There’s some late breaking news from video sharing site YouTube and music licensing company RumbleFish this afternoon. The two companies will be partnering with one another to make it easier for YouTube users to find decent music and sound tracks for their videos. Rumblefish announced it will launch Friendly Music at www.friendlymusic.com where users can purchase copyright-protected tracks for only $1.99 per song per video.
The fee will entitle the YouTube video producer to “non-commercial, unlimited views rights in perpetuity” according to Rumblefish founder Paul Anthony. Friendly Music will start with 35,000 tracks and will add new music tracks daily. Don’t expect songs from big name artists at first but there’s plenty of great music that can be used with online videos that come from unknown artists. The current YouTube Audio Swap feature which also provides music from RumbleFish for free will live on. The big difference here is YouTube users seemingly will be able to use portions of songs and will be able to keep their own audio instead of replacing it all with music from Audio Swap. The FriendlyMusic service officially launches on Tuesday June 29, 2010 so we can expect more details at that time.
So far, the only restriction seems to be the licensed songs can’t be used as part of YouTube’s revenue sharing program but we will be sure to watch for more details and keep you updated. Greater availability of good licensed music will be terrific for both video producers and YouTube viewers alike so we think this is a great development.
Friendly Music Twitter Page
Friendly Music YouTube Channel
Friendly Music Intro Video Below
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