submit music licensing can be boiled down to three tasks - locating the perfect song, negotiating a license for that song, and agreeing on a price. These are not simple tasks though and have long required multiple entities to complete the process. The Internet, however, has made these tasks less difficult as of late and the new process of crowdsourcing may be the simplest way to quickly complete all three.

It's no secret that locating the perfect submit music for commercials, film, or television can be a daunting task. With thousands of new songs being uploaded to the web weekly, quickly filtering through them to locate specific types of music that are best matches for a project is simply not possible. This may be the reason that studios and music supervisors continue to work with labels and publishers to license mainstream music as opposed to working with new independents. Even though it is more expensive and can be difficult to license music from these entities, these are songs that are well known and don't require an extensive search. Another benefit is that these songs are proven hits and already familiar to the audience.

Consider, however, the much easier process of just explaining the type of music needed in advance and having songwriters search their libraries or compose new songs to fit the project. The crowdsourcing model is perfect for this scenario because it allows the person or studio needing music to describe exactly what they need beforehand. Then songwriters just pitch matching songs as a bid to win the project. This saves those needing music the time required to search through multiple songwriters' catalogs or music licensing firms' catalogs trying to locate particular types of songs. Instead, the music comes to them in a single location designed to help them quickly hear, rate, and eliminate songs as they are submitted.

The other issues when licensing songs are negotiating the actual license agreement and price for use of the music. Of course, this is a more daunting task when working with labels and publishers as the prices will be much higher to accommodate for all the included parties. Working directly with independents can reduce costs but may be more difficult when licensing questions come up. Most independents won't have a licensing department working on their behalf to discuss different options. This can backfire when contracts become too difficult to be easily understood by songwriters who are not familiar with the process.

By using the crowdsourcing method, the song licensing contract and price being paid would be shown in advance. Only songwriters and composers who agreed with the license and payment would enter their songs for consideration. So by using crowdsourcing, those needing music would describe what they are looking for and establish the price and license in advance. Then all they need to do is sit back while songwriters submit custom music. In this scenario, the process almost works in reverse, the price and license is preset and the music is located after. It is not a search process though to locate the music as the music will just arrive from composers all over the world thanks to the internet.