YouTube has announced its support of a site called FriendlyMusic from RumbleFish. The site lets YouTube users purchase a lifetime license to edit songs into their videos.
A user can find pre-cleared music for YouTube on the site, then purchase an mp3, and use it in videos.
In a post on the Official YouTube Blog, the company says:
Since its launch, YouTube has pioneered ways for users to get professional music into their videos while respecting copyright — and generating revenue and promotion for artists, songwriters, and music companies. Through Content ID and a series of unprecedented deals with music labels and publishers, we’ve turned user-made music videos into a business opportunity as well as a form of expression. With Audioswap, we built a library of songs you can drop right into your existing YouTube uploads. And with countless artists, we’ve hosted DIY music-video contests and film festivals.
To be clear, many of the FriendlyMusic tracks are still available for free in Audioswap. What’s new is that the FriendlyMusic store offers you up-front reassurance that specific songs are pre-cleared for your video — plus the ability to edit those songs in your own video editing tools, at the point of creation. This marks the first time a music company has offered YouTube users a direct license. We’re excited about it and we hope you are too.
According to YouTube, once a user buys a cleared song from the site, it is licensed for unlimited views. Unfortunately the selection is quite limited. Hopefully that will change in the future.