Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Maximize the Impact of Your Online Videos with the Perfect Soundtrack

You know it. I know it. We all know it. Music can make or break a commercial. Most of my favorite advertisements feature killer soundtracks that keep me coming back again and again. For example, Evian’s baby&me spot uses a remix of Ini Kamoze’s “Here Comes the Hotstepper” that makes the ad infinitely more fun to watch. Check it out.




After watching a behind the scenes clip of Evian’s new Spiderman Baby & Me 2 video, I gave in and purchased Evian’s remix on iTunes. I watch and re-watch the ad because the music is catchy and spot on. However, when it comes to adding a music track to your online videos, copyrights can often get in the way. The most recent example of copyright infringement took the media world by storm.


Late last year, GoldieBlox, a toy company on a mission to inspire the next generation of female engineers, released a YouTube video that featured a parody of Beastie Boys’ 1987 hit song “Girls.” Within a week, the video racked up seven million YouTube views. The Beastie Boys responded to the company claiming copyright infringement and a legal battle ensued. In the end, GoldieBlox ended up replacing its version of “Girls” with a lyric-less track. Unfortunately, the second ad couldn’t live up to its predecessor.


“A little bit lost in all the legal wrangling, though in some ways the point of the whole mess, is one simple truth: music really can make or break an ad. The GoldieBlox commercial, “Princess Machine,” soared with the “Girls” soundtrack, but became a shadow of itself with a different song,” stated Tim Nudd in an article for Adweek.


Though the original Beastie Boys version of the ad was removed from YouTube, I’ve included this copy for your viewing pleasure.



The second version:




Obviously, music affects the impact your videos have on viewers. Most people don’t have the money or rights to use popular music, so how can you choose the perfect soundtrack for your online video content? Look into royalty-free stock music.


On Tuesday, stock photography firm Shutterstock introduced Shutterstock Music, which lets users pick background music for their videos, commercials, podcasts, etc. The company’s site allows you to select music by genre, tempo and mood. It costs only $49 for a standard license (broadcast audience cap: 1 million) or $419 for an enhanced license (unlimited audience). After making a deal with Rumblefish, a music licensing warehouse, Shutterstock Music now offers 60,000 tracks.


AudioMicro and Pond5 are two other companies that offer royalty-free stock music. If you’re looking to create your own online videos and need awesome soundtracks to accompany them, you should invest in stock music to avoid any copyright infringements (which could ultimately cause your video to be removed from YouTube).


We all know music can make or break an ad or video. Remember, you don’t have to be a major corporation to afford royalty-free music. It’s imperative that you choose the right track for your content without risking the consequences of copyright infringement.


Source: B2C_Business



Maximize the Impact of Your Online Videos with the Perfect Soundtrack

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