Getty Images, best known as a picture agency, has announced that it is to offer music by high-profile and emerging artists for the first time, for use in the advertising, television and film industry.
At a press conference at Midem in Cannes today, Getty announced the new Guest List service, which is priced to appeal to the pro market, so sadly you probably won’t be able to afford to include one of the tracks in your next YouTube clip of your pet dog.
Getty Images already offers a library of stock music, which it says is used by the likes Google and Microsoft. However, this is the first time that music by well-known names has been available to license from the company.
Singing-songwriter Joss Stone was on hand to endorse the announcement. Her new independent label Stone’d Records has partnered with Getty to use the service as a revenue stream. Indeed, Getty is pitching this as a useful source of income for upcoming and established artists alike. The service is designed to simplify the process of gaining the rights to include music in a production, which can be difficult for content producers to navigate.
As with Getty’s image library, Guest List’s catalogue is curated. The company says that it is “very selective” over the tracks it selects and will constantly refresh its offering with music that it believes will appeal to high-end content creators.
Guest List is launching with 15 artists, each with around 3 to 5 tracks. Getty is choosing new, fresh music rather than back catalogue, and artists get to give their approval for each use of their song.
Keep up with all The Next Web’s Midem coverage here.
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