Podcasting Tools

Podsafe Music: Review – GarageBand.com: How to find thousands of songs for podcasting

By Tim ‘Gonzo’ Gordon

What can happen if you don't play podsafe music on your podcast? That's one riddle facing podcasters who want to play music: the cost of licensing.

Or, short of that, the fear that if you DON’T have proper licensing in place you’ll get snared by the RIAA or the Music Police or some such Big Brother entity and you’ll spend the rest of your life in jail or paying huge fines.

Hmm. Not fun! So I was elated when GarageBand.com came along offering thousands of podsafe songs for free!

In fact, the fun folks at GarageBand.com market themselves as a place for podsafe music – some 40,000 tunes.

If you are a member of a band, you can join GarageBand.com and upload your own songs. There are a couple of ways: either review 30 songs and upload for free, or pay a reasonable fee of about $20 to upload songs, which will then get reviewed by other GarageBand.com members.

As a podcaster, though, this is where the concept really works. You can pick a genre (acoustic, alternative, rock, world, etc.) and download to your heart’s content. Each band that uploads music under one of three arrangements: either they give it away to anyone for podcasting under any circumstance, or they offer it available once you contact them and ask for permission, or they offer it as streaming audio only. Whatever way, you get podsafe music for your podcast - and lots of it.

And of course the band gets free publicity, and GarageBand.com also gets a boost because you’ll undoubtedly want to mention them on your podcast.

I won’t go into all the great benefits that musicians and working bands get out of GarageBand.com, but if you are in a band and haven’t heard of this website, you’ll want to check it our posthaste.

I’ve been looking to spice up my show with some music for awhile, and other than playing my OWN music, this looks to be a great source of podsafe music.

Some notes on GarageBand.com:

The chairman of GarageBand.com's Advisory Board is Sir George Martin, the man who signed The Beatles and produced all of their records (except for the Phil-Spector produced ‘Let It Be’). Jerry Harrison, ex-Talking Head and pro producer, is one of our co-founders. They believe in an equal chance for all musicians, and GarageBand.com is their way of making it happen.

About The Author:

Tim 'Gonzo' Gordon shows you how to create professional, high-quality audio on your home computer. With 25+ years of radio production, writing and voice talent, Tim can show you how to set up a small pro studio and create audio for fun and profit.

Learn how to podcast with Podcasting Adventures Online at http://podcastingadventuresonline.com.

Learn Public Speaking and Professional Communication with Tim Gordon and Roger Pike at Communication Steroids.