Music Licensing – What, How & Why It Matters To Your Business

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Music licenses generally refer to “royalty free music” or “production music”. This is music that has been written and produced for the sole purpose of being used in another project. Anyone can then license that music for a fee, to use in their project.

What about commercial music?

Commercial music, written and performed by artists like Adele, M83 and U2 for example, may not be used for any purpose other than personal / private performance. When you buy a CD or download an MP3, it specifically says that you cannot do anything with that song or music track except listen to it yourself. Any professional use is prohibited, even radio playback to clients of a hairdressing salon.

To broadcast commercial music to the public, licensed public performance is required by the appropriate performing rights organization in that country. In UK it can be PRS or PPL. In US / Canada, it can be BMI or ASCAP. These organizations charge a fee to the business owner, based on the size of their business / location. It can be expensive and time consuming just to broadcast the radio to your customers on your premises, but allows the business to broadcast the radio to their customers without legal issues.

It is not a suitable solution for video production and film making, as the use and purpose of music is not the same. Since many video production companies produce content for their clients, they need background music for their video / movie that is licensed for its purpose. When licensing commercial music, setting up such a license for public performance online, in stores, and mass distribution quickly becomes expensive and convoluted.

The Royalty Free Music License offers a simple and economical solution to acquire well-produced music with all the necessary rights for the customer, under an affordable and transparent license.

Who needs a license for music?

Anyone who creates digital content with the intention of posting it online or publicly. It really is that simple. You can’t legally use music that you haven’t written yourself or licensed from a music library.

What about “home movies” and “personal projects”?

The same rules apply to home movies and personal projects, but since they are produced not for profit or professionally on behalf of a client, it is possible to use commercial music in this movie. type of content. However, when this content is posted on social platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, you may find that your video is blocked in certain countries, or deleted entirely. This is because commercial artists and record companies have entered into an agreement that monitors the use of their content on these platforms and can enforce them accordingly. There are, however, many commercial artists and record companies who allow their music to be used in exchange for publicity. An ad will be attached to your content as a pre-roll, overlay, or half-time break during the video in exchange for permission to use their music track. If you are producing something personal, “for fun”, that shouldn’t be a problem.

The Risks of Using Commercial Music in Professional Video

A customer may want the last graphic to appear in their video because it resonates with their target audience, or they think they represent their brand. However, as previously stated, this could end up being immediately blocked or removed with other implications such as account suspension. If the video is not blocked or deleted, it will be shown with ads.

It’s the last thing you want for your customer. You’ve produced a video promoting their new product, and before the video has even started, viewers are seeing ads for competing brands and products. It degrades the potential of the video and the brand.

Why get a ROYALTY FREE MUSIC license?

There are THREE main reasons why proper music licensing is extremely important.

1. You are using music that will NOT be the subject of copyright claims, blocks or removal when posted online. This means that you can deliver your end product to your customer without worrying about any music related issues.

2. You can MONETIZE the content you produce. If you produce content for your own online channel on YouTube, you will undoubtedly be enrolled in the Partner Program, earning money from the ads displayed on your videos. You cannot make money with these ads if the music is unlicensed because it will go directly to the artist / producer of the music. Pay for the music license, earn money with this music license. Easy.

3. Create an identity for your video. Whether you are producing something for a customer or for yourself. If you’re using a very popular and well-known commercial piece of music, chances are that that track resonates more with the viewer than your content. However, if you create great video content AND license the perfect music track that no one has heard before, you are delivering a completely unique, new and fresh audio / visual package.

What about free music?

If you search for it, you will find music available for free. But ask yourself why is it free?

Free in exchange for ads and income.

The creator may give you permission to use their music in exchange for online advertising revenue through YouTube and Facebook, and you won’t know until you post it and there are informed ads displayed alongside your video, with all income going to the artist.

A poor quality sample

The free music track you are using may be a low-quality sample of something an artist is trying to sell. It may be a weak 128 kbs MP3 that looks appropriate, but when played against high quality content, it will sound quiet, mute, and generally less good. When music is licensed from a library, it must be available in WAV or 320 kbps MP3 broadcast quality as standard.

Who else is using it?

You won’t be the only one looking for free music. People who create content just for personal projects don’t have a budget for music licenses, so they need something free. If you are producing a project for a client who pays you, would they be happy if you used the same free piece of music as everyone else? If it’s free, chances are a lot of people are using it.

Liquidation and insurance

Anyone can download a music track online. There is no auditing, no quality control or legal assurance. Any blog or digital content platform can host a music track that others can share. So when you download a “ free music track, ” how do you know the provider is actually entitled to provide it to you? When you license a music track from a professionally curated library, you can rest assured that each music track has been legally reviewed, contracted, and released for you to license and use.

Why pay for music?

There are thousands of music tracks online. What is the difference between “track A” and “track B”? As a video producer / filmmaker, ask yourself this question: “There are thousands of video cameras available. IPhones can shoot 4K video and you can plug a microphone into them. Why should a company hire me to shoot? their video “?

When you buy music from a reputable library, you are paying for the expertise in writing and composing the music track. From the beginning, the middle and the end. The quality of the instruments used. Dynamic audio production, builds and crescendos. Mastering and post-production editing allow you to condense a 3-minute track into a short 30-second edit without losing any of the magic of the music track.

The difference you get when someone shoots a corporate video on their iPhone versus someone shooting the same video with a professional camera, lighting, and staging is painfully obvious. It’s no different when it comes to music or photography. There is the technology, the knowledge, the skill and the ability to combine them to achieve the highest quality result.

What can I do with the licensed music?

All that you want. Music may be licensed for limited use or worldwide distribution, mass production and broadcast. You can license music for a specific purpose and adapt it at any time to meet any additional requirements.

The licensing of royalty-free music is intended to be the most cost-effective and convenient solution for using music in your professional projects. General online distribution is generally a one-time license fee per track for lifetime use.

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Source by Mark Malekpour

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