There will be occasions when you will need to purchase a music license for small businesses, and in this post we will quickly look at a few scenarios where having a music license will be a requirement.
PROs
PROs handle much of this kind of licensing, as it has to do with performance rights a lot of the time. PRO represents Performing Rights Organisation and these companies collect royalties for artists, records companies, music publishers etc. It’s to ensure musicians and rights holders are fairly compensated for the music small businesses use in order to please their customers.
Let’s make a quick list of the circumstances where you will be required to organise a license through one of the many PROs worldwide.
Restaurant or retail background music- Call waiting (call on hold) music
- Live performances
- Karaoke
- Music played in clubs and bars
- Radio and TV broadcasts of music
In the above instances you will generally approach the local PRO in your country to obtain a simple license to cover your needs. However, there will come times when you will need to purchase sync music licenses which are a different legal requirement to licensing through a PRO. Sync licenses are not about royalties as much as they are about paying for the right to use music in a project.
What Is Sync Licensing?
Sync licensing involves using a piece of music in sync with something like a video, a presentation, in a movie, a video game trailer or a piece of advertising. These are just some of the scenarios where a sync license will be required.
For example, as a small business you might decide to create a YouTube video to promote one of your products. In that video you decide you either want some background music, or music to be the major theme of the sound. Unless you create the music yourself or hire someone to create it, you will need to seek out an existing piece of music that you believe fits the advertising theme. In this case you will need to purchase the appropriate sync license to legally be able to use it in your advertising.
The prices of sync licenses will vary depending on what the project is and, in the cases of film, what the project budget is. When it comes to business advertising or using music in corporate presentations and the like, the price will also be determined by the size of the company, based on how many employees work there.
It’s not as complex or as complicated as it sounds, and there are literally millions of music tracks – with or without vocals – available for licensing all over the internet. There are numerous websites that are devoted to music licensing and they streamline the licensing process for you.
My Favourite Music Licensing Site
I like Songtradr because they have streamlined the music licensing process even further. Every track that is available for sync licensing is already pre-cleared with everyone involved in the creation of the track. What this means is that when you find music on Songtradr that meets your requirements, all you need to do is select the appropriate license for your project and buy the license. You will immediately be able to download the track and put it to its specified use.
Their search functionality is extremely intuitive and accurate and very easy to use. Depending on your intended project, when you find some music you like, you can select the appropriate license in a drop down menu on the left and the price for the license will be displayed. Prices will vary, as Songtradr allow sellers to set their own prices, but everyone keeps their prices realistic and reasonable for the most part.
To take a look at Songtradr, just click on their logo below and you’ll be directed to their website.
I always wondered how it works to get the rights to use music. Especially in my case making Youtube videos. I was always scared to use a piece of music or a soundfile. Now it makes a lot more sense. It must be difficult to keep track of unlicensed music use on the internet. Thousands of Youtube videos are uploaded every single day. Is there a way to monitor this?
Hi Leo. I don’t think there is any effective method of monitoring the use of unlicensed music. Which happens all the time, as you say. Basically the only time someone gets caught is if a rights owner happens across their music being used somewhere without their permission and reporting it. In most cases the offender will just be asked to remove it.