The Music Bed Review

by Billy Simpson

Description

• About Videos:

• The Music Bed, "Meet The Music Bed" on Vimeo
• The Music Bed, "Making Busic More Accessible" on Vimeo 

• Music Options:

• This music, soundtrack, and soundtrack finding application and website is a free resource giving creative editors, multiple options for finding music for use in their compositions, including but not limited to wedding videography, portrait photography, business/ corporate video, and film. License options include: single or multiple use licenses, streaming, and external commercial licenses, or custom licenses. 

• Free Resource

• This is a free resource that bridges the gap between musical artists and visual artists through an easy to navigate interface, offering instant online pricing quotes.

Access

• Registration is mandatory on the application, but prices differ per user, usage type, and distribution quantity.
• An application for iPhone and iPad that allows you to sample and purchase licenses for downloadable music for the following uses:
• Project Types and Types of Uses
• Wedding and Portrait Photography and Videography
• Internal, External and Streaming Uses 
• Non-profit (501c3)
• Internal
• External
• Streaming, Internal
• Internal, External and Streaming Uses
• Business/ Corporate
• Internal Small Audience
• Internal Large Audience
• External Use
• Streaming Use Only 
• Internal, External and Streaming Uses
• Independent Film/ Film Festival Only
• Film Festival Submission: Web/ Screening 
• Project Terms
• 1 Use/ Perpetual
• 5 Use/ Perpetual   

Sample Usage

Independent Film Use Pricing:

The image below depicts an example of how much a song would cost for Independent Film/ Film Festival Use: Web Screening, with a Single Use/ Perpetual License for a film of a budget of $0-50,000 dollars. 

Business/ Corporate Use Pricing:

The second usage example, below, depicts an example of how much a song would cost for Business/ Corporate Project Type and Internal, External and Streaming Type of use, with a Single Use/ Perpetual License for a company with 250-500 employees.

Tips, tricks, and tutorials

• You will have to create an account to browse for music, but you can get instant quotes online at the website. 
• You are able to listen to small samples before you purchase the license. 
• You are able to view available license types are available for songs as you sample, as well as request a custom license, add the song to a watch list, find more from the artist, and find related artists all at the tap of a button. 

What the Tool Does Well

• Variety:

• Able to search for music using various variables, such as: Multiple Project Types, 20 different Genres, Eight different Project Moods, Nine Perfect for Uses (i.e. Church Media, Demo Reel, Documentary), 61 different searchable instruments, Tempo (High-Medium Low), and Instrumental/ Lyrical.

• Specificity:

• This application is allows for more user specificity when selecting a music composition. If you have a certain instrument in mind that you feel would portray your scene or picture gallery well, then this app would allow you to search with multiple instrument variables; 61 to be exact.

• Navigation:

• User interface is easy to navigate, but could use a little upgrading in its antiquated design. 

What it Does Poorly

• Ease of Startup:

• You do have to create a login before you can even see the application and try out its user interface, but the online website does not require the same registration to view songs and pricing.

• Complicated Usage Restrictions:

• You need a lawyer to help verify all the possible, legal uses in the User License Agreement. One statement I was unclear about was, "For Wedding & Non-Profits - make up to 15 copies of DVD's for resale & unlimited copies of DVD's Not For Resale."

• App/ Website Functions:

• You won't receive instant quotes on the iPad/ iPhone app, online seems to be the only option to view pricing. 

What happens when you...

• What are some uses of it that are perhaps unanticipated by the company?

• If you are searching for Business/ Corporate music from The Music Bed, you find an artist under these search terms, and input this artist's name into a Music Map (mind map of how an artist relates to other artists) new genre classifications for existing, closely related artists can be revealed. To clarify, an artist classified under a Business/ corporate genre will relate to other musical artists in some way on a Music Map. By association an artist closer to the the original artist input into the Music Map can also be classified under the same Business/ corporate genre as the original artist.

• How might a user challenge the tool's systems & affordances rather than simply accepting it at face value?

• When I "Get Music" on this app it allows me to search then listen to 30 second clips of seemingly endless artists. But, what If I were able to capture those 30 second clips to remix and create an altered composition? Would I need to pay for usage? If an artist like Girl Talk is bending the laws in his favor, then it only seems reasonable that it can be done through this new medium with great efficiency. Does this raise dissonance regarding intellectual property laws and authorship? 

Additional Resources

• Freeplay Music
• Free Music Archive 
• last.fm 
• BearShare 
• Music Maniac mp3 Downloader