Rumblefish
The biggest challenge when using a sample isn’t how to chop it but how to clear it. Toward that end, Bay-Area born composer Paul Anthony developed a service that makes acquiring song rights as easy as buying a track off iTunes.
“Hip-hop brought sampling to the mainstream but the industry has yet to react to it,” says Anthony. “No one has ever addressed that issue in a comprehensive and practical way.”
In 1996, Anthony founded Rumblefish, a music licensing company started in his dorm room at the University of Oregon using material he wrote and arranged himself. A decade later, Rumblefish has over 4,000 songs by over 500 artists in its extensive catalog that spans every musical sub-genre. With bigwig clients like MTV, HBO, and adidas, Anthony decided to launch rumblefish.com in order to make buying music rights more accessible to common folks.
“There’s three steps when using our store,” explains the 29-year-old CEO. “Listen, license, and download. You just search for the music based on what you’re using it for and then you price out your license.”
Aside from being a valuable tool for producers, MCs, and people who place music in movies, rumblefish.com serves as an excellent means for independent musicians to make money and gain exposure. If one of the artists’ songs in the catalog is licensed, the company splits their money earned with the artist. They can get anywhere from $5 for a podcast to $75,000 for a national TV campaign.“Finally here is a resource with high quality music where you know every song you hear you can sample,” says Anthony.
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