Personally, I think it has a somewhat retro sound to it, very 70’s funk, groovy, young, hip and carefree, but with a contemporary feel. Retro is back after all. Makes me think of the iTunes / iPod adverts, the psychedelic colours, energetic dancing, just having a good time. It could even be used for a theme tune to a teen sitcom with it’s cool, bright and youthful vibrancy.

In actual fact, this groovy tune with its funky beats and playful sounds could be used for any number of media productions that needs the fun factor adding to it. Have a listen for yourself.

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A lot of people may not be aware that there is no standard royalty free music licensing agreement in the music industry. Although similar, they all vary. Yes, I know it is hard to believe… and, it is a fact that can often lead to confusion and misinterpretation. Early license agreements excluded the performance royalty, which has continued to be the case to this day.

Why exclude the Performance Royalty?

For a long time, Performance Royalty Organisations (PRO’s) were doing a good job of collecting royalties for broadcasts on TV and Radio (PRO’s do also collect for performance in public venues and major cinematic release, but just for the purpose of this post, I have kept it to TV and Radio for simplicity). As such, it was beneficial to just include the synchronisation royalty in the license agreement and let the performance royalties be collected by external PRO’s.

This was because Radio and TV broadcasters (only 4 TV channels in the UK during the 80’s) were required to pay an annual license to the local PRO. They were also required to document music usage using cue sheets, which would be used to divide the performance royalties between all registered composers.

The composer / music library received an upfront payment through the royalty free music license and the composer would potentially receive an additional performance royalty from music used on TV and Radio.

This was and still is PRS in the UK. USA has three PRO’s: BMI, ASCAP and SESAC and all other countries have at least one.

A Sign of the Times

Direct licensing the synchronisation royalty and allowing PRO’s to collect the performance royalty was working rather well, however, things would not remain the same. Along came VHS, companies started using royalty free music for training and sales orientated corporate videos. This opened up an opportunity for royalty free music sellers to include a mechanical royalty in their license agreement. With both synchronisation and a defined number of mechanical duplications, the royalty free music model gained a whole new market. But, who pays the performance royalty? I hear you ask. Well, officially the company playing the corporate video in the work place.

Look out for the nineties!

So, the royalty free music model evolved in the 80’s to incorporate new markets. Initially, it catered to TV / radio producers, then corporate video production, and then came the 90’s, which saw a huge increase in Internet use. By the 00’s, there were more potential uses of royalty free music than ever before in history.

In the last 20 years or so, thousands of digital and web TV / radio stations have emerged and with the popularity of the web, many potential royalty free music uses now exist, which include: -

• Websites that are media rich with video and music
• Background music in software applications
• Computer games
• On hold systems with mp3 capabilities
• Corporate video
• DVD, CD Roms
• Low budget films
• Student films
• YouTube videos
• Podcasting
• Videocasts
• mp3 ringtones
• Web TV
• Online Radio
• Online advertising

With all these new media uses, the Internet created more opportunities for composers and royalty free music libraries, but at the same time, it helped to start the decline of mainstream music album sales through growing piracy and file sharing.

At one time, PRO’s just had to collect and monitor from a relatively few TV and Radio stations, but with the growth and development of the Internet and the amount of new media uses, they now face an ever growing user base and music use on a global scale. Add to this, copyright infringement of mainstream music is also a big issue that increases the workload of PRO’s.

So, now I have told you all that… this is where the confusion kicks in…

Why So Misunderstood?

Most of the articles and free information on the Internet about royalty free music is brief and tries to explain the subject as simply as possible, missing out many of the potentially confusing aspects. This is usually marketing copy or as I have seen, keyword article fodder that kick out over simplified explanations. Often these are blatantly incorrect.

The fact is, all royalty free music agreements differ when you examine the small print and there is no industry standard agreement. The term itself stuck because it is good for marketing.

It is fair to say all of the agreements include the right to synchronise the music with video, images or voice over. Nowadays, nearly all licenses offer you the option of creating duplications of your product including the music, but there is usually a pre-defined upper limit in the agreement small print. I have seen numbers of 10 to 5000 in recent months. Whatever the number is, you have to pay more if you exceed this limit.

The majority of royalty free music agreements exclude the performance royalty for TV and radio use and are vague about performance aspects for other uses. So, are performance royalties included in royalty free music or not? Unfortunately, this is a massive grey area and is not a simple yes or no answer.

As I mentioned at the beginning, this is not a marketing document, it is an in-depth study of royalty free music licensing and understanding it. By the end, you will have a good understanding of how royalty free music works helping you make informed decisions when licensing music.

Next time, I will explain about why the performance element is such a grey area.

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With a choice of so many great music productions, I eventually decided on a new royalty free music track added just this week. It’s called ‘Beat The Heat‘ and it packs one heck of a punch. This edgy, heavy metal hard rock theme is perfect for high-octane extreme sports or fast and furious action sequences. The intense rush of adrenaline a person experiences from an extreme sport such as BASE Jumping, skydiving, white water rafting; you can feel the tension in the air. Or an action film or stunt sequence that requires a high impact soundtrack that will have the audience on the edge of their seat.

Whatever your production, TV, Film, YouTube video, presentation, website background music, showreel etc. ‘Beat The Heat’ and other high energy hard rock themes can be licensed online from our high quality royalty free music library.

Have a listen to the preview below and feel free leave your comments, bookmark or retweet this.

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Recently it was superseded by a new model that looks a little different and apparently has a number of extra features, more recording capacity and has a slightly higher quality recording with its built in microphones.

Now as much as I rave about my Zoom H4, I am very tempted by the new Zoom H4n.

At the time I bought my H4, a few people I knew commented on how impressed they were with the recordings it captured and were tempted to buy one. Well, if you are up for a solid state digital recorder that won’t break the bank, I imagine that it will be discounted in some places to make room for the new model. This could be the time to snap up a bargain… or even splash out on the new one… I am very tempted

My 2007 Review of the Zoom H4 Handy 4 Track Digital Audio Recorder

The Zoom H4n and other digital recorders can be purchased from Amazon

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Perhaps a travel programme showing idyllic beaches, crystal blue waters, relaxing with a cocktail by the pool or even one of these homes abroad television shows depicting a fresh start in a new home with new and exciting opportunities on the horizon. Or possibly, an American teen drama TV series, much in the same vain as ‘the OC’ or ‘Dawson’s Creek’.

Whatever the production, Rearview is light, contemporary and an inspirational acoustic guitar track with a sense of hope and longing.

Listen to a low quality preview

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Think of music royalty income as a pie that can be divided into several portions. There can be few or many people claiming ownership / income from the same pot of money. The mainstream music industry has many people who demand a share and therefore licensing music can be complex. Mainstream music is also very expensive to license and there are typically many parties controlling different aspects of the musical copyright. For example, there is copyright in composition, recording, musical score, arrangement and lyrics.

From the perspective of a media creator looking to license a piece of music, there are 3 main licensing aspects to consider. These are Synchronisation, Mechanical and Performance, illustrated in the graphic below.

There are a number of interpretations of what mechanical / performance use is, and this has become more open to interpretation as internet use has increased. Adding to this complication is the fact that many countries have differing copyright legislation.

The Establishment

Please keep in mind music licensing policies were developed from about the 1930’s onwards based around copyright legislation of the day. At the time, the major labels income was the focus and instant global distribution and home recording studios were inconceivable. Since then, things have really changed, but music licensing and copyright principles are largely the same with numerous quick fix patches to accommodate new media types and usages. The reason I mention this is because it has become the foundation for all music licensing available today.

Even though royalty free music licensing is a separate section of the music industry, the historic development currently defines how all music licenses work in relation to localised copyright law. There are a few exceptions, for example, Creative Commons is a fairly new movement that approaches music licensing with a modern perspective. To quote their website “We provide free licenses and other legal tools to mark creative work with the freedom the creator wants it to carry, so others can share, remix, use commercially, or any combination thereof. “

Squeezing new business models into the shoes of old ones can cause problems for the very people copyright law is trying to protect. More about this later in this series.

Bringing it together

Based on the three main copyright areas: synchronisation, mechanical and performance, the mainstream industry uses publishers, and royalty collecting societies to collect income through licensing. This means there are lots of commercially interested parties expecting a slice of the pie.

With the monetary expectations of all involved and the popularity of mainstream music, this can be drawn out and prohibitively expensive for the licensee.

Today, with non-mainstream independent music, there is typically one copyright owner, the composer / producer.

Some years ago, somebody realised that non-mainstream music could bypass the usual channels making music licensing quicker, simpler and cheaper. This unknown entrepreneur coined the phrase ‘royalty free music‘.

The overall principle of royalty free music is to buy-out some or all of the rights in a one-time payment, which is relatively easy to achieve when there is no involvement from the mainstream music industry.

As this represented a quicker lower cost alternative to music licensing, it became very popular and the term ‘Royalty Free Music’ has become an industry recognised term.

This is not the end of the story though… the term ‘Royalty Free Music’ is often misunderstood and misinterpreted.

To be continued…

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I look forward to your comments and if you know anything about the origins of royalty free music, I would be interested in hearing from you

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Its fast moving pace and sense of forward movement make it suitable for commercial use, representing a confident and strong image, the kind any company large or small would want to portray.

This electronic royalty free corporate track could be used for music on hold, video production, slideshow, showreel, and even sport related events. Get Up and Go also has a workout version, ideal for fitness classes and aerobic exercises. You may even feel the urge to workout yourself after listening to it

Get Up and Go lo-fi preview

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If your project is in need of motivational background music, then this track is ideal. It has an inspiring, energetic and bright feel to it, which makes it perfect for any audio visual production that needs to engage and energise the audience.

‘Freefalling‘ also has 4 music loops and a vocal version available to license from our royalty free rock music section.

Have a listen for yourself…you’ll soon be humming along to it

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The Music Industry, a whistle stop tour!

“The Music Industry” is made up of numerous niche music-related industries that combine to form it as a whole. For example, royalty free music is part of the independent music industry.

Broadly speaking, the music industry is split into two main sectors: -

• Mainstream Sector (The Big Four)
• Independent Sector (many small record labels and localised composers)

The mainstream industry is controlled and governed by the four major record labels: -

1. Universal Music Group
2. Sony Music Entertainment
3. EMI Group
4. Warner Music Group

These companies control the kind of artists that you hear on the radio, watch on TV and listen to on your iPod, whereas the independent industry is made up of many composers, unsigned (by a major label) bands and artists.

Even though the two sectors are distinctly different they share a common thread in the fact that they both generate revenue through sales of music or licensing, which is only possible because of copyright law. We may revisit this later in more detail, I just want to introduce the concept of copyright and licensing at this stage.

OK, so copyright in music is more complex than the outline I am about to give, but it is a basis for further study and gives you an introduction.

In relation to music, copyright is owned by the composer / creator. This includes copyright of the composition, arrangement, lyrics and sound recordings. This ownership gives the copyright holder(s) exclusive rights to create and distribute copies of the music on their terms. This can be for free but is usually for an appropriate license fee.

When you buy a CD / download from a store like Amazon.co.uk you are purchasing a license, you do not buy the copyright in the audio product, you just have a restricted license which enables you to listen to it.

When music is used for anything other than personal listening, a license agreement should be supplied. This is a legal document supplied by the copyright holder(s) giving permission for certain uses of the music, mostly for an exchange of money. The document should also detail allowed usage and any restrictions.

The major labels have total control over their artists’ works because the artist is required to give away or assign most of their copyrights exclusively to the label. This is why it is prohibitively expensive to include a known mainstream artist, band or composer in your corporate video, advert or film. You can only license it from the major label. I have heard license figures of £300,000 GBP for one mainstream track in one TV advert.

On the other hand, the many independent composers whose music you might not have heard of are happy to collect smaller sums of money for less restrictive licenses for use of their music through independent distributors, including royalty free music sellers. As the copyright owners, they are able to provide many distributors the right to offer licenses of their music in return for a share of the revenue collected. This means music can be offered for lower license fees and made available to a much wider audience / user base. This is becoming more prevalent with new media uses and developing / converging technologies.

Copyright is vastly more complicated than what has been discussed here, but just keep in mind that the owner of the rights is ultimately the one who can authorise free or paid licensing of their music.

To conclude this post, here are some of my own opinions about copyright in the 21st century…

In my opinion, I think that copyright law is outmoded and desperately in need of change. For the mainstream industry it has enabled vast wealth to be created over the years, however, in a modern digital world, I think the fact that copyright law differs from country to country is counter-intuitive to creating a global internet economy and community.

In years gone by, the major labels have had the power of financial investment… they invest in a composer / band to get them recorded, pressed to vinyl / CD, marketed, distributed etc. However, in this current digital age, recording and distribution is readily available to independents meaning that the balance of power is slowly starting to even out. Granted, you can not get the same kind of mass coverage without money behind you, but more and more independents are beginning to leverage the lower cost technologies, the immediacy of online platforms and the long tail business model to bypass labels and create an independent music income.

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‘Aisle‘ is a beautiful and tender track from our royalty free romantic music section and is the perfect accompaniment to a wedding video production or an online slideshow to share wedding photographs with family and friends, capturing priceless moments from that special day. Or keeping with the wedding theme, it would be perfect as website background music for a wedding photographers website.

Aisle also has a film soundtrack quality to it, suitable for movie moments / film scenes that need to portray a sense of tenderness and longing, looking back on days gone by with fondness and sentimentality, cherishing dearly held memories.

The instrumentation consists of acoustic piano and a background of subtle strings. Alternatively, there is a solo piano version that is just as romantic and nostalgic. Aisle definitely pulls at the heartstrings and is highly suitable for evoking emotions of love, romance and nostalgia.

Listen to a lo-fi preview of Aisle.

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