We've been here since 2001 helping grassroots artists reach for their dreams. It's important to see how it all started for us and where we are going now.
We've come a long way since our early days when we first started providing online marketing and web development to independent artists. Those experiences lead to us launching our popular film music placement service that helped over 1,000 indie films find music. This eventually lead to us creating our own streaming channels for Roku, Apple TV, and more.
This is a list of notable press and events in our history.
June 28, 2024
The 24/7 television style streaming channel contains indie films, classics, shorts, & music videos. The channel is available both online and on our Roku app.
A strictly music only 24/7 streaming channel was launched a week later. Both are available online as well as on the Roku apps.
February 26, 2024
All media distribution features were merged in to make it easier for artists to access. RoyaltyPoints.io will be sunset soon.
January 13, 2024
VersusMedia and founder Ryan support multiple of Trash Arts Productions films as producer and executive producer over the coming months. We are happy to continue offering support for small indie filmmakers!
January 3, 2024
Over 800 films and music videos are now online through our Progressive Web Apps at watch.versusmedia.com or add it to your home screen or desktop for easier access. Artists: add a Lightning Address and be tipped on your videos.
August 8, 2023
Launching this service was a groundbreaking platform designed to ensure that independent filmmakers and musicians are easily compensated for their creative endeavors.
The full press release is still available online.
April 23, 2023
VersusMedia joins the decentralized protocol Nostr and begins sharing its extensive indie library with the censorship resistant world.
January 22, 2017
Ryan has always split his time between being a tech consultant and running VersusMedia. His book Disregarded Entity: Lessons Learned by a 15 Year Freelancer includes stories of the early years launching VersusMedia, consulting strategies, growing up during the dotcom boom, dealing with cancer, surviving a drunk driver crash, traveling the world, and learning to make wine.
June 6, 2016
At the time "cord cutting" was a popular term for streaming media devices like Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV. VersusMedia launched a general media app that contained film and music videos as well as a strictly music video app on several of these platforms.
This launch ushered in the modern primary focus of VersusMedia today: licensing, distributing, and producing films and music videos.
Roku and Apple TV are now the main focus and have been updated several times since the original launch. Over 800 films and music videos are now available.
The original press release is still online.
April 29, 2010
VersusMedia is a producer on Aaron Moorhead's early film A Glaring Emission released in 2010 and is seen as a "in association with" in the opening credits.
February 15, 2009
"Filmmaking for Dummies" by Bryan Michael Stoller recommends VersusMedia as a great resource for discovering music. Bryan says "I've discovered some great musical talent (composers and song atists) at VersusMedia (www.versusmedia.com)". He also goes on to mention us again as a valuable resource for discovering original songs.
May 7, 2008
Ryan answered questions regarding placement in film for Songnet members.
May 7th, 2008
SongNet @ the Coffee Gallery Backstage
2029 N. Lake Ave
Altadena, CA
April 28, 2008
ProductionArmy is offering to assist musicians with their production costs. The site is a great way for musicians to gain support for their future projects. But, it’s not just for financial support. Musicians can also use the site to find donations from graphic designers, release party volunteers, street team members, and more. For details, go to ProductionArmy.com.
August 17, 2007
VersusMedia and DreadCentral.com teamed up for Horror D'Oeuvres, a Short Horror Film Competition. The competition was covered by several online Horror websites. The winners were shown at the Eerie Horror Film Festival. The event is mentioned on Dread Central's Wikipedia page.
December 1, 2006
"Get Media Airplay: A Guide to Getting Song Exposure" by Rick Davis includes a short blurb about VersusMedia.
July 5, 2006
Before Kickstarter.com took off, VersusMedia launched a short lived service that would allow film productions to offer sponsorship rewards.
April 5, 2006
Ryan answered questions regarding placement in film for Songnet members.
April 5th, 2006
SongNet @ the Coffee Gallery Backstage
2029 N. Lake Ave
Altadena, CA
April 1, 2006
VersusMedia launched a service that would send filmmakers band gear from indie musicians including t-shirts, stickers, and more. This free product placement service was another marketing tactic indie musicians could use to get their brand spread further around the globe if a filmmaker used any of their items in a film production.
Every filmmaker had to submit a request and was then thoroughly vetted to prevent abuse from anyone just looking for free swag.
November 2, 2005
The Indie Bible lists THOUSANDS of places where you can get your music REVIEWED and your songs PLAYED on the radio. ALL genres of music are covered!
The 7th edition contains an article titled "Using Independent Film As A Technique For More Exposure" written by VersusMedia's Ryan Vinson.
October 23, 2005
VersusMedia's Ryan Vinson judged the Acoustic Live competition. This round's winner was Melissa Polinar which had a naturally strong vocal presence.
May 23, 2005
VersusMedia hosts a short film contest to glorify the usage of music in film. "The Gardener's Coming Today" (Barry Schwam and James Tucker) wins.
April 6, 2005
From the Wednesday edition... by Charles "C-Jack" Jackson
If you're a composer hoping to get your feet wet in the film and television industry, www.versusmedia.com can be a great starting point.
This online service helps to match filmmakers and television producers with composers.
The service focuses on independent and student filmmakers, corporate projects and television pilots.
While some projects do offer pay, most of them offer an opportunity to gain experience - with no pay - or earn royalties, based on the income the project generates.
The site offers many levels of membership, the highest being Gold membership for $35 a year. With that - as a musician - you would have an option to mail a CD of your music to be included in the site's screening library, the ability to upload songs to project listings and to license your music directly to filmmakers, and would receive a weekly listing of projects for which your style of music would be suitable.
Charles "C-Jack" Jackson is an entertainment reporter for The Post-Standard.
March 15, 2005
This Digital Signature service was an early forerunner to the modern e-signature service widely used. This version provided artists from around the world the ability to sign and seal legal licensing agreements electronically.
Whether indie filmmakers and musicians met on our Film Music Agent or elsewhere, they could generate licensing documents on our site and electronically sign them from anywhere in the world.
It grew to be a very popular service and those contracts that were generated are still active until 2099.
November 8, 2004
VersusMedia's Ryan Vinson spoke about "How To Sell Your Songs" to a class room of students at Hollywood's Musician's Institute.
November 7, 2004
VersusMedia's Ryan Vinson returned to judge the final round to declare a winner of the Acoustic Live series. Artists performing were: Theadore, Kat Parsons (winner), Jill Knight, New MaximumDonkey, Quincy, Renee Stahl, and Kathrin Shorr.
October 10, 2004
VersusMedia's Ryan Vinson guest judged Round #5 of Acoustic Live's music competition. Artists performing were: Justin Young, Melissa McClain, Jamestowne, Angie Mattson, Krister Axel, Jill Knight.
June 1, 2004
With the success of the Film Music Agent service, filmmakers could request VersusMedia to act as music supervisors and screen music submissions for their film.
It was widely used by indie filmmakers. Notably, this service was used by producers of the film Americano (2005), a film starring Joshua Jackson, to screen music for their film.
April 1, 2004
This issue mentioned VersusMedia:
"The LA based company, founded in 1999 by Ryan Vinson, has a film scouting service that connects independent filmmakers with musicians. It provides filmmakers looking for soundtrack options with a database showcasing the music of thousands of emerging musicians, both in the United States and overseas. Contract details are worked out directly between filmmakers and musicians. VersusMedia projects have screened at Sundance, Cannes, and other international film festivals, and the company has found the music for films in India, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the U.S."
October 1, 2003
Los Angeles Music Productions presented "Film Music Mecca," an all-day event at the American Film Institute at 2021 Western Avenue. Speakers and panelists included: Ryan Vinson of Versus Media
July 2, 2003
Originally called FM Agent, VersusMedia's signature online service was launched offering independent filmmakers and musicians a revolutionary way at the time to directly connect and hash out future film music placement opportunities.
The service would become extremely popular and lasted for over a decade. It is estimated that over 1,000 films worldwide successfully used the service. Many of them "thanked" VersusMedia in their film credits and those that have been located are listed on Versusmedia's IMDB page.
November 11, 2002
Music Dish, an online indie music website, included the following article:
The Web as a facilitator for the independent music industry licensing their music has long been touted, but much more difficult as illustrated by the twisting fortunes of companies like LicenseMusic.com. And while the market for music is expanding with the multiplicity of media channels, from advertising to cable TV shows, the challenges to such deals, from creative to financial and rights clearance, are significant for even major organizations. So why launch such a service now?
"We, actually, first began creating this service back almost a year now," explained Ryan Vinson, founder of VersusMedia, the marketing/promotion provider for the music and film industry. VersusMedia recently announced a new service, dubbed the Film Music Agent (Film Music Agent), to assist musicians in networking with independent filmmakers looking for music. But unlike similar services, the goal is not to create a "super e-commerce music-for-film online service."
"Our main goal is to make connections, and to have lasting opportunities," says Vinson. Just purchasing a track online, is just what it is... purchasing a track. With our service, there is no purchasing online. We're only making matches, and helping each find potential people to work for and with."
Musicians wishing to pitch their music to filmmakers can set up an account on the VersusMedia site where sample tracks can be uploaded for preview. In addition to providing musicians with the ability to search specific projects posted by filmmakers seeking music for film, filmmakers can receive a bimonthly mailer with 10 musician profiles.
Vinson adds, "This service is what I like to call a human-to-human service, in that it's a matching vehicle to make connections, not an e-commerce engine built around taking the human interaction out. When a filmmaker locates a musician they'd like to work with, they are responsible to contact the musician and then pursue the relationship from then on. The lasting relationship is what's more important in an early career, rather than just selling a track."
June 10, 2002
This issue contained a feature article about the early days of VersusMedia. This was VersusMedia's first ever feature article:
Vol. XXVI, No. 12 June 10 - June 23, 2002
For all the respect artists get for being on the cutting edge, up-and-coming indie bands still face tremendous challenges in getting the word out when trying to reach wider audiences. In the mid-Nineties, Ryan Vinson figured out a way to apply his years of experience as a media company tech and marketing guru towards helping frustrated musicians receive their due. He technically led the design of a free chat service that once reached over 100,000 rooms which included a feature where users could download samples from independent musicians. Wishing to reach out in a new direction in 1999, he launched Versus Media, a full-service Web design and marketing company geared towards supporting and guiding modern music professionals throughout their careers.
"My mission was to give independent musicians access to all the tools and resources that artists signed to major labels have, providing means and connections for them on a limited budget," says Vinson, who has offices in L.A. and St. Louis. "We began with the idea of using the Internet to do direct marketing, creating affordable Web sites which looked very sleek and professional. Major label artists all have unlimited finances to create state-of-the-art sites which help increase credibility and their fan base, and strong indie performers deserve to have sites whose quality is on par. The point is to make them look good, so that when new fans, prospective fans, and A&R reps go to their sites, they see a compelling presentation that makes a great impression. The biggest criteria in choosing our clients is, do they have a recorded product ready to roll? We don't want to waste anyone's time or money."
Versus Media — which also designs Web sites for indie record labels — describes their state-of-the-art Web designs as "name brand sites" whose eye-catching qualities help them stand out on the Web. The company offers an extensive amount of services ranging from Web graphic design to complex Web development in Flash and Perl, ASP, PHP, Javascript, HTML and XML languages.
Basic service also includes manually coded pages. Artists can play a part in the creative process, offering initial ideas about the mood of the site, color schemes and other graphic ideas. Vinson says that work won't begin on a site until his team meets with the artist or band and gets a feel for their music and who they are as people. The sites average eight pages and feature bios, lyrics, events, audio streaming and songs for downloading. Versus will not launch a site until a CD is available for sale through it.
"We also just launched a service which pairs independent filmmakers with indie musicians," Vinson says. "There's always a need for great music to be part of soundtracks. We're hitting film school students, directors on the festival circuit and even those making corporate presentations. It's not a huge moneymaking thing right away, but the exposure to all sorts of demographics can prove invaluable down the line, and if the musicians accept deferred payment, you never know what will be a huge moneymaking film down the line."
VersusMedia (versusmedia.com) also has a public relations department to handle artist touring needs, for the purpose of building local press and hyping the band to specific markets for concert and festival dates. This ties in with an overall music marketing and strategy package, which includes press releases, Online radio and and film sountrack placement, news and e-zine Web sites, street team building, peer-to-peer network placements, search engine strategy, digital encoding, and more.
"We'll build a whole plan of attack for the artists who are really serious about getting out there and playing their music," says Vinson. "Since we understand financial constraints, we're eager to work with people and split up payments if necessary. We always enjoy when artists we've worked for come back to us for advice as if we were their managers, and we're always happy to help. All the clients we have worked for are very loyal and we've built a reputation as being the best at what we do. We put our vast experience into every project we work on."