Songfreedom? at DVinfo.net

Aaron Blackwood · July 8th, 2010, 12:43 PM

I got another e-mail from them letting me know their music licensing service is up. The website looks good and is pretty easy to navigate through (songfreedom.com). I'm a bit confused with how the pricing and copies work though. Has anyone looked further into this company?

Joel Peregrine · July 8th, 2010, 02:03 PM

Hi Aaron,

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron Blackwood

I got another e-mail from them letting me know their music licensing service is up. The website looks good and is pretty easy to navigate through (songfreedom.com). I'm a bit confused with how the pricing and copies work though. Has anyone looked further into this company?

I just read through the terms a few times and its difficult to wrap my head around the pricing scheme. My first take is that the library is too small, the pricing structure is too complicated and the streaming rights are too limiting. I applaud their efforts and hope they can get it streamlined.

FWIW, the company's address is the same address listed for one of the people interviewed in the 'who we are' movie - switzerfilm.

And this is the information that went into designing their website:

Design Brief: Site that makes downloading music so easy it feels illegal | 99designs

We are an entertainment mediation company. Songfreedom is the first subscription based music provider to offer a legal way to use some of the most popular music for the cinematography and photography community. We secure the rights to some of the most popular music available and enable others to fuse that music with their highly creative work, legally.

Brand name Songfreedom.com target audience: Cinema and photo industry.

Requirements
We will have about 30 songs in our library that will constantly change. This will require its own page. We need to be able to show a small sampling of music on the home page. We need the "about us" page broken up so we can post videos and pictures as well as text. We will need to have a "meet our customers page" that allows us to post videos and pictures from our customers. The color scheme should compliment the logo, which is attached. The format of the page should be widescreen. Most of our customers will have a 1920x1080 display and we want to take full advantage of the space. We will need a customer sign in space on the front page. We have a current page that looks horrible but has appropriate content to reference. See Songfreedom.com.

Aaron Blackwood · July 8th, 2010, 03:21 PM

That's interesting. Thanks for all the info Joel. I'm going to give them a call today and have them explain a few things for me.

Aaron Blackwood · July 9th, 2010, 02:28 PM

I called the company earlier this morning and this is just a bit of what I learned.

They explained how the pricing system works and it makes more sense now. I get why they do a subscription basis. It's actually cheaper than paying per song like with other companies. I was told they changed their pricing page so I'd either call them or check it out if you're still a bit fuzzy Joel.

I was also told that two more songs will be added by next week. It seems like the library will continue growing as promised. They have some offer going on that if you sign up before the end of the month they lock your price in for a couple years. That will be great if the library keeps growing at this rate. I'll most likely take advantage of this.

I was really curious about the possible affiliation with the company and that Switzerfilm team. From what they told me they just do a lot of consulting with them and ended up renting space in the same building. Makes sense.

I'm going to discuss this with the wife and probably jump on board. Hope this has cleared some stuff up. Anyone else making the jump?

Kevin Sherman · July 16th, 2010, 11:36 AM

Hey Aaron, we've been getting the same emails. After I saw this thread I decided to give them a call myself about a few things. Here are a couple of my thoughts after talking to them:

1.) Like Joel, I didn't like the limited streaming rights. I like to put my entire highlights online for people to see. But the person I talked to made some good points: a 60 second "trailer" allows me to squeeze in only my best shots, just like a movie trailer. I wasn't really sold on it until they actually sent me to that Switzerfilm website as an example and WHOA! I don't know if you guys went there, but I actually left the site wanting more. I can only imagine the impact that must have on brides. I'm going to experiment around with 60 second trailers and see if I can make something similar.

2.) I wasn't really concerned about the quantity of songs. I do about 20-25 weddings a year and what they have is plenty in my opinion, especially if they keep adding more (those two songs DID show up by the way Aaron). I can always supplement with royalty free stuff if I need to.

I think it's worth doing just so I can sleep at night and not have to worry about getting caught by the powers that be. I also love the idea enough that I might just sign up to support them. This is something we've been needing for a long time so I really want to see it work out, even if they don't have everything ironed out perfectly just yet.

July 8th, 2010, 12:43 PM	#1
Aaron Blackwood New Boot Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Los Angeles California Posts: 9	Songfreedom? I got another e-mail from them letting me know their music licensing service is up. The website looks good and is pretty easy to navigate through (songfreedom.com). I'm a bit confused with how the pricing and copies work though. Has anyone looked further into this company?

July 8th, 2010, 03:21 PM	#3
Aaron Blackwood New Boot Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Los Angeles California Posts: 9	That's interesting. Thanks for all the info Joel. I'm going to give them a call today and have them explain a few things for me.

July 9th, 2010, 02:28 PM	#4
Aaron Blackwood New Boot Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Los Angeles California Posts: 9	I called the company earlier this morning and this is just a bit of what I learned. They explained how the pricing system works and it makes more sense now. I get why they do a subscription basis. It's actually cheaper than paying per song like with other companies. I was told they changed their pricing page so I'd either call them or check it out if you're still a bit fuzzy Joel. I was also told that two more songs will be added by next week. It seems like the library will continue growing as promised. They have some offer going on that if you sign up before the end of the month they lock your price in for a couple years. That will be great if the library keeps growing at this rate. I'll most likely take advantage of this. I was really curious about the possible affiliation with the company and that Switzerfilm team. From what they told me they just do a lot of consulting with them and ended up renting space in the same building. Makes sense. I'm going to discuss this with the wife and probably jump on board. Hope this has cleared some stuff up. Anyone else making the jump?

July 16th, 2010, 11:36 AM	#5
Kevin Sherman New Boot Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 5	Hey Aaron, we've been getting the same emails. After I saw this thread I decided to give them a call myself about a few things. Here are a couple of my thoughts after talking to them: 1.) Like Joel, I didn't like the limited streaming rights. I like to put my entire highlights online for people to see. But the person I talked to made some good points: a 60 second "trailer" allows me to squeeze in only my best shots, just like a movie trailer. I wasn't really sold on it until they actually sent me to that Switzerfilm website as an example and WHOA! I don't know if you guys went there, but I actually left the site wanting more. I can only imagine the impact that must have on brides. I'm going to experiment around with 60 second trailers and see if I can make something similar. 2.) I wasn't really concerned about the quantity of songs. I do about 20-25 weddings a year and what they have is plenty in my opinion, especially if they keep adding more (those two songs DID show up by the way Aaron). I can always supplement with royalty free stuff if I need to. I think it's worth doing just so I can sleep at night and not have to worry about getting caught by the powers that be. I also love the idea enough that I might just sign up to support them. This is something we've been needing for a long time so I really want to see it work out, even if they don't have everything ironed out perfectly just yet.