Audiam Brings YouTube Revenue Service To U.S., Increases Royalties To Musicians

NEW YORK (Hypebot) – Audiam, a recently launched service by TuneCore co-founders Jeff Price and Peter Wells, helps artists generate revenue from their YouTube videos as well as use of their music in others' videos. The service is now available in the U.S. and, though they do charge a 25% administrative fee, they are now giving artists 100% of revenue earned on their own videos.

Audiam's launch in the States brings a new revenue stream to many artists from their music videos and the use of their music in other videos on YouTube. They've also expanded the service to include labels and publishers.

YouTube has a number of restrictions on making money from advertising on musician's videos including requiring the use of Google's AdSense ads and reaching certain minimums before receiving payment. Audiam eliminates those requirements and allows musicians to get started for free with higher paying ad inventory.

In addition, rather than going through other services to get licensing revenue for use of their music in videos or as covers, artists who have difficulty meeting YouTube's licensing program requirements can now benefit from that usage.

To keep track of how things are going, Audiam now provides a reporting feature that tracks use of one's music in other people's videos.

Audiam also announced:

Jason Mraz as their first publishing-only member.

$50,000 in revenue for artists in the first four weeks of their program.

A cross-promotion with FreePlayMusic to provide over 1900 pre-cleared songs for free use in YouTube videos via freeplaymusic.com.

This is great news for everyone involved from musicians to those who just want some cool music for their videos. It also opens up marketing and fan relation possibilities through cover song contests and the like for more than just the marketing boost.