It’s a tricky question of judgment and fairness with no definitive answer. Getting the right balance and charging the right royalty-free music license fee can be difficult. Make it too low, you upset composers, but make it too high, you upset clients. It is competitive out there so the temptation is to create a low one-size-fits-all music license fee. Also, there are no … [Read more...]
PRS Background Music vs. Royalty Free Music
Can I avoid PRS / PPL fees by playing royalty free music in my venue? It is often an assumption that any royalty-free music can be played in public as background music, avoiding the cost of PRS / PPL fees. As with many things related to music licensing, there is a little more to it. This article explains further and offers the pros and cons. To start with, it needs to be … [Read more...]
I have been given some royalty free music. Can I use it in my audio-visual project?
As an audio producer, I am sometimes given music from clients to mix with their project, for example, a voice over with background music. When I ask if they have the appropriate license, they sometimes reply “I found it on the web”, “it was given to me by a friend”, “it’s free to use because it’s royalty free music” etc. My reply is just because someone gives you a piece … [Read more...]
Understanding Royalty Free Music: Industry Recognised but Widely Misunderstood
As mentioned in my previous post Understanding Royalty Free Music: A Slice of Royalty Pie, the term 'Royalty Free Music' has become an industry recognised term, but people's understanding of it varies considerably depending on their experience and knowledge of the subject. A lot of people may not be aware that there is no standard royalty free music licensing agreement in … [Read more...]
Understanding Royalty Free Music: A Slice of Royalty Pie
From my previous post you should now have an understanding of the concept of copyright & music licensing. This post will explain how copyright is broken down into areas, its implications on music licensing for new media developers and how royalty free music emerged. Think of music royalty income as a pie that can be divided into several portions. There can be few or many … [Read more...]