Also known as buyout music or lifetime synchronization music, Royalty Free Music at it’s core simple means music that has a single, or one time licensing fee. Once this fee has been paid, the licensor is granted the ability to synchronize that music with their audio and/or video productions an unlimited number of times without additional synchronization fees. In other words, the licensor has a Lifetime License to sync that music with their productions.
This is the principle difference between Royalty Free Music and what is frequently referred to as Needle Drop Music, or Rights Managed Music. Under the Needle Drop licensing model, the licensor would be charged a synchronization fee each time they used a piece of music. In fact, if you used a song at the beginning and at the end of the same video, that would incur two “needle drop” fees (or synch fees).
Licensing music from any one of the sites associated with Prolific Arts, Inc. simplifies the process by saving you money, eliminating much of the paperwork, calculating of fees, reporting, and check writing. The Prolific Arts family of libraries includes:
Despite the fact that Royalty Free Music is the commonly accepted terminology for the lifetime synchronization model, you can see that the term Royalty Free Music is not an entirely accurate term. Unless you have a brother-in-law in the business, there is indeed a fee paid before the license is granted.
Another common misconception about Royalty Free Music relates to the broadcasting of the music on television or film. Broadcasters such as NBC, ABC, and The Discovery Channel pay an annual licensing fee to Ascap and Bmi (performing rights societies) for the right to broadcast music on their network. Producers are required to turn in Cue Sheets to the performing rights societies so that the music usage can be tracked properly and performance royalties can be dispersed accordingly to the proper composers and music publishers.
There are no costs associated with turning in cue sheets, but it assures that the composers and publishers are getting their fare share of the fees the broadcasters have already paid to Ascap and Bmi. In fact, cue sheets play a vital role in allowing Royalty Free Music Libraries to keep their prices as low as they are.
