video down.
How much money do I make?
That depends on a few factors, including the type of ad (such as a text ad or a commercial), how popular the video is and what company sold the ad (such as Google’s ad sales division or YouTube’s ad sales division). You’ll be able to log into your own YouTube account and see the information and know exactly how much you are making off of each view.
YouTube has written up a lot of information about their different types of ads. You can read more about them here.
Will I be notified when data and money have come into my account?Yes.
What percentage does Audiam take?
Audiam has a 25% administration fee of whatever it collects from YouTube. The rest goes to you.
How and when do I get paid?
Audiam will get you your money via check, PayPal, direct deposit or another money transfer method. Right now, as we are in Beta, we are paying out the money you earned within 45 days after the end of each calendar quarter. Our goal is to get this to as close to real-time reporting as possible.
Can I do a deal with a label or someone else while I am in a deal with Audiam?
Yes, they would just inherit your Audiam account.
What if I use my own song in my own video?
Because of the way YouTube set up its own systems, this presents some problems. You have three choices:
You can choose not to have any ads appears on your own video and make no money from the views.
You can allow us to authorize YouTube to put ads on your video to make money when it’s viewed.
You can link your YouTube account to Audiam, and we will then tell YouTube to place ads on all of your own videos. This may increase the amount of money made from the views.I don’t think you need to make $100k a year to benefit. An LLC (Limited Liability Company) is much easier to deal with than a corporation.
I got one about a year and a half ago with no problem. I’m in Missouri, but I don’t recall where one lives making a difference. I applied as a sole proprietor; under “Principal products/services” I put “Music Composition”. Under “Reason for Applying” I chose “Starting a new business”.
I was actually surprised at how easy it was. Check the IRS website for information on how to do it.
I’m really glad I have it. It takes the trepidation out of submitting forms that require your SS number.
I have an EIN (employer identification number) and am in the L.A. area. You need a separate entity for federal tax purposes. Mine is an LLC and in Calif. it’s $800 per year. I always use the EIN when I can.
If you are signed with another company non-exclusively it would not be legal, or ethical, to sign an exclusive agreement with another.
Dollars generated from exclusive deals are not necessarily going to be better than non-exclusive.
@soundslikejoe: Thanks for the great tip! Signed up for Competitrack and found the zumu.com ad there. Turns out they are a partner with Apple so that makes it more interesting.
Art, sorry if my “ridiculous rant” was so offensive to you.
As I (and others) have mentioned before, we are not in disagreement with much of what you say. It’s how you express it that can be off putting and insulting. There was that one rant so full of profanity it was also ridiculous and so deleted. Believe me I’m no prude, I spent 4 years in the Marine Corps so there isn’t much I haven’t heard. I think we can be better than that.
BTW the use of paragraphs would also significantly improve your communication skills. Just sayin’ 🙂
I agree with Glen. I have to do something similar with BMI. I have a commercial running now for http://www.zumu.co that was purchased from an RF site. I did chase them down, got a copy of the commercial and filed it and a jungle data sheet with BMI. According to Tunesat it’s has been running since 12-2012 literally thousands of times on many networks. We’ll see if it turns into any real money.
Within the first day I’m seeing that I’m having music played on the biography channel. My question is should that be an indicator of how frequently I’m having music played on tv?
I’ve had a few tunes make it to broadcast both in shows and commercials. More often commercials. You should listen to the detection and see if it’s in the show or a commercial on the show. I suspect that’s what it is if you don’t have your music in libraries that submit to shows.
I’m not sure how ASCAP collects for commercials but it’s a bit of a pain with BMI.
If so is it worth it to have them search worldwide or just US?
I doubt it would be worth it.
what is the correct procedure for collecting the past royalties, does Tunesat handle that or are they only prompting you to contact your PRO to handle it?
Contact your PRO for collection. Tunesat does have a service but in your case probably not much there.
Hope this helps a bit.
@MichaelL: I know you can handle it but the bigger issue is I just don’t want people here that can’t debate in a respectful manner.