VideoBlocks Launches Subscription-Based Stock Music Service

VideoBlocks, a provider of affordable stock video footage for digital creatives and professional video production companies, is today launching a complimentary service called AudioBlocks for those looking to add music and sound effects to their projects.

A $99 yearly subscription fee gets content creators unlimited access to a library of more than 100,000 songs, sound effects, and loops for use in projects that range from smartphone apps to videos on YouTube. Unlike consumer-facing subscription services, you don’t lose the rights to songs when your subscription ends — if you download music for a project, it’s yours to use forever.

VideoBlocks CEO Joel Holland stressed the importance of having access to royalty-free music for content creators in today’s copyright-centric environment. “Including a song that you don’t have the rights to can taint a project,” he said on a phone call. “The rightsholders can — rightfully — have a video taken down or take your ad revenue for including a song you don’t own on something that goes up on YouTube.”

Of course, a library of 100,000 songs is of little use if you can’t find music that works for your specific needs. AudioBlocks‘ song discovery engine starts by asking for the general mood you’re looking for:

AudioBlocks

Once you’ve found something along the lines of what you’re looking for, it lets you delve deeper into recommendations by choosing specific instruments or tags that better describe what you’re thing of:

AudioBlocks

According to Holland, AudioBlocks already has a backlog of content ready to be added to the service, so new songs should be available to users on essentially a daily basis. The company is using its deep tagging system to determine what its users need more of, prioritizing content that shows up most commonly in user searches.