You can listen to most music free on ad-supported services like Spotify, or YouTube. However, using music in your own media content requires licensing. There are a number of free music websites including the YouTube Audio Library and Free Music Archive. Many of which utilise Creative Commons licenses to allow the use of the music. […]
Why Can’t You Make a Song with Royalty-Free Music?
People often ask whether they can sing over a track and sell it as their own. There is a lot of incorrect information out there regarding this. This article covers the facts and the reasons that you cannot use royalty-free music, stock music or library music as your backing track. Why do people want to […]
Is There a Good Source of Royalty-free Vaporwave Music?
This is a question I got asked recently and I thought it would make an interesting blog post. Firstly, what is Vaporwave music? I am not aware of any good royalty-free vaporwave music to be honest. The reason producers create and sell royalty free music is to make an income and you can only do […]
How to Play Music in Your Business Without Paying PROs such as PRS, ASCAP, BMI
For many years now we have had regular inquiries from business owners who are surprised to be contacted by PRS and other PROs (Performance Rights Organizations) regarding the music they are playing in their shop, restaurant, cafe, gym, medical practice etc. These are not all new businesses, sometimes they have just not been contacted previously […]
Is the Composer / Artist Losing Out If I Don’t Pay PRS, ASCAP or BMI?
While many businesses understand that music creates a certain atmosphere in their restaurant, bar, or shop, many businesses are still not happy to pay for using music, as they don’t understand where the money goes. What happens if you don’t pay? Mainstream Music If you are playing mainstream music in your business and not paying […]
Royalty Free Music Previews Without Watermarks, Crazy or Shrewd?
Recently, we have become aware of some royalty free music libraries that do not protect their music previews with watermarks. On Media Music Now we provide full track previews but every 10-12 seconds or so the word “preview” or “Media Music Now” can be heard. While some may find this mildly irritating, providing there is […]
Professional Music Buyers Guide: Round-up
For those of you that may have missed our recent Professional Music Buyers Guide series, we’ve created a round-up so you can catch up on them from one place. If you’re a media professional that licenses music for your productions then this guide is for you. If there are any areas of music licensing that […]
Professional Music Buyers Guide: Working with Clients
Should I license music on behalf of my client or let my client license it directly? Ideally, let your client license the music directly. This way they are the license holder and you are using the music in their production as instructed. This limits your liability as the client has licensed the music directly. It […]
Professional Music Buyers Guide: Understanding Content ID
Content ID is a relatively new technology that crops up more and more these days, which is why we chose to include it in this Professional Music Buyers Guide series. If you have licensed music legally, but still received a Copyright notice from YouTube for the musical content in your video, chances are this is […]
Professional Music Buyers Guide: Understanding Royalty Collection Societies
Royalty Collection Societies were set-up many years ago to collect royalties on behalf of mainstream artists. Each country (territory) has their own. They cover and collect royalties for performance of music and mechanical duplications. There are so many music uses these days that online video, music on hold and shop promos for example can now […]
