Royalty Free Music – not as simple as it sounds

For most users of stock footage and stock images, the term “royalty free” is considered pretty simple and straightforward. The image/footage is either royalty-free, or royalty payable. If it's royalty-free, then there are no royalties to pay, regardless of the type of usage.

Not quite so with royalty free music. In the world of stock music, music licensing and music publishing, things are a little more complicated; mainly because of the existence of Performance Rights Organizations, or “PRO's”, such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, SOCAN, GEMA, PRS, TONO, STIM, BUMA/STEMRA and others.

Whenever you see the term “Royalty free music” or “Stock music” advertised online (or indeed offline), you should be aware that the music is probably royalty-free for some uses, but not for all uses. The most common meaning of the term royalty-free music is that the music is royalty-free for Synchronization - The right to put the music into your film or other media – and for Mechanical duplication - the right to produce CD's, DVD's, videos, discs, etc. with your film that contains use of the music.

However, and this is where it gets a little bit more complicated, “royalty free music” is usually not royalty free for broadcasting or in-public play. Usually, the composers and/or publishers of the music are members of a Performance Rights Organization (PRO) such as those mentioned above, and any person or company who wants to either broadcast the music, or play it in a public space, will need to buy a license from their own country's PRO.

The various PRO's represent each other in their respective countries. For example, the German PRO is called GEMA, and for any broadcasting and in-public play in Germany, ALL the various PRO's are represented by GEMA. In Sweden the PRO is called STIM, and for any music broadcasting or in-public play in Sweden, all the various PRO's are represented by STIM. And so on.

It may come as a bit of a surprise for a customer in Sweden who has licensed some “royalty free music” for use in a corporate video, to be billed by STIM later because it turned out that the composer was a member of ASCAP in USA, which is represented by STIM in Sweden, and while the music was royalty-free for use on a DVD, it was in fact not royalty-free for in-public play – something which only became an issue after the DVD was played from a large screen at a trade fair.

The issues are further complicated by the fact that the various PRO's in different countries have slightly different rules. But, as they represent each other in “their” countries, music composed by an American composer who is a member of ASCAP, when his music is used in the United Kingdom, will be subject to the usage terms of the PRS (the UK PRO), not the terms of ASCAP, where the composer is actually a member.

Exactly what is considered a “broadcast” or “in-public play” varies from country to country. Some PRO's consider use on a website to be a broadcast. For example, a company in the UK with a UK website, using music composed by any PRO composer, needs to buy an “online usage license” from the PRS – even if the music was legally purchased on a “royalty free” music website. Remember, the music was most likely royalty free for Synchronization and Mechanical duplication – but not for broadcasting. And the PRS considers website use to be a broadcast.

The same goes for telephone on-hold music. Some PRO's in some countries consider this to be a broadcast or in-public play – others do not. As a music user, you are subject to the terms of the PRO in your country, regardless of which PRO the composer is actually a member of.

For these reasons, when you look for royalty-free music online, you need to be a little more vigilant than what you are used to from browsing stock video or stock photos, and perhaps read the small-print in the license terms before going ahead and selecting your music. In addition to finding the music you need and reading up on the license terms of the vendor, be sure to check whether or not the composer is a PRO member. Most composers are PRO members. If it doesn't say specifically that the composer is not a PRO member, you need to assume that he is.

About the author:

Bjorn Lynne is a composer of music for video games, videos, films, plays and exhibitions. He is a friend of Clipcanvas and owns the stock music company Lynne Publishing and two different royalty free music websites: www.Shockwave-Sound.com (both PRO and non-PRO music) and www.1RoyaltyFreeMusic.com (only 100% royalty free music by non-PRO composers).