Meet Shoyei, Musician and Producer

Shoyei provides royalty-free music for personal and commercial use. Specializing in chill hip-hop and indie, he has had success working with marketing agencies, filmmakers, vloggers, and artists alike. He has been sending out free music on a monthly basis to his subscriber list.

To learn more, check out shoyei.net.

1. How did you first get involved in producing music?

I've played instruments my whole life, but when I got to college, space became an issue. I couldn't set up with a bunch of loud gear to practice, so I resorted to playing around with samples, synthesizers, and drumpads on my computer. Over the years I've had plenty of opportunities to use what I know about producing to help out with some cool projects.

2. What made you decide to create work to share on a royalty-free basis?

I've been in enough situations where quality stock music is required and it ends up being hard to come by. A lot of what you find on the web is very generic or has a "dated" sound. I've always been writing fun beats and hooks, so I saw this need and wanted to contribute.

3. What's your process like when it comes to working with a client on creating a custom track for them?

Good question. First I ask my clients what kind of mood they're looking for and what the big picture is. If they have an example of something that inspired them, I will absolutely work with that. I work mostly with filmmakers, so the vibe is very important. Once I feel like I'm onto something, I send a snippet back to see if it's what they had envisioned. If not, I start again. It normally takes two revisions to get to where both parties are really happy.

4. Could you tell us about some of your favorite projects that you've worked on over the years?

My most challenging request was a full-length documentary that had their original source for the score fall through. They asked me and a close colleague of mine to score the entire film before they were scheduled for their MPAA rating. That happened to be a month away. We wrote and recorded 17 individual pieces for the film. The entire experience stretched me as a musician, but I still feel proud of many of those pieces.

5. When it comes to your royalty-free tracks, what are some of your favorite ways you've seen your work used?

I've seen my tracks used at conferences and film festivals, which is a really great feeling for me. It's also really awesome to hear some of it behind a filmmaker's video reel. It means that they're putting their best foot forward with the best music they could find.

Thanks, Shoyei!

Meet Michael, Owner of SnapMarket, a Marketplace for Royalty Free Photos

SnapMarket is the marketplace for some of the cheapest, most flexibly licensed royalty free photos. SnapMarket has the highest quality photos, images, and illustrations, all from as little as $1. SnapMarket also pays their contributors some of the highest commissions in the micro-stock world. Check out this link to learn more about how to sell your photos on SnapMarket.

1. What gave you the idea to start SnapMarket?

As a web and graphic designer myself, I found that I was always purchasing royalty free stock photos and usually spending a fortune. The idea came about when I spent over $600 worth on photos for a client's website and it got me thinking: there must be a cheaper way to purchase good quality images. I had a good look around and could not find any stock photo websites that were offering high quality photos at a cheap price with flexible licensing terms, so this is when I decided to start SnapMarket.

2. What are the benefits your site offers for webmasters, designers, and other people who need to buy royalty free photos?

The benefits that SnapMarket offers are much cheaper images (from as little as $1), very flexible license terms, and no minimum spend. A lot of the other stock photo websites I have dealt with require that you sign up with them for a subscription or buy copious amounts of credits, even if you only needed just one single image.

3. How do you keep your prices so affordable?

We can keep our prices affordable simply because of repeat business. Our photos are high quality yet very affordable; this is what keeps our users returning and gets new users on board every single day. A website like SnapMarket is quite expensive to run, but we felt we needed to offer something different from all of the other overpriced, tightly licensed micro-stock photo websites.

4. Why do contributors like sharing their work through SnapMarket?

Contributors love sharing their work through SnapMarket because we pay some of the highest commissions in the micro-stock world, our website is user friendly, and we get our contributors' photos sold day in, day out.

5. What are some qualities that make a great photo for the web, in your opinion?

I feel that any photo can make a great photo for the web; it really just depends on what people are looking for. Obviously these photos must be high quality and convey the correct message to the target audience. The image size should also be scaled for fast loading times yet still be of reasonable quality for viewer enjoyment.

Thanks, Michael!