Artist Signup

Thanks for your interest in becoming a Pe Artist!

Please read this Pe Artist introduction letter to find out how easy it is to become a Pe Artist and start making money licensing your music online for free!

ATTENTION: Primary Elements has transitioned to a private service for an indefinite period of time while we contemplate upgrading the service. If you have submitted material in the past, rest assured that we will not use your material without contacting you if/when we decide to resurrect the service. Existing artists will be contacted via email with more details, but we will continue to represent your material for direct licensing unless you would prefer we not. Thank you for all your hard work over the years and we look forward to working with you again some day soon! —Mark Lindsey & Pe Partners

Primary Elements, founded and operated by seasoned music composers, sound designers, audio producers and other music professionals, is in the business of marketing and licensing high-quality production music tracks, loops & CDs, on a non-exclusive consignment basis, to professional and independent film, video, broadcast, advertising, corporate, telephony, video game, web (Flash, etc.), and multimedia producers world-wide. We also supply elements for special events, trade shows, theme parks, hotels, restaurants, student productions, kiosks, and just about any other market you can think of.

We do this by collecting media (elements) from a wide range of composers, sound designers, bands, solo artists and small indie record labels (consignors), posting them on our web site as individually preview-able audio elements and/or as part of CD Collections, and then licensing the elements to media producers through our secure payment/ordering system (or by phone/check/money order). We are also building a network of licensing agents that will shop your material directly to media producers for custom licenses. We then deliver your licensed element masters to the client via instant download, by mail on a CD, or via our FTP server (for special orders or custom licenses).

Primary Elements acts as your personal non-exclusive consignment "licensing agent," passing you a 50% commission on each licensing fee, while we handle all of the overhead of running and marketing the service. We do not obtain any ownership of your elements, just the right to market and license them on our web site (and affiliate web sites) on your behalf and deliver the licensed elements to the client, so you don't lose any rights to your material ... why should you?! It's YOUR Music!

And, the really cool part about utilizing Primary Elements ... IT'S TOTALLY FREE!!!

Our business model, the first of its kind on the web (since 1998 and often copied now), includes 3 simple synchronization licenses that media producers love: (and traditional music library companies probably hate us for! <g>). All online instant licenses (including CD Collections) include our basic non-commercial A License, commercial B License, or Extended C License. We also offer custom "special" licenses, which we negotiate on your behalf, on a case-by-case basis.

Please view the current licenses.

All of our licenses are Royalty Free, but producers are requested to report all broadcast, film and theatrical uses by submitting cue sheets to the appropriate performing rights organizations. We pass any usage reported to us on to you so that you can verify that the usage was reported to your PRO (such as ASCAP, BMI or SECAM, if any), potentially allowing you to collect additional performance royalties if you wish.

We handle all of the pricing for your elements based on a rating system and proprietary formulas, but we are always open to suggestions and changes if you feel strongly that your pricing should be different.

Our goal is to license any given element enough times within its "useful life," that we can price the elements as competitively as possible ... this will keep producers coming back to Pe over and over again, giving your elements as much exposure as possible!

We can't lose! The producers love us, our artists love us, and the performing rights organizations love us. It's also our hope that with the increased exposure of Pe Artists to the industry, many of our artists will eventually sign custom music contracts with Pe's help, and also outside of Pe's representation. :)

It's a Win - Win - Win solution!

Our Artist Split model pays the Artist 50% of the fees from each license (after any allowed coupons or discounts). Several other services have now matched our Artist Split, but we did it first. :)

While we are not as large as the "corporate" music licensing services (yet!), we strongly feel that our personalized and accountable customer service, competitive pricing, timely download service, ever-evolving media library, educational/non-profit discounts and a few exciting and innovative plans we have up our sleeves, will continue to make Primary Elements THE online music licensing resource!

We offer several discount programs and offers (on occasion) up to a maximum of 30% off on particular elements/CDs as outlined in the Pe Artist Agreement, and also a bulk 15+ CD discount for 40% off. Any discounts beyond this will require your prior written approval.

Primary Elements also occasionally donates a percentage of the net order profit to environmental protection/conservation or arts/music education-related charitable organizations. Feel free to suggest an organization and we'll look into it.

A large portion of the elements we post are "surplus" tracks. This includes advertising/jingle demos that didn't go "final," high-quality demo reel material and older (but "fresh" sounding) licensed material that is now available for licensing again. The only restriction on material submitted is that the artist owns the work outright, this includes your sampled instruments and any loops/samples. Many composers choose to create new material specifically for licensing through Primary Elements, recognizing the added exposure and potential volume licensing due to the professional service environment we have created, not to mention the ability to offer these custom tracks as exclusive licenses.

Please note that we are very conscious about protecting the copyright of your material. While we can not be held liable for what a client may do with your elements after they are licensed, or for what someone may do with online preview versions of your elements, we do incorporate the following safeguards into our service.

1 - We try to restrict licensing to certain countries as mandated by US Trade Laws and general copyright trade practices and manually verify any orders that seem possibly fraudulent.

2 - We utilize several online order and download security protection systems, as well as standard SSL browser encryption.

3 - We put copy-deterrent multi-frequency "beeps" or voice slates on all full-length audio previews.

Besides high-quality instrumental themes, cues and tags, we are also interested in indie bands and solo artists who have high-quality demo songs or a finished CD master with eclectic material just quirky or unique enough to be featured in an indie film. Custom arrangements with independent record labels, established music production houses and talent managers will all be entertained and negotiated on a "case-by-case" basis. Please contact us!

Did we mention that licensing your music on Primary Elements is TOTALLY FREE???!!! :)

Using the site is also free for media producers, so we expect the majority of media producers to visit us often and listen to your elements ... if they like what they hear and need elements for their productions, our simple and secure online order and instant delivery system will close the deals! They get a great deal and service, and you sell tracks while you sleep (or produce more trakcs).

We look forward to listening to your material soon, so send those CDs and track uploads and we'll contact you if we're interested in posting your tracks!