Pump Audio and Getty Images Stickin it to Artists

Music Licensing with Pump Audio

pumpGetty — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 19:10:23 +0000

I can’t keep up anymore. The logo at the top of this page about says it all. I have had my music licensed by Pump since before Getty arrived and it has been used extensively all over the world. The cheques used to be a nice treat but now I imagine that unless I explicitly request to be a member at the new rates I won’t be used. I just submitted an entire new album only 3 years ago with 13 tracks accepted and only received one payment and then no word at all which was really strange considering the album has been received extremely well.

A guitar instrumental album was also used a lot even on Oprah and a xpress ads etc. and now nada.

Any feedback would be appreciated. The current math considering I am Canadian is really not working for us. let’s say 10,000 leaves 3,500 and then 30% off that which we have to recoup.

yeeks

Thanks for the vent.

pumpGetty Hacked

pumpGetty — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:43:08 +0000

If you have visited the site recently and haven’t been able to see comments or click through to articles it is because pumpGetty was hacked. I apologize for any inconvenience. You will now able to post comments once again, and as always if you want a story posted as a feature article just use the contact page and send it through—it will be posted.

Pump Audio Artists Getting Pumped

pumpGetty — Wed, 13 May 2009 02:36:51 +0000

I received a letter from Pump Audio, which is owned by Getty Images, the other day announcing that they were changing their royalty structure. The letter read as follows:

1) Licensing fees will now be 35% to the artist, 65% to Pump Audio/Getty Images
2) This change will take place as of July 1, 2009. Any royalties payable through June 30, 2009 will not be affected by this change
3) Performance royalty splits will remain at 50% of the publisher’s share
4) Those that don’t accept the new split will have their music removed from the system no later than December 31, 2009.
5) The rights you granted to us in the original contract do not change

As you can see Pump Audio / Getty Images now deem their services worth 65% of licensing fees for their artists work, and if we as pump artists don’t like it our music will be removed from their catalog.

I understand that Pump Audio / Getty Images does provide infrastructure and sales support to it’s artists, but without us they wouldn’t have anything to sell. Traditional relationships of this kind have been 50/50, and this was the case with Pump Audio / Getty Images before the recent change.

The greed Pump Audio / Getty Images is displaying by strong arming their artist out of 15% is what all stock contributers may have to look forward to in the future unless artists refuse to conform to their demands.

If you have a story or opinion you would like to share about Pump Audio / Getty Images, please go to the “your thoughts” button at the top of the page, send me your message, and I will post it here.

Also if anyone is looking for an alternative venue www.rumblefish.com has been good to me so far.