"Royalty free music" seems to be the buzz word these days for anyone who has ever tried to make a YouTube video or even other kinds of media creations. I mean, a YouTube video is a million times better with a little music in the background, right? But you can't just use any music you want. If you just use your favorite song off the radio, the YouTube police will be on you like a moth to a flame. That's why you need music that you can use in your videos and keep the YTP at bay. That's why you need royalty free music.
Now, "royalty free" does not mean "free of charge." It means that you don't have to pay royalties to the artist or songwriters every time their song is played like most TV and radio stations have to do. What you do have to do, is pay up front for a license to use the music. Once you pay an agreed upon licensing fee, you now have the right to use the song in your video and no one is going to get mad at you or come asking for money.
Imagine going through the following scenario with your next Facebook Live video. You prepare your material and make sure you know what you are going to talk about. You have your favorite song cued up the play in the background to give it some ambiance. Then you do the video and it goes great. You say everything the way you want to say it. There are a bunch of people leaving comments and liking your video. You are killing it! But when you go to post the video permanently on your profile page, Facebook not only doesn't allow you to post it, but they delete the whole thing because you didn't have the right to use the music! All your hard work is gone. All the perfect words you said are gone. You have to do the whole thing over again and this time without the music. That has happened to people I know and as you can imagine, it is incredibly frustrating. The solution is buying a license to use someone's music royalty free.
But where do you get this royalty free music, you ask?
There are a number of websites out there now that license music. My personal favorite, however, is Soul Motivation Records! Ok, yes, I own the company. :) But we are doing some really cool things with music licensing that will help you keep your costs down while making amazing videos!
At Soul Motivation Records, we offer Music Bed Packs that are royalty free and give you 10 unique songs of varying styles to use in your upcoming videos. You pay a one time fee up front of $99 and then you can use all 10 songs as much as you want with no limitations and no renewals fees. Pretty cool, huh?
I hope this answers your questions about how royalty free music works. I know it's kind of confusing, but the main thing to remember is if you want to use music in your videos, be sure to be proactive and find a good royalty free solution. It will save you a lot of money and headaches down the road. If you are still confused, feel free to reach out anytime. I am happy to help you navigate these confusing waters in any way I can.
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