Gerry BlackIf you are considering making promotional videos for your company or even just making a short film, you should be considering royalty free music.
In short, royalty free music is music that you can purchase once and use for as long as you like. A lot of other music licences require you to pay each and every time the video is used or viewed.
There are three main copyright areas you should be aware of before starting to think about Royalty Free music and what it means. Synchronisation is the right to include the music along with a film. Mechanical means having the right to make more of your product or production that contains or uses the music. Performance is the right to play the music in a public space. You should have an understanding of what kind of music you need as per these areas before buying music. For any of these areas, Royalty Free music means you don’t have to pay each time you use the music.
Royalty Free Music is Not…
- Free
You will have to pay to license the music you want to use. Some Royalty Free music is sold for free, but you shouldn’t assume that all Royalty Free music you come across will be free of charge. The person who created the music will usually still want to make some money off of their work. - Stock music
Stock music refers to a collection of music that is already made and ready to license and use. Some stock music is Royalty free, but many offer the music “per use” based on how often and where you use it. Stock music also has the bad reputation of sounding cheap and amateurish. While this is not always the case, it does happen. - Copyright free
When you buy Royalty Free music, you are buying the right to use it. The creator of the music owns the copyright for that music. By buying the license the owner is in fact giving you the right to copy it, so it’s copyrighted and you still have to respect the terms of use set forth by the creator. - One type of music
Royalty free can be music of any type, genre, tone, mood, quality or price. When buying Royalty free music, you should try to find something that fits the overall emotional tone of the video you are making, is high quality, balanced well and is mixed with real instruments as opposed to fake-sounding electronic ones.
Why Use Royalty Free Music?
Royalty free music is the safest way to add music to your videos. You pay for it once and can use it as many times as you like. If you use music incorrectly, you can be punished by streaming sites by YouTube. Your audio could be shut off or your video can be removed from the site completely. It is much cheaper than paying royalties each and every time the music is used and the selection is usually better than free stock music.
Royalty free music was created so that TV producers could add music to shows without the long and complex process of paying royalties. These days, anyone can create and sell Royalty Free music. By buying this kind of music, you are supporting independent composers around the world.