Sunday, November 8, 2009

What Does Royalty Free Mean And How Do We Properly Use Royalty-Free Music?

By Trevor Johnson

What does royalty free mean? This is a question you have to ask yourself if you find music that you want to use that is labeled as a royalty-free product.

Most royalty-free products are images, songs, or some other form of production that is being distributed for profit by a company or an individual. These products are generally offered for a one-time fee and they give the purchaser an unlimited use license. Then the purchaser can use the product for whatever reasons they see fit as many times as they want, as long as they stay within the guidelines of the license that comes with the product. The person who holds the copyright and publishing rights of the music will still own the rights even after transfer, and they have the right to apply whatever restrictions they see fit for your use of their product.

When you obtain royalty-free music you're paying for the rights to use the item, but you must follow the terms that are labeled in the licensing agreement of the product. These are the guidelines the person or company who owns the rights to the product have laid out for your use. They are legally binding but the restrictions they contain vary from site to site. Typically, you need to change them (by adding your own voice or pictures for example) and not sell them on without alteration.

Royalty-free products differ from public domain products, because public domain products such as songs, pictures or whatever it is you're working with, do not have rightful owners or copyrights.

Public domain products don't have rightful owners or copyright restrictions. When using royalty-free products though, you need to follow all guidelines that are set out by the copyright owners.

After acquiring royalty-free music, you can generally use the music an unlimited amount of times for different purposes without paying additional money. If you want to find out the terms of a particular product, reading the licensing specifications will inform you what restrictions apply.

Royalty-free music can be convenient compared to standard licensing agreements, because it can be cheaper to buy access to a song one time, rather than paying for each individual use of the music. You also have a wide range of different styles available to download, so you can the mood you're looking for in an instant.

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