Comments on: Royalty Free Music – Licensing & Copyright

By: truthnut

truthnut — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 07:55:13 +0000

I wrote the lyrics for a song back in 2009. I finally asked a friend who is also a writer/musician to help me get the melody and my performance of it recorded as a demo. I gave him the chords for the melody. He helped me arrange a few words to fit the beat better and he engineered the instumentals all on computer. He and his father asked me to pay “around $400-500″ for the project. My friend invited his father in to help us (he is a musician too). I had a hard time getting them to listen to me and record as I asked. They even added their own background voices to my master without asking me. Now that we are almost finished, this father wants me to copyright the song totally split 3 ways….me, his son and him. I wrote this song years ago and told them the melody and style I wanted. I paid $400 so far. I have sent myself a poor man’s copyright, but I may not get the polished master or a cd without vocals. Do they have any rights to my song?

By: Understanding the business of beat licensing | Making it In Music

Understanding the business of beat licensing | Making it In Music — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 03:45:56 +0000

[...] For more reading, check out Royalty Free Music – Licensing and Copyright, by attorney Patrick Curley — legal advisor to premiumbeat.com. div.rax_subscribe { [...]

By: AIFF, MP3 and WAVs — What’s the Best Audio Format for Video Editing in Final Cut Pro? | Premiumbeat.com

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:34:54 +0000

[...] Just as a legal disclaimer, we never recommend converting copyrighting music or using such music in your video projects. For the whole shebang about music and copyright check out our previous article here. [...]

By: Lou

Lou — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 23:13:09 +0000

got an email from a record company in the UK that wants the non exclusive right mechanical license to manufacture only and sell 1000 records and pay me a one time buy out fee/advance for that 1000 records………..they will probably sell the vinyl for about $ 9 to $14…………trying to determine the price for that 1000 units….any suggestions………….Lou

By: Pamela Royal

Pamela Royal — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 20:19:49 +0000

I am wondering where I can find these contracts for my own use: SYNC LICENSE: PERFORMANCE LICENSE; MECHANICAL LICENSE; CO-SONGWRITER CONTRACT; CO-SONGWRITER/PUBLISHING CONTRACT. I can’t find it on this disc from THIS BUSINESS OF MUSIC? tx Pamela

By: Gilles

Gilles — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 18:15:31 +0000

In fact it has to do partly with the Royalty free music library and the contract you have with the owners of that library. It varies a lot from one library to another. Then it also depends on the type of agreement between the licensor (the library) and the end user. The cost of the license may or may not include the performing rights (that may depend also on the country where the broadcast is done). But in general yes, cue sheets should end up being sent to ASCAP (in your example) or any appropriate PRO, and the performing rights organization will then send the appropriate royalties to the composer and to the publisher. And yes it is important for you to supply the library with all the PRO info (Composers, Publishers) so the cue sheets can be filled with the right information provided by the library to the producer.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:23:04 +0000

So what your saying is:

If I sold a royalty free piece of music form a royalty free site for 60.00 to a TV production. That production company would than submit a cue sheet to ASCAP with the writer and publisher information, and I would receive money on from ASCAP on the back end that they have collected from the network broadcasting fees? So it would be in my best interest to provide the production company with my writer and publishing info so they can submit it and I can get paid from the broadcasting fees by ASCAP? And I’m of the understanding that NONE of this has to do with the license agreement between me and the TV production, all they have to do is submit my track information on the cue sheet and than it’s in ASCAP and the networks hands, right?

GREAT article by the way, very helpful!

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 20:30:54 +0000

Great article, have a few clarifying questions…

If I buy a royalty free song, put it in my film and then put the film on my homepage. Do I become a broadcaster and have to pay public performance royalties for the Internet, like a TV-station?

Also, about Youtube, are they the broadcaster or am I, when I put the film on their site?

By: Gilles

Gilles — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:35:39 +0000

Here is a text from Canadian Publisher website: Copyright happens as soon as it’s created and fixed to a medium (paper, CD, Record etc.) from which it can be reproduced. Even though copyright begins at creation you should still make steps toward protecting your intellectual property. The most inexpensive way is mailing yourself a copy of the song with lyrics included as well as the date it was written, writers involved and the recording date. Send it via registered mail and then do not open the package and file it, this way if there is any confusion in regards to who wrote the song first you have proof. The second way is by immediately joining a performing rights society and registering the song with them- SOCAN, BMI, ASCAP, PRS, etc.

By: Bhakti

Bhakti — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 18:47:13 +0000

Hi- Another great article! I have a question…first of all, back in the mid ’80s (while in high school) I used to copyright my 4-track demos at the Library of Congress. Now, 25 years later, I have a MySpace page to keep in touch with my musician friends, but I don’t put my music online because the newer music isn’t copyright registered. Are you stating that my music–that I composed, produced, and performed 100%–is automatically copyrighted? I feel like I shouldn’t put ANY of my music on the Internet unless it is copyright registered. Do you agree?