Online music streaming has made it easy for people to get to enjoy their favorite songs. There has been a clear rise in the number of online streaming music platforms as well.
This has created a great opportunity for musicians and music producers to earn money from their craft.
The one site we’ll be looking at to make money selling music on is Shutterstock.
Shutterstock allows music producers to apply to the website for free to become content contributors.
Before the music is uploaded, the content has to be reviewed and assessed.
Becoming a Music Contributor
Once you become a music contributor, Shutterstock purchases the rights to the music. You will be paid a lump sum for each track downloaded.
Exclusivity is important to Shutterstock. This is one of Shutterstock’s policies to ensure that music on the site has not been uploaded elsewhere.
Payments are made via PayPal once submissions are approved.
The barriers of entry to becoming a music producer have shrunk over the years. All one requires these days is a decent laptop, an audio interface, and DAW.
There is no better time for aspiring and established artists to put themselves out there.
Royalty music and beats are used by a variety of businesses and other content creators such as Youtubers, startups, vloggers, social media influencers, and more.
How much can you get paid selling your music on Shutterstock?
The amount of money you can earn from music royalties will depend on whether your music is in demand.
You can expect to make at least $0.091 or 10.5% (at the time of writing) of the gross revenue you’ve generated from selling your music.
What is the difference between selling Photos & Videos vs. Music?
Music payments are a bit different from other uploads, such as images.
For images and videos, once you become a contributor, you get an initial payment of between 1.5 to 1.8 dollars.
This rate increases when you reach $500 in royalties at which point your payment rate increases to $2.50 dollars per image.
What are the quality requirements for selling music on Shutterstock?
You can’t just slap together a kick bass and a snare and expect to be making sales right off the bat.
Shutterstock does have quality requirements that you should follow:
- Ensure you are uploading the proper format which should be in MP3 format
- Your file size should be no bigger than 15MB
- Try not to create music that is longer than 3 minutes in length. The file size requirement will usually limit you if you attempt to upload an extended beat or song.
- It goes without saying, that you shouldn’t sample others’ work. DMCA algorithms are quite smart. If you’ve ever tried to upload something to Youtube before, you will have noticed how quickly they can scan whether your music is infringing on copyrights or not.
What can I do to make sure the quality of my music is good enough for Shutterstock?
There is a lot of poor-quality music out there.
Having a decent understanding of musical theory, song structure, mixing and mastering is important. These are essential components that every music producer should have in their repertoire.
If you’re starting out and looking for a good end-to-end music production BootCamp, we suggest checking out Andrew Huang’s complete course on music production.
Also, amateurs can get some affordable courses on uDemy. Check out our post for the Top 5 Courses on uDemy for music production.
If you think you have a great song already but don’t know how to properly mix and master it, you can check out Fiverr for some great sound engineers who can do this for you here.
How many tracks do I need to have to be able to sell on Shutterstock?
Currently, they require that you have at least 5 tracks to submit as they will make an assessment if your music is “good” enough for their platform.
Other platforms you can sell your music
The advancement of the digital industry has made it possible for all industries to grow, including the music industry. Shutterstock isn’t the only industry. One of the new and popular sites for creative creators is artlist.io.
For more information check out how to sell your music on artlist.io.
Other sites for royalty-free music include:
AudioJungle
This is one of the largest digital music platforms where users can buy royalty-free music. Affordability is AudioJungle’s advantage here. They also have other products, including pictures and videos.
PremiumBeat
This is a subsidiary of Shutterstock, and they are just as good. The site is easy to use, and they have exclusive rights to the music they have, which means that you don’t have to worry about copyright issues.
Artlist.io
If you are into music production and use Youtube, you’ve likely seen ads from Artlist.io. They have a growing library of licensed music and music artists and producers can sell their music on this platform through non-exclusive agreements. Yes, you read it.
That means you can sell your music on other platforms if you wish.
For more information on selling your music on artlist.io click here.
Protection When Selling Music Online
DMCA (Digital Millenial Copyright Act)
Shutterstock and other platforms where you are able to sell your music understand that protection under copyright law is very important for any artist who doesn’t want their material unrightfully used or pirated.
Shutterstock uses designated agents to assist music producers with making a DMCA claim if you see your music somewhere it shouldn’t be.
Final Thoughts
Royalty-free music has become the go-to place for private investors who are now looking for music producers and songwriters.
Due to the growth and demand for music, there is plenty of room for new musicians and producers.