Pond5: Music Marketplace Review


In the world of stock media, Pond5 is a player. Their marketplace sells a variety of media assets including: stock video, photography, illustrations, music, sound effects, after effects and 3D. They are arguably the best source online for stock video but as a contributor, my focus is their music.

I've been licensing music on Pond5 for a number of years and they are great to work with. I want to share my experience as a seller by reviewing their music library and marketplace.

Pro's

There are many aspects of Pond5's which stand out. First off, they are incredibly popular among music producers because of their artist friendly policies. They offer contributors a customizable artist account, the ability to set prices, a decent affiliate program and a quick review process for new music. They also accept PRO music.

Let me take some time to explain PRO music and why it's important.

PRO music means the track is registered by name with a Performance Rights Organization. Musicians join these groups when their music is used on television, radio and film. Broadcast corporations which own those media networks, by law pay royalties.  They pay a blanket amount each quarter to the PRO's and the PRO's distribute the money to the musicians.

This is not an additional fee for the Pond5 customer to pay.  Let me explain:

  • Someone needing music for a TV show buys a license for a track on Pond5. 
  • The music is used in the show and all the paperwork gets submitted.
  • PRO's receive the cue sheet from the paperwork.
  • The TV show then airs on NBC.
  • NBC pays a blanket amount to the PRO's regardless of where it came from.
  • The PRO uses the cue sheet to distribute the money NBC paid to the musician.
  • No additional fee to the Pond5 customer.

Having PRO registered music means having quality music.

Pond5 also has a nice search and categorizing system. You can sort by duration, date of upload, artist, number of sales, page views, and price. The music preview is fast and you can demo a lot of music quickly. When you find a track, you can download a watermarked preview, add it to a collection, or buy a license and download the music immediately.

The customer service at Pond5 also stands out. Whenever I've had an issue, support got back to me very fast and it was helpful. I've also had customers contact me directly through my artist page for a licensing question. It's nice being able to answer those questions.

Con's

There is a lot of music on Pond5, but for contributors and buyers that's not always a good thing. The problem is in the keywords. The musicians that upload the music keyword it themselves. This can be good but can also cause irrelevant results. It would be nice if in the future Pond5 takes more control of determining keywords for approved music.

Conclusion

Pond5 is a great choice for media creators, and I highly recommend checking them out. If you are a producer, you should definitely have your music on Pond5. 

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to share, like, or comment below.

2 comments:

  1. Hi. I'm thinking of submitting some music to the site, but this clause in their contributor agreement has me a little worried. Wondering if could shed some light. Thanks.

    You hereby forever waive any "moral rights" related to your Content, including the right to be identified as the author of your Content or to object to the modification of any Content, and if you are not the creator, you have obtained such a waiver from the creator.

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    Replies
    1. If you contact them, their customer service responds quickly and will explain it to you.

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