I’m fortunate enough to live in a hotbed for music talent. Contrary to popular belief, Nashville, TN has way more than just Country & Western. In fact, on any given night, you’ll hear everything from Metal to Drum & Bass.
One sad thing I’ve noticed, though, is that everyone seems to be a musician with a day job. Long story short, musicians need a way to be able to make more money and people need a better way to buy music.
This is where Nashville-based MusikPitch enters the scene.
MusikPitch is actually two services rolled into one site. It is connecting songwriters and consumers to create and sell customized music, soundtracks and songs.
For songwriters, you can bid on projects and get a paycheck when you’re chosen. For those who want their own music, you are able to crowdsource your project to thousands of artists and pick the best choice.
Crowdsourcing isn’t new, but MusikPitch is filling a market that hasn’t otherwise been given much attention – that of custom music. Whether you need a jingle for your business or a full theatrical score, you can pitch your job on MusikPitch.
The company sets recommended standard pricing, but you’re able to price and bid according to what you feel is right. It’s a widely-used model for other crowdsourcing and freelance sites, but with this case it has a different spin. Buyers simply won’t be able to continually underbid projects, because artistic integrity won’t out-weigh a paycheck. Conversely, an underbidding provider will only be successful if they’re truly good.
So musicians, get to bidding. I’m about to start a contest for an opening theme for a new podcast. I’ll announce the winning bidder soon.
Working on the pitch for the podcast theme still. Look for details in the next day or so.
“Buyers simply won’t be able to continually underbid projects, because artistic integrity won’t out-weigh a paycheck.”
That makes no sense. Unfortunately this is a step towards the end of commercial production as a way for professional artists to subsidize their music making. It is great that that people might be connected in new ways in different places. But this will also lead to recorded music become even more devalued than it is now.
Artists need protecting from commercial exploitation. And commercial users should be made to pay via more progressive legislation.
No mention of how this service would manage royalty collection and different usage cases.
“Grant of Rights. Musician hereby sells, assigns, delivers, grants and sets over to MusikPitch, its successors and assigns, all of its right, title and interest in and to the winning Music, which the Customer selects in respect of a Contest hosted by the Customer, including the title, words and Music thereof, all world-wide rights therein, all copyrights therein and thereto, all registrations with respect thereto, and the exclusive right to secure copyrights and extensions and renewals of copyrights in the same and in any arrangements and adaptations thereof, all throughout the universe, and any and all other rights, claims and demands that Musician now has or to which Musician might become entitled at any time in the future, or to which Musician might be entitled or that Musician hereafter could or might secure throughout the universe with respect thereto if these presents had not been made, and to have and to hold the same absolutely and forever unto MusikPitch, its successors and assigns, subject only to any existing agreements between MusikPitch and Musician. ”
This service should be avoided by artists. The practice of a middleman exploiting artists to sign away all their rights just be sending a recording should be illegal.
This kind of exploitation by middlemen is exactly what the digitization of music and end to the power of the major labels is supposed to be stopping.
I hope internet commentators realize the irony in this!
Thanks for the feedback. We have been monitoring everyone’s opinion as best we could over the weekend but had a minor loss of connectivity due to the recent Nashville floods.
We have decided to change our model. We will take no ownership in uploaded music. The Contest Holders will have a choice of 3 licensing agreements upon starting their contests. The agreements will be between the Songwriter and the Contest Holder. The agreement will be non-exclusive, exclusive, or they can upload their own agreement. The Songwriter will have the option to see and agree to the license before uploading their work into the competition.
We have also adjusted the site to open up the contest for all to view.
Again we appreciate all the feedback (positive and negative) and hope this model works better for users of MusikPitch!
We are making the changes as of today.