I’ve tried working with musicians in the past, but in my experience stock music is more cost effective, and it’s easier to get exactly what you’re looking for. I guess maybe it comes down to the musicians in question, and how experienced they are in making stock music!

Since publishing this article, I’ve had an additional reply from Cuesongs (seemingly to clarify their first reply).

Hi Thomas,

Thanks for your email. For clarification, CueSongs provides licenses for business usages (B2B) – so for business wanting to license music and post a video on YouTube or FaceBook. We do not license consumer usages (B2C) which would be appropriate for your amateur and home videos.

I agree with you that for the type of usage you refer to, one would expect to pay less. But for businesses usages (which is what we license for), for example a brand putting together a video and posting it on YouTube, we think £500 represents reasonable value for money if they can license a track from a reputable artist.

However, we appreciate your feedback and will be ‘tweaking’ on an ongoing basis so ‘watch this space’!

Best wishes

Tammy

Music can be a real sticking point. If the client has the budget then iStock audio will do a job.. but if they don’t then you have to be much more creative.

I have a few freelancers who I use fairly often. They’re all musicians and record from home studios. They can create a track at a fairly low cost which you’d have worldwide rights too if you get them to sign an agreement. You can also pass the cost to the client and they are in turn getting a custom piece of music made to fit – most people I’ve worked with are happy to pay a bit extra for that kind of service. I’m happy to pass on details if you’re interested.

If not, please check out Jamendo. It’s fairly hit and miss but 100% free and I’ve used them in the past for any number of projects!

Rich