Free music or libre music as it is commonly known, is music which, like public domain music, is free to legally copy, distribute and modify for any lawful purpose. So free music would either be in the public domain, which is the right given to you by the federal government, or under a free licence by the original artist or owner themselves, often with the stipulation of some compensation. In some cases, especially where the original copyright has not been renewed, free music may also be in the public domain. Where can you find free music?
The Internet provides the perfect place for content creators and listeners alike to share and exchange this rich form of intellectual property. A simple search on the Internet will display thousands of results, both from within the United States and internationally. Most websites are categorised by type of content and by categories including music, drama, film, print, images, publishing and more. Simply type in whatever term you are looking for and you will be presented with relevant websites to help you.
Within these websites are many different types of free or royalty Free Music available to use in both your and/or other's media projects. Some of the most common licenses are: non-commercial use, public use, and educational use. Non-commercial use is a great way to showcase the range of licensed works that are in the public domain, and are freely available to use on both commercial and private websites. For example, if you were creating a blog about music, and were looking for sounds from a band that you wanted to feature on your site, and you found their recordings in the public domain, then you could simply use those recordings in your posts.
Public use is extremely broad and covers any use where the output will be viewed by anyone who comes to the website. This includes broadcasting, broadcast television, radio, film, advertising, etc. You can also use some music licenses to exclusively use music on your site. Educational use covers everything on your site other than purely educational purposes such as learning and instructional material, but it does not include the actual product itself (which would be a performance license). The most common licenses are non-profit, performance and sales.
If you are looking for licensed music, then you need to search for a performance right license instead of a performance right license. Performing right licenses are typically more expensive than performance rights licenses because they provide exclusive rights to display and perform the material. For example, you may have seen music videos on YouTube that contain someone playing a song or musical piece for which they have no rights whatsoever. In this instance, the individual who has the performance right license pays the owner of the music a fee each time they perform that song.
Some other licenses available are performance licensing where the owner of the work is only paid a set fee for their use of the work whereas the author is paid a royalty for every sale of their work. Performance royalties are much more common and there are numerous places you can find them; however, they are more expensive. Royalties are paid to the creator of the work instead of an individual. An artist who is selling a CD usually collects a set amount of money for each CD sold and those who are selling their own CD usually collect a set percentage of the total profits from the sales. The royalties and licenses listed above are typical royalty free licenses that most websites will charge you in order to view their music content.
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