A YouTube search for Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” yields a ukulele version of the hit song performed by a six year old in Thailand. It has over 61 million views. Jeff Price, founder/CEO of the new company Audiam, created the enterprise for situations like this. He aims to get songwriters paid for the use of their music in YouTube videos. Audiam’s platform lies in its contracts with YouTube, which grant access to the site’s Content Management System and allow independent artists access to revenue from others’ videos which use their songs. Six weeks since its launch, Audiam boasts 1,200 customers. Price speaks of creating a second income stream for the independent artist. The first is a result of the consumer getting the music, and the second is a result of the consumer using the music. Audiam is built on the concept of monetizing the consumers’ use of music in YouTube, instead of the traditional industry approach of trying to “get rid of it.” Audiam searches YouTube for videos that use a client’s music – either the master or composition – and directs YouTube to attach advertisements to those videos, and passes on to the artist, songwriter, publisher, and/or label their…
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