Instead of going off-topic with Airika's post about music copyright, I thought I'd mention an idea I had (I may not be the first to think of it).

Why don't we network with local musicians who would like their music to be heard by using their stuff on our websites and slideshows? It's a win-win; we get the music for free and they get their name out.

It could be non-wedding entertainers, but I'm thinking it'd be neat to utilize the wedding singers, instrumental groups and bands that perform at events and weddings. Mix it up a bit and use a different artist for each application for a variety of sounds (instrumental for babies, rock for seniors, folk band for families, wedding singer for engagements).

What do you think of THAT idea?

I think that is a good idea.

Also, if you know of a musician that is interested in providing music why not refer them here?

With their permission of course.

I read that whole post hoping to get a referal- I just left with a not-so-clean-music-stealer feeling

I think a good number of people do this - through MySpace and other avenues. I know that I've seen information from some smaller artists/bands offering their music for use on photography websites FREE as long as the person using it provides a link back to their site. I guess it just depends on whether you can find something you like, that fits with what your site is doing, and a band willing to jump on board.

I think it's a great idea, too. I used to not care about using music in slideshows, but now I just use what's included with the software. That's fine, but after 50 slideshows it gets pretty boring!

Shannon, you going to OSPW2? I sure hope you are!

it exists

podsafe music network

Hey Shannon - I use some Stock20 tunes on my site but I use a song from Joel Hanson as the first song that comes up (Thanks Joel!)

I found out that our very own Julie Steiskal here is a friend of his (and I happen to be a huge fan of his). SO with some major coaxing from Julie, I finally gushed in an email to Joel and asked his permisson.

He said yes (obviously).

I think it is a good idea to support local artists.
I've had 5 clients in 2007 purchase his CD with that song on it.
One client actually used it as their first dance and unity candle song.

I'm actually contacting a local musician sometime this week, to see if we could work something out for my website. We'll see how it goes!

But yeah, I think it's a good idea. It is sometimes tricky to find good music though...
(I looked and looked, and then came across this gem the next weekend! She was singing at the wedding I was shooting!)

I think it's a great idea! I don't know the music biz well enough to know how to find local up and coming musicians whose work would fit our wedding slideshows. However, using wedding musicians would be easier.

I checked around on their site and don't see what the protocol for websites and slideshows is (I emailed them asking for clarification because they're advertising that the music is for pod casts). Thanks for the heads up!

Is there a trick to searching MySpace for local bands only? That's the only way I would think there is for finding artists from your area.

According to Andrew at PodShow.com... "You can't use PMN music without consent of the artist unless it is in a podcast, so if you want to use it contact the artist." Suppose if you get permission then you're good, but we can't just download it and use it without extra work.


Anyone?

Shannon,

I've contacted a whole bunch of really talented musicians around the country and I'm putting together a site to be able to sell all our music to photographers and videographers with a "sync liscence". The site will launch in just a few months and is going to be at:

shawnreedermusic.com.

So ifyou're still looking for new music when we launch give us a listen! There is going to be a big OSP discount that I announce before we go live.

Hope you're well,
Shawn

hey, shannon... here's how you find local musicians on myspace:

choose Music from the top menu bar (should be blue)
choose Search from the second menu bar (should be red)
fill out the Set Search Criteria box on the right side of the screen. Use the Location fields to plug in your area...

hope that helps!

julie

yay, joel!

I found a great new musician on Myspace who had THE perfect song for my website...I put it on my website-in-progress and sent it to him before it went live so that he could check it out and he gladly gave permission to use it... he has since become a friend! Turns out he is only a couple of hours from me and I told him I'd be happy to take some publicity shots of him whenever he wants them! Now I'm just terrified someone else will use my wonderful chosen song! It's a win/win situation when you use new artists...they're happy, you're happy!