How To Use Royalty Free Music To Keep Your Website And Videos Legal
Royalty free music is one of the safest kinds of music you can use on your website. It’s designed to be used on websites, in videos and other productions with almost no restrictions. The only other safe option to use would be a track that you’ve written and performed yourself.
Almost all modern music is copyright. And this copyright is enforced ferociously by the record companies corporate lawyers. Which means that if you want to use it on your website, you will have to come to an arrangement with the owner of that copyright in order to use it – not the easiest thing to do as you have to track them down and then find out who handles this kind of copyright issue. Either that or be prepared for a “cease and desist” letter from their lawyer along with a demand for unpaid royalties. The “unpaid royalties” figure will be their best guess of what you are likely to owe and you can be certain that it won’t be an underestimate – it will be up to you to prove any lower amount, Not the nicest thing to have happen to you.
It’s a common misconception that if something is available on the internet, it’s OK to use it on your website. People think this about pictures as well as music. But that’s not true – everything published is automatically copyright unless the author specifically says otherwise – this happens nowadays mainly with open source software and even then there’s usually some kind of agreement (often called copyleft). Only search engines like Google can get away with crawling your website and taking all your copyright material. And that’s only because you want the traffic they can send back to your website in return!
Far and away the safest kind of sounds to use on your website or on your YouTube videos are called “royalty free” or sometimes “stock” or “buyout” music.
The author takes a one-off fee in return for you being able to use their work pretty much anywhere and any way you see fit. Although there’s usually a restriction to stop you selling it unaltered – you normally have to modify it in some way. So it’s fine to use the track behind your YouTube videos but you wouldn’t be allowed to sell a CD with simply the royalty free music on it. Which is fair enough, otherwise the author would never get any money.
Once you’ve bought a track or CD in this manner, you can add it to your website and still be able to sleep at night. You can also use it to add variety to your YouTube videos, or in an amateur dramatic production, your own movie, CDs and DVDs you produce, and anything else you can think of.
There are all sorts of different tracks available from new age through to R’n'B, Hip Hop, jazz, country and any other musical genre you care to name. So you’re bound to be able to get hold of something that fits the mood you want to recreate.
The Role of Media in Music Teaching
Media and arts influence our society in ways we are often not aware of. Growing up surrounded by television, radio, and movies, we often take the images and information they present for granted. Do you ever stop to think about how your interests have been shaped by what you see and hear through electronic media? Have you ever pondered on how your taste in music or arts developed?
Now, more than ever, the possibility of finding almost any information we are researching for is in media. Various sources such as newspaper, radio, television, Internet, and many others, are available almost anywhere.
Different forms of media, indeed, have become a part of everyone’s life. They shape and sometimes dictate or dominate our culture and interests. The mass media is undeniably of great impact to the society as it instills information in our minds that we use in our daily living.
Mass media has different roles in the society. One of these is its substantial role in the music industry.
How do people become interested in music? What makes them sing or become interested in playing musical instruments?
The answers to the questions mentioned rely to role the media plays in the music scene. Music is heard through the radio; thus, it triggers the music interests of its listeners.
Have you watched any television programs that involve competitors aiming for a singing title or a television singing program that shows the training of the contenders?
Television programs like what I have mentioned are usual these days. We expect music to be played only in the radio but with media around, proliferation of music through television and the Internet (singing competitions, music videos, etc.) are also possible.
Having said much of the possibilities that the media can bring to people, it largely contributes to the music teaching aspect of the industry. Media instruments, such as those mentioned earlier, are highly considered as music teacher resources for it supplies them information regarding music.
There are television programs that show trainings and rehearsals of the candidates. Through this, they can share to the viewers the different techniques of developing their singing talents. Few of these techniques that I have watched are the facial exercises done before the proper singing so as to relax the muscles that affect voice belting. Maintaining proper posture and body alignment while singing are also observed. Air supply is very important to reach low and high notes, and many others.
In general, music teacher resources can mostly be found through media in the form of visuals and audios. Other music teacher resources include personal encounters of music teachers during their classes, and those that are not in media forms.
Learn great facts and tips about music teaching; log on to our Music Teachers Blog.
Choosing a Sound Effects Library
When choosing a sound effects library, what do you look for? For people new to the industry, there are a few key questions they need to answer in order to determine what kind of sound effects library that need for their productions. To start off with, while there are a variety of sound effects library publishers, there are a few that one would consider to be the premium sound effects publishers and that have been around for quite some time, two in specific: Sound Ideas and The Hollywood Edge. Both these companies have been in the industry publishing sound effects for a very long time, and focus on high quality sound effects.
Sound Ideas started by creating their first sound effects library– the Series 1000 – on reel to reel tape in 1979. Since then they have created sound effects for the past thirty years, moving from CD formats to hard drive sound effects libraries as of late. Sound Ideas has established themselves as a premium provider of sound effects by constantly innovating and creating exclusive partnerships with providers such as 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros.
The Hollywood Edge is seen by many as the Hollywood sound effects library. The Hollywood Edge contains the Premiere Edition sound effects libraries which contain a great selection of general sound effects for film productions. Many of their sound effects are used in award winning Hollywood movies and productions. Other note worthy mentions for a sound effects library are the BBC Sound Effects Library, Digital Juice Sound FX Library, and the acclaimed Sound Storm Sound Effects Library. Here are a few items to look for when you choose a sound effects library created by a premium publisher.
An important item when choosing a professional sound effects library is that it comes with metadata. Metadata is essentially a description of the sound effect. Today, much of the metadata would be created with software called the Sound miner toolset which allows the sound effects to be easily indexed. When it comes to indexing and searching for sound effects, the metadata is there to make sure you can find the sound effect you are looking for once you need it!
Further, if you want true feature film quality in your production, it’s important that your sound effects library come either in Red Book Audio format (for a CD sound effects library) or WAV files (if you are looking at a hard drive sound effects library). If you are purchasing a sound effects library in a hard drive format, premium sound effects providers will provide their sound effects in WAV format, either in 16 bit or 24 bit WAV files (24 bit preferred if your workstation can handle it). If purchasing a sound effects library in CD format, the Red Book Audio Format is the audio standard format the audio industry adheres to so that all CD players can read the CD (important if you want your sound effects!) Even with a CD in Red Book Audio format, you can still rip the files to WAV format to use in your productions. In summary, make sure your sound effects library publisher has a reputation for creating a high quality sound effects library.