ADITI SARAWAGI
ROYALTY FREE MUSIC
Royalty Free Music is a term we hear a lot these days in the music industry . It refers to paying once for a piece of music which licenses the user to use the music for as long and wherever he / she wants instead of paying royalty every time the music is used . This is done because each piece of music is owned by a musician or artist or a copyright holder or a record label and has to be legally licensed to be used commercially by others . The term Royalty Free Music is often thought of as music being free of cost or copyright free . It simply means free of royalty i . e . repeated payments as and when the piece of music is used and not completely free of cost . Again , a piece of music is never copyright free i . e . someone who has licensed the piece does not own copyright for it but the creator will always automatically hold the copyright .
Royalty free music doesn ’ t have a standard pricing structure . The price depends on the owner or creator of the material and can range from tens of dollars to thousands of dollars . The price is dependent on the licensing model i . e . not charging royalties each time the music is used . Though royalty free music can be used for almost all commercial purposes by the licensee , it does not include the royalties to be paid for when the licensed piece is used in public performances . When music is played publicly , say on television , the royalties have to be paid to the composer separately . This royalty doesn ’ t have to be paid by the licensee but it is paid by the network or wherever the show is being performed .
This type of licensed music is often used in YouTube videos as a background music or even in ad jingles or product catalog videos . In order to aid amateur video bloggers , YouTube has very recently launched a library of completely free music which can be used in any video . The music can be used outside YouTube also and spans various genres from dance to electronic to country music .
With more and more people branching out on their own , the need for lesser production costs is on the rise and royalty free music is another step in promoting great content by allowing people to work on a tighter budget . Music is capable of influencing people ’ s lives and adds more aesthetic charm to the simplest of videos . That is why music is used in videos and other productions and people use royalty free music to avoid problems associated with copyright .
Many sites today sell licenses for royalty free music which can be licensed by paying a one-time royalty fee digitally and can be downloaded instantly for use without the need for any further royalties to be paid . These sites also allow musicians to upload and sell their content . The top sites for royalty free music include SoundStripe , AudioBlocks and AudioJungle amongst others . Since audio equipment has also become cheaper , a number of composers , bands and artists write music solely for royalty free music libraries and these sites are a boon for independent composers .
Royalty Free Music has gained so much importance because it allows producers to easily add soundtracks to their projects without the complex process of paying royalties every time music is played on their show or video . The current digital era has also made this form really convenient for music buyers , composers and has even made copyrighted material accessible to a vast online audience . Royalty free music also encourages the use of legal music even for amateurs or beginners .
The Score Magazine
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