Here’s What You’re Missing Out On by Not Using Royalty Free Music in Your Content

If you aren’t using royalty free music in your productions, you might want to start. Why? Because, short of commissioning a custom score for your video, royalty free stock music is the best option out there for building a soundtrack for your videos.

Music is an essential element in every video. It conveys emotions and influences what your audience feels. For a car commercial, for instance, you would want to pick a fast-paced, adrenaline-inducing track to make your audience feel — not just see — the speed of the car being advertised.

But you can’t just use any track you want. Any time you add music to your video, you need to have the rights to use the track. Period. Otherwise, you could get yourself in a heap of legal trouble. Also, it’s just courteous to the track’s composer; you don’t want to steal their hard work.

What legal options are there?

There are a few options you can explore when looking for music to include in your video. First, you can use exclusive music made just for you. This is a viable option if you have composer contacts or if you can compose music yourself. However, we all don’t have the talent — or a talented friend — to compose music for us.

A more commonly used method is to obtain a rights managed license for a track. However, with this type of license, tracks can only be used as agreed upon; additional licenses need to be bought if you want to use the track for other purposes in the future. This type of license can be exclusive or non-exclusive, with the exclusive option usually costing much more.

A non-exclusive rights managed license grants the rights to not just you, but other licensees who want to use the track in their videos. Though often less restrictive, you still have some limitations. You can be limited by how long you can use the track you bought, how many videos are covered in the license, how many views the video can get before you have to pay additional charges and how the video with the track can be broadcasted.

Bottom line here is this: You need to know what you can do with the kind of license you get. Some licenses are more restrictive than others. To avoid legal woes, know the rights you have before using a track. If you’re looking for a more open-ended license, many find getting a royalty free license is the way to go.

Royalty free licenses are more flexible

Royalty free licensing is an easy way to obtain tracks for your videos. With a few exceptions, royalty free music can be use any way you like once you’ve paid for it.

This means if your video goes viral on YouTube or plays for millions of viewers during the Super Bowl, you won’t be obligated to pay anything for the music beyond the original licensing cost. The cost of royalty free music doesn’t change, regardless of the number of views your videos bring in.

You can also monetize your video on sites like YouTube and still use the track.There are zero caps on how much money you can make or how many times the track can be used. The total cost for the track will always be the single, initial cost.

Get the Tracks You Need

Now that you see how it all works, be smart when you shop. If you want to have a big selection of tracks with an Unlimited Use License and no restrictions on how long you use the track, how many videos you can use the track in, where you can broadcast or how many views your project can get, check out Motion Array’s Royalty Free Music. You only have to pay once and you’re done. Some tracks are even free.

And also be sure to check out Motion Array’s additional benefits:

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