If you wish to include music or other sound effects in your videos or web sites, you need to get permission from the people who own the copyrights to the material you wish to use. You can record your own sound as long as you don't duplicate anyone else's work and that includes singing your own version of a copyrighted song! You can't even sing Happy Birthday since the song is not in the public domain (available to the public for free use). You can write your own songs and publish them yourself, then perform those songs yourself and prove you are the copyright owner to use those songs. And no one else can use them without your permission.
You may have seen videos on MySpace or You Tube that have a copyrighted song accompanying the visual images. Chances are the person did NOT get permission and someone could report that person to the website and the website owner will remove or ban the video and possibly the account. There are people who got fines and even jail time for illegal use of music. Big recording labels such as Sony pay people to find the illegal copies for removal.
You are thinking that you REALLY want to use that song from a popular artist. So, what do you do? You can contact the song publisher. Most songs are owned by ASCAP or BMI. You can get permission and pay royalty fees for use of the song. Then you can record it yourself or pay royalty fees to the performers and the recording company also. Even if the artist is your friend, his/her recording company will want its money. All permission should be requested and received in writing. Keep copies for your records. Your web host can request this information or force you to remove any work containing copyrighted music.
Okay, now that you discovered that you can't afford the royalty fees for the popular songs, where can you get AFFORDABLE music for your projects? There are three basic terms to search: public domain music, royalty free music and creative commons music. Public domain music is normally old songs that were created before copyright protection laws were made or songs from artists who no longer own copyrights since they expired. Royalty free music is music that you pay a one-time fee to own and you can use it. This does not include popular music where you paid a one-time fee for a CD or digital download. The music will be sold as royalty free music and may still have restrictions, so read their terms of service. Creative commons music is music created by artists who would be happy to share their music with the world and allow you to download their music. There are different ratings for use, so please be sure to read their terms before using their music.
Visit these websites for music for your video, Flash presentation or website:
Electronic Music Library - Music licensing for tv, radio, film, advertising and business needs.
Download Royalty Free Music Royalty Free World Music |
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