Sound as Good as You Look
by Martha Blanchfield
“Music can be a powerful branding element,” shares
Roy Ashen, CEO/co-founder of Triple Scoop Music (TSM). “It can inspire, it can heighten emotion, it can take us back to fond memories and, as clients tell me, create stronger sales.” Ashen, along with independent musicians and award-winning songwriters Ali Handal and Jennifer Herbig, have been working behind the scenes to orchestrate a service that helps photographers bring one more sensory touch to their artful image creations. Launched in 2007 at WPPI, TSM is the result of this trio’s combined Rolodex of music industry friends and a chance visit to the annual Wedding and Portrait Photographers Convention and Trade Show. “We came together in 2006 to initially develop a
world-class music licensing business for film and television projects. We were focusing most of our time building the platform and service, spending many hours working directly with record labels, artists, publishers and managers.” It was Handal’s fortuitous trek to WPPI in 2006 that unearthed an opportunity to help professional photographers. Calling Ashen from the trade show floor, she exclaimed, “We need to tailor this platform to the photo community!” Adds Ashen, “After a little research we all agreed there seemed to be a huge opportunity there to provide photographers with an easier way to license great music.” Starting the company proved an uphill climb, but today the team is delighted to have thousands of photographers around
Sneak Peek: How Jim Garner Uses Triple Scoop Music See how top wedding photographer Jim Garner used TSM’s song “Celtic Blessing” to enhance a wedding album slideshow. The image above is the opening of the album slideshow. View it at http://www.jgarnerproof.com/ darkroom/share/?n=post_album.
How TSM Customers Use the Music: • • • • • • •
Studio slideshows and client products Presentations on CDs and DVDs Web site-based photo galleries/slideshows (one domain per license) Promotional videos and streaming Web video Portfolio presentations On-hold music for business Podcasts
the world licensing music through the site. “We’ve set up the service to be as userfriendly as possible. We welcome photographers to take a look at our offerings and consider how the addition of music might help them personalize and round out their image product offerings. We want to make it as easy as possible for a photographer to find and license music from TSM.”
Make It Easy “Music is a very personal thing. As we started working with photographers it became evident that they definitely know music and have very firm opinions about what will complement their photography—and what will not. On a whole, photographers listen to a wide variety of tunes. We built the selection with tremendous variety in mind, knowing that for success, a licensing service would have to offer A to Z,” he adds. There are world-class singles and numerous pre-packaged collections that include Grammy and Emmy-winning
artists, plus acclaimed songwriters and musicians from around the globe. TSM is constantly adding new pieces, offering every sort of beat, mood and theme.
Aside from breadth of selection, the second most important element was to make it easy for photographers to not only sample and find, but also start using the music. When it came time to develop the Web site and search/query tools, the team diligently queried potential clients on ease of use. “Time and time again we heard photographers say, ‘We are busy with customer service, creating products and working with images. We don’t have time to research and hunt and deal with licensing. Just make it easy. Make it easy to listen to music, easy to find music, and easy to start using.’ One of the biggest hang-ups we have solved for them is to take care of the complex licensing issues,” says Ashen. TSM gives clients several ways to search from among over 6000 tracks: by artist, word/phrase, style, tempo, by vocal or instrumental. The collection is also
With over 6000 songs and artists from around the globe, Triple Scoop Music offers something for everyone. To help you find musicians partnered with Triple Scoop, here’s an easy guide to get you started. What You Shoot Weddings & Engagements
Who You Like
Then Listen To
Jason Mraz Feist U2, Coldplay Diana Krall Enya Stevie Wonder Michael Bublé Orchestral Film Music
Ernie Halter Melinda Ortner, Kristin Andreassen Jason Hewitt, Viva La Union Sarah J Hyland Lianna Klassen Porsche Smith Jonny Blu Michael Maina
Seniors
Taylor Swift Linkin Park, Eminem Foo Fighters Jay-Z, Ludacris
Hannah Ford Shotgun Radio Castella Barrett Yeretsian
Family
Norah Jones Martina McBride, Dixie Chicks Annie Lennox Kenny Chesney, Sheryl Crowe
Nancy Falkow David Keen, Red Molly Faith Rivera Tony Carter
Fashion/Boudoir
Tiesto Madonna
Techno Tommy, Liquid factor a girl named jaen, Marieandre
We know how important it is to pair the right music to images, so we’ve particularly spent a good deal of time categorizing each offering. categorized by mood, grouping selections into what is likely appropriate for a wedding or portrait or holiday, even nature and landscape image presentation. “We know how important it is to pair the right music to images, so we’ve particularly spent a good deal of time categorizing each offering.”
Hook Me Up TSM offers thousands of world-class songs in both vocal and instrumental arrangements. Pricing starts at $60 for a single song. This provides a photographer with a lifetime license to use the music in non-commercial (not for television or film reuse) modes. In addition to a single-track purchase option, TSM offers periodic specials on bundled selections, and there are also larger mainstay collections such as a 10-track classical, “Orchestral Love Stories.” Add to this, the company recently partnered with photography industry power-
houses such as Denis Reggie, Jerry Ghionis, Rod Evans, Joe Buissink, Yervant and Bambi Cantrell to develop and market signature hand-picked music collections designed for specific events and occasions—from wedding to engagement to promotional to corporate needs. Signature collections from other top photographers include: Kirk Voclain, educator, speaker and senior portrait photographer (www.kvphoto. com). His signature collection includes: Castella, There There, Barrett Yeretsian, a girl named jaen and Shotgun Radio. Music choices that radiate the energy, beat and verve that his young clients love. Bill Frakes, editorial, advertising and Sports Illustrated photographer (www.billfrakes. com), picked tunes from Tony Franklin, Steve Fister, Stanton Lanier, Ross Maclachlan and Shotgun Radio to provide a powerful, energetic soundtrack that capture the intensity and challenge of sports competition.
Matthew Jordan Smith, photographer to the stars (www.mjs-exp.com), culled a medley of stylish, powerful and soulful songs ready to pair with memory albums, engagement or personal portrait series. His series features Keith Wilkins, Gary Carpenter, Barrett Yeretsian, Alpha, Jamie Green and Hip Hop Kidz.
Music Licensing Options The TSM standard single-user license is designed to meet the needs of professional photographers, videographers and other multimedia professionals. Points out Ashen, “A client will be able to instantly download three versions of the track. This includes a CD-quality WAV file (for slideshows and video on DVD), a HiFi mp3 file (320kbps) and Web-ready mp3 (perfectly sized for Web site use). Purchase of a track from the site provides a standard lifetime license to download and use that track in a variety of ways.” “Our standard license is easy to understand and covers all of the key music needs of professional photographers,” adds Ashen. “We can also create custom licenses for other business uses like film or television projects, labs and even subscriber services.”
QA
Jim Garner
Kirk Voclain
What benefits has your studio/business seen as a result of adding TSM? Jim Garner: (www.jgarnerphoto.com) TSM has enabled us to truly own the art we create in our slideshows—whether we post collections online or provide photos to a client on disc. TSM gives us more sales overall and clients love it. They make faster decisions and are purchasing more premium products. Our studio would simply not be what it is without TSM. Kevin Kubota: (www.kubotaimagetools.com) We sell more when we show images with music, period. We’ve always seen that music enhances the images we show, and ultimately the buying experience. TSM allows us to easily and legally sell our clients high quality music with their slideshows, DVDs, and video teasers. There’s no easier way to go, really. Kirk Voclain: (www.kvphoto.com) It’s crazy! My Web site traffic lit up after I put TSM on it. I started asking the senior grads, “What’s the deal?” They said they just love the music! They even said they sometimes just click on my site to listen. How cool is that? How do you use the music?
JG: We use the music in a variety of ways—I play the music in
my mind while I shoot and I play the music in the studio as I design albums. We use TSM as background during our meetings. Our educational DVD and viral videos use TSM. KK: We use the music for everything: our promo videos, the slideshows we present to the clients, the DVDs we sell them, during album presentations, and even when driving in the car! KV: I use the music on my Web site, but also in my slideshows and DVDs. When you combine TSM with an Animoto video, it’s like printing money—people just have to have it. If you have used the service long enough to track a trend in type of music favored by clients, what is hot? JG: Great music properly matched to the client and their wedding day story directly relates to our bottom line. Our studio is all about the story art book (album), and the best pairing for these books has been foreign language music. We feel this genre helps the viewer get into a “right brain” or “feeling/emotional” state. As
Kevin Kubota
they look at this emotionally charged artwork, they’re allowed to imagine what the message in the song is, and what the feelings are in the images. Music helps tell the story and has become a critical selling tool for our very large books. If our client becomes emotionally involved with the story this can equal a big sale. Since art is more valuable than pictures, TSM helps us make more money. KK: Since we specialize in weddings, we tend to use romantic, moody and fun dance tunes. One of the great things about TSM is that they have such a diverse collection and we can always pair something that’s appropriate for any mood from the wedding day. KV: Being that I photograph mostly high school seniors, the hip hop and top 40 sound is what they like. Fast music and something fun! Was the addition of music something you were looking for or did you stumble onto the service? JG: TSM is something we needed for sure. Before they came along we had to use unlicensed music. Now we run our business in an honorable and ethical way, and can support great artists. It’s a win-win all around. I couldn’t be more grateful for this wonderful service. KK: We actually did stumble onto the service, and I was immediately excited because there was a serious need for high quality, popstyle, affordable music with easy licensing terms. They filled a huge need in our industry. The music is great, but the service is even better! We love working with TSM because of the extra level of service and attention they provide. They really do care about photographers and our needs and that shows in everything they do. KV: Yes, I was looking for something like this and wanted cool music that was legal for me to play on my site and DVDs. The timing for finding TSM was just perfect. Thank you, TSM. As far as I’m concerned, I’m a TSM customer for life. For more information about Triple Scoop Music, visit the Web site www.triplescoopmusic.com. www.renegade-pr.com Martha Blanchfield is creator of the Renegade Photo Shoots (www.renegade-pr. com) and a freelance marketing and public relations consultant.