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Eleven years ago, Shutterstock began as a stock photography provider for online media. Today the company announced a huge leap forward in its intention to start licensing stock music to customers. Over 60,000 tracks have been carefully selected for licensing by Shutterstock employees, and that’s just what’s available on the first day of the launch. In time, Shutterstock may grow to be the premiere source of stock music.
“There were 28 billion online video ads online in 2013, up 117% from the year before,” Shutterstock Vice president of Product Wyatt Jenkins told Business Insider. “And all that video needs audio. An interesting piece of music goes a long way in telling a story.”
Each royalty-track is priced at $79 dollars, but the initial opening deal knocks it down to $49 per song. The puchase allows use in any podcast or online video project and can be broadcast to up to 1 million people in one country. A premium cost of $419 provides no viewing limits. Whil there are cheaper alternatives to fnding music, Wyatt isn’t worried insisting that those songs are usually pretty basic, with music often created by “a single person with a keyboard.” The complexity and professionalism of the songs available will be what attracts customers to the company’s new wing.
In addition to the wide selection, a unique browsing system was created for the expansion. Customers can browse by mood, genre, tempe, as well as a plethora of descriptive tags. In addition to stock music created for the sake of the website, actual bands have provided songs to Shutterstock’s database, lending legitimacy to the company as a source for serious videographers and editors.
Long time customers of Shutterstock have highly anticipated this move for the company ever since the website began providing video clips with no musical accompaniment. With this announcement, many shutter stock users will be holding their breath before the unveiling of the music sector of the website. “Video footage is one of our fastest growing products and all that video needs music.” Wyatt said. “It’s such a natural fit.”