T3Media Launches Next-Gen Digital Content Commerce Service for Sports Media

T3Media, Inc. (formerly Thought Equity Motion), a provider of cloud-based video management and licensing services, launched a new licensing offering: Paya, the world’s index of licensable content.

Paya taps into the explosion of content creation by putting creators in control. Producers of all sizes can sell photos and videos by turning their personal websites and social networks into a virtual storefront, as Paya enables users to tag existing content, from sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr and Facebook—with “buy” links. Sellers can quickly make their content sellable with a Craigslist-style listing tool, choose their own terms and pricing, and keep an 80% share from every sale.

“Content creation has radically outpaced distribution and Paya offers powerful tools to unlock content’s value,” said Kevin Schaff, CEO and Founder of T3Media. “Traditional, centralized licensing channels only serve a tiny fraction of the billions of photos and videos being created. Our company has nearly a decade of experience with content access and licensing and we believe that Paya is a game changer in opening up a more than $15 billion market for content in a wide range of existing and new uses.”

To watch a short video that explains how Paya works, click here.

Paya allows everyone, from professional photographers and videographers to average consumers with iPhones or DSLR digital cameras, to sell their work using social community reach and the speed of the Web. Paya creates a new direct channel between buyer and seller. The site also streamlines the licensing process—providing guidelines and flexible profiles for rights and pricing—and enables file delivery after transactions are complete. Sellers are in full control of pricing and terms, while Paya’s promotion and selling tools help drive buyer discovery across the Web. Paya’s Selling Toolkit provides logos and links, as well as a powerful “auto-tagging” feature that can automatically create links on a creator’s content on sites (e.g., YouTube or Flickr) to purchase listings on Paya.

“Professional and amateur photographers and videographers are uploading and posting online billions of pieces of their creative work every month – YouTube’s monthly video upload totals exceed decades of production from the major networks,” said Michael McGuire, Research VP, Media at Gartner. “But for many of those creators, the ability to monetize those creations is either elusive or requires giving up a significant amount of control.”

Paya’s model opens up a range of untapped content markets for buyers and sellers. This includes everything from professionally shot stock photography or video and citizen journalism to sports licensing and photo services around areas such as travel, weddings, and school events. Paya can also serve as a licensing engine for films, documentaries, shorts and other content. A new platform for buyers to discover and request content is also presented with Paya. With the “I Wanna Paya” tool, a buyer can find content anywhere on the Web and create an open Paya listing to send to the owner requesting to buy it. The seller can then review and agree to terms and manage the transaction through Paya.

“Since 1992, we’ve been making award-winning films and have brought them to theaters, broadcast television, the Internet and other new media platforms. We are now making footage from those stories available on Paya,” said Paya beta user Michael Brown, Founder and President of Serac Adventure Films, who has auto-tagged Seracfilms.com and the company’s Vimeo page with Paya links to open up content to a global community. “We’re excited about selling content through Paya because it’s the first licensing site that lets the creator control the terms and price for the content and we receive the lion’s share of the profits. We provide exclusive content from destinations like Mount Everest that allows others to use footage they couldn’t possibly shoot themselves.”