Getty Images has announced it is launching a new music service to sit alongside its picture libraries - the logic being that as advertisers and TV producers search the Getty catalogue for images, they might also want to licence music for their ads or programmes too.
Getty Premium Playlist will offer sync rights for around 1000 songs at launch, via non-exclusive licensing deals with various music companies, including publishers Kobalt and Warner/Chappell, record label Koch Records and management firms Red Light and Nettwerk. Those deals mean music from the likes of Barenaked Ladies, Smash Mouth and Norah Jones will all appear. Negotiations are also apparently under way with other labels and publishers to expand the catalogue further.
It's not Getty's first move into providing access to music, and the Premium Playlist will sit alongside its existing Pump Audio facility which offers access to a library of over 100,000 tracks by independent artists. But the new service sees the firm more proactively working with labels and publishers to offer sync rights to well known tracks by big name artists.
Announcing the new service, Getty's VP Of Multimedia Product, Craig Peters, told reporters: "We have seen significant growth and success in our Getty Images music product and our Pump Audio Collection. Representing music content through Premium Playlist is the next step and a natural fit for our business model".
Supporting the service, Warner/Chappell's Ann Sweeney said: "We are continuously seeking new ways to market our rich catalogue of music to a broader, more diverse set of music users. Getty Images' high quality network and easy-to-use service is a great complement to Warner/Chappell's high calibre roster of artists, songwriters and producers in reaching the synch and licensing communities".