Working with Royalty Free Music

by: Nandang S Nugraha | Total views: 83 | Word Count: 1105 | View PDF | Print View

 by: Alan Steward

When creating
Multi-Media Content, Flash or Video Clips for a client's web site or CD
Rom Project, the last thing you want is to get him in trouble with the
law. If there's a need for music in a project, using royalty free music
is essential.

Here are some general music tips that you may find useful:

1) Finding the right kind of music

There
are hundreds of choices when it comes to royalty free music and making
the right decision can be hard. After all, most TV production companies
have music supervisors on staff whose only job it is to select
appropriate music for projects. Selecting music is an art in itself. In
general, you will find that your clients would prefer to use something
they heard on the radio, something from their favorite album etc.
Unfortunately, that's copyrighted stuff and licensing an N Sync song
for your next 'how to' video or CD-Rom may cost you a fortune. What you
want to do is find buyout music that sounds similar to today's popular
music. It's a little harder to find than your typical 'canned' music. A
lot royalty free music may sound like music from a 70's sitcom or
worse, a cheap porno flick.

A good place to check out is http://www.buyoutmusictracks.com
All their tracks are created by established record producers with
grammy and gold record credits so you get music that sounds as
up-to-date as what you may hear on the radio.

Our tip:
Always use music that sounds just a little more energetic than you
think you may need. You may listen to the music over and over while
you're putting together your project while the end user may only hear
it a few times.

2) Less is not more in production music

When
you are looking for background music for a project, choose music with
some impact. I know it is supposed to be background music but if you
choose high energy tracks, your whole project will leave more of an
impression. Listen to a sampling of today's TV commercials and you'll
find that most of them use very powerful music. You want your work to
create an impact and keep viewer's attention and a strong, powerful
soundtrack can do that.

3) When 'legal' music is not legal

The
usage license on your buyout music CD may be very liberal but it is not
a license to steal. You can use royalty free music on all of your
projects and as you have the legal right to use the music, your
customers can be assured not to get into legal troubles.

However,
that license is only extended to you, the purchaser. You cannot
transfer that license by copying your CD and giving it to somebody else
or by selling the CD. This may be news to you but there's no such thing
as a 'used buyout music CD' If you don't purchase the music from the
producers of the music, it won't be legal still. So, next time you
browse Ebay for royalty free music, make sure you are buying a new CD,
not a used one or it will be useless to you.

4) You get what you pay for

While
we're on the topic of Ebay: You may find offers for entire 4 or 6 CD
libraries for $75 or other ridiculously low prices on Ebay. The truth
is, these CDs may not even be worth that low price.

One
good quality royalty free music CD will cost you between $29 and $69
(some even more) If it's less than that, here's what you are likely to
get:

1. Discontinued titles that have
   been around for 10, 20 or more and not only sound dated but may also
   have already found its way unto hundreds or thousands of other projects
   during the years to make your own project sound dated.

2. Homegrown
   CDs that are created in somebody's bedroom studio. You can easily
   recognize these CDs as they usually don't have any 'real' instruments
   on it, only synthesized stuff. You can clearly hear the difference
   between those CDs and something produced in a real studio with real
   musicians. Our tip: Check out http://www.buyoutmusictracks.com for music. Each of their CDs is only $29.95 and each title contains between 30 and 48 real studio recorded tracks.

5) CD or Download?

With
the event of high speed internet, you don't really have to wait anymore
to receive your Royalty Free Music CD in the mail. If you need tracks
fast, you can now download buyout music from the net. You can choose
only the tracks you need and get to use them within minutes. Single
downloadable tracks usually cost a little more money per track than
buying a whole CD. On the other hand, you don't have to buy a whole CD
if you only need one or two tracks.

My advice, if you
are buying music to 'keep on the shelf' for future projects and for
your customers to choose from, buy physical CDs. If you need just one
or two 'perfect' tracks or if you are on a deadline, downloadable
purchases may be perfect for you. I don't know if I have to mention it,
but purchasing a Mariah Carey track from Itunes or Napster for a buck
does not entitle you to use the music. You have to download your music
from a buyout music company so the track is licensed to you.

6) Make your own

You
may think, 'are you crazy? I'm not a musician' You don't have to be a
music genius anymore these days. Programs like Acid and Apple's
Garageband allow you to create original music by using 'loops' Loops
are pre-made musical chunks of drums, bass, guitar, strings, whatever,
that you can put together like a mosaic to create your own music
soundtrack.

The advantage is clear. By creating your own
music with a loops program you can make absolutely sure that nobody
else is using the exact same music on their project. This will give you
'original' music at Buyout Music Prices. All you need is a good musical
ear and a couple of loops CDs to get you started. You can find lots of
loops CDs and more info at http://www.acidmusicloops.com
Their Groove Construction Kits are a great way to get started with
music loops. And here's the best news, you can download the Acid
program for free. Just visit http://www.musicleads.net/articles/freestuff.html for free (and legal) downloads of Acid, Protools and many other great music and sound tools.

I
hope that these tips were useful to you. You are free to use or
re-print this article in your newsletter, ezine, or on your web site.

About the Author

Alan Steward - www.musicleads.net

Alan Steward is a producer and engineer with many credits in the Music, Video and Television production world.

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