What makes a perfect video? Good shots, smooth transitions, authentic concept and intent paired with a fitting soundtrack.
Being a videographer requires a lot of manual work. Many content creators run into serious dilemmas when choosing music for their video, and this is worsened with not knowing terms like license free music, royalty free music, copyright free music, copyright music and more.
Royalty free music is often recommended for content creators, but as free as their name suggests, are they actually free? Would you face severe consequences if you use any of the abovementioned ‘free’ music? Is royalty free music the same as license free music?
Let us set a soothing soundtrack as we give answers to questions like what royalty free music means, when it becomes royalty free music and how you can use them.
What Is Royalty?
In layman’s terms, royalty is the rent you pay to the owner each time you use their music.
Royalties fall under the ‘asset licensing’ umbrella in business and law. The creator is paid a royalty fee when anybody uses the original work in their own creation.
Suppose you’re the creator of a soundtrack. A brand or another user likes your work and expresses that they are able to use it in their work (like in commercials, YouTube/Twitch streams). Each time they use it, you, as the author, will receive a fee in return for allowing them to use your work.
What does Royalty Free Music Mean?
Royalty free music is exactly what it sounds like: that the music is free of any royalties. That you won’t be required to pay royalty to the composer each time you use it. Once you purchase the needed track from a platform, you get to own the licensing rights as set by the author and provider for that song and use it anytime.
Do remember that royalty free music is not free music—that it usually does have copyright fees and royalty charges.
How Is This Different From Other Music Licenses?
The other common asset licensing for music is called the Rights Managed/Protected or a Needle Drop license. As the user, you are required to pay a predetermined fee or a percentage each time you use the music.
Royalty free music is only exempt from royalties, because every music is copyrighted. So doesn’t that mean there will be copyright charges to be paid? Are there hidden charges?
When paying for royalty free music, you are essentially paying for a license that exempts you from paying royalties. When you purchase a song or track that is labelled ‘royalty free,’ you will technically own the license of the song, which gives you freedom to use it as many times as you want—legally, as opposed to plain copyrighted music (which will duly still demand that you pay royalties).
You pay once, and you use it forever without any repercussions.
When Does Music Become Royalty Free?
There are individual music composers and producers who may be inclined to provide their music for a royalty free rate. Though mostly, music becomes royalty free because of some collective sites and platforms that take originally produced tracks and make them royalty free.
When a track, song, sound etc. is produced and licensed by the author, a broadcaster/provider site collects them with their approval and makes the music royalty free for other users. The users of its platform, like content creators, browse a track and use it after paying for the royalty free license.
There is usually free royalty-free music and paid royalty-free music. Most sites where you find such music are paid royalty-free music, where you personally are not paying royalties, but the platform is paying to the creator.
Is Royalty Free Music Really Free?
Free royalty-free music does exist, though there are usually limitations on it. Paid royalty-free music disposes the worry of those restrictions for the user, though neither of them, free or paid royalty-free music, are actually free.
This is because you will still be paying an amount to acquire the rights to use the music for all your purposes without having to pay royalty, i.e. pay to purchase a royalty-free license for your chosen track.
Money aside, royalty music is not copyright free, unless stated so. Because you are paying to acquire a royalty-free license, you are simply not paying royalties when using and nor for the copyright.
Royalty free music is still copyright music. The provider is the one who manages copyright payments to make the music royalty free for the users and content creators.
Where To Find Royalty Free Music?
There are multiple sites that provide royalty free music. These providers are assured and different from each other, which means that before you purchase a soundtrack for use, you must go through their terms and conditions for the restrictions and limitations on the sound.
The music on these sites are diverse and don’t ‘sound the same’ or belong to one genre, nor are they cheap or inferior or of poorer quality. Sites like ours bring you variety in tone, voice and genres. They’re not stock music either, though some music can be from a stock music library.
Where Can I Use Royalty Free Music?
You are likely a content creator on Instagram/ YouTube/ Twitch, who makes videos and are looking for music to set as a background as the occasion fits. Or you may be a brand trying to find a soundtrack for your advertisement and therefore are looking for royalty-free music whose license covers commercial use. Or you are corporate searching for an audio that will be ‘yours’ and a part of your identity.
The meaning of these terminologies might not directly impact you. Knowing that you’re using royalty-free music is enough of an assurance that you’re not paying any royalties except for the initial license purchase. Though it still helps to know what exactly it is that you’re purchasing, so that you don’t fear consequences or repercussions, and use excellent music for your brilliant content.
