Selling stock music is one of the most straightforward ways for composers and producers to earn a passive income from their creativity. With so many people now making video content and podcasts, the demand for stock music has never been greater. By building up a diverse and attractive catalog, you can start tapping into this demand. But just how do you get started in the world of stock music? This post provides a simple 7 step guide.
Understand what makes good stock music
Stock music is typically used as background music in ads, podcasts, videos and games. It’s designed to convey a strong mood without being too complex. While stock music can be pretty much any genre from country to classical, it is typically instrumental as to allow clear voiceovers to be placed over the top if desired. Success often comes from finding gaps in the market or tapping into popular sounds. It’s also worth creating versions of tracks in different lengths (15s, 30s and 60s are most popular) and potentially loopable options for flexibility.
Set up your own website to sell and promote through
Selling your music through your own site gives you full control over branding, pricing and customer relationships. Work with a website designer to create a clean and fast website that is SEO-optimized. It’s worth providing samples of your music that people can listen to before they choose to buy. You’ll also need to set up a secure payment gateway for customers to pay through. This could involve using a third party payment processor or looking into branded payment links to add an extra layer of professionalism.
Explore different stock music marketplaces
There are other platforms you can tell through that already have lots of traffic and buyers. As you build up a name for yourself, these platforms may be your best place to make money. Examples of stock music marketplaces include AudioJungle, Pond5 and StockMusic.net. Bear in mind that many of these platforms charge commission.
Properly tag, title and describe your music
Using the right keywords will help people find and identify your music when searching via Google and stock music marketplaces. Use straightforward titles like ‘Upbeat Corporate Inspiration’ to clearly describe the mood and use. Use tags to target other descriptors people might be searching for (e.g. ‘uplifting’, ‘advertising’, ‘motivational’ and ‘orchestral’). Use descriptions to create a more in-depth summary of what the music is about and who it’s for. Make sure your keywords are honest and accurate.
Set fair pricing and clear license terms
Check out what other people are charging to help you set your rates. Most music is sold ‘royalty-free’ which means it just requires a single upfront payment to buy and use, but you can explore other licensing options for continuous royalties. Many musicians sell bundles of music and may run discounts at certain times of the year.
Promote your music in the right places
To help people find your music, promote it in places where your audience is likely to be hanging out. Consider publishing showreels that preview your music on YouTube and TikTok and promote these via Facebook and Reddit. When promoting music for corporate use, you could even try using LinkedIn.
Keep building your catalog
The larger and more diverse your catalog, the more of an audience you can tap into and the more money you can make. You may even build some repeat customers who keep coming back – by constantly updating your catalog with fresh new music (and by looking at what is selling), you can encourage people to keep coming back. Make sure the quality is consistently high – low quality recordings and lazy tracks will prompt customers to look elsewhere.
