A bad day for any content creator out there, who gets this popup for his/her video. With various reasons being responsible for a copyright strike, a major one is unlicensed music used in it. And ranging from cinematic shots to defining emotions, we are highly dependent on music these days.
If you are a content creator looking for music that doesn’t cost you a copyright strike, we have your back. We have all the how’s, where’s, and what’s of copyright-free music covered for you.
“Copyright free music”, in the literal sense, means that the music is “free of copyright” or in simple words that it can be used freely by anyone. This implies that the music is in the public domain; either because its license has lapsed, or the creator has surrendered the rights. You may or may not attribute it to the creator while working around with the music in such cases.
Often misconstrued for being the same, copyright-free music and royalty-free music are not the same.
“Royalty free” implies that no payment is required for using the music, however, it does not imply that the music is free and can be used any way without limitations. There might be royalty-free music available to use freely for your content, but to obtain a license for it, a huge amount of money must have been spent.
Think of royalty-free music as a one-time investment for a period. Until such time, the license is valid and you can use the music under the limitations stated in the license, without actually paying for it.
For example, if you are a subscriber of YouTube Premium, you don’t see ads while watching videos on YouTube but the moment you stop your subscription, ads will start popping in the start, between, end, and wherever possible while browsing YouTube. Aka, It’s an investment for a period.
For the longest time, people have struggled to find answers to questions like “Is 10 seconds use of music legal?”
The answer is NO. Without the rights or permission from the creators, using the track for even a single second is illegal.
Copyright free music, from trusted sources is completely legal, but the music should actually be copyright-free, which, mostly is a misnomer. Curated playlists which offer copyright free music are not for indefinite use, because if artists somehow later want to monetize their work, there is a high chance of getting a copyright strike*.
When a copyright owner submits a valid and legal takedown request for using their copyright-protected content, it will result in a copyright strike.
Mostly the platforms you create content on, have an audio library section where copyright free music or royalty free music is available, which can be used freely.
For example, in the case of YouTube, we have the YouTube Audio Library, where non-copyrighted music is available under Creative Commons License which can be used with or without attribution as stated, with or without the freedom to change the music content.
While it is completely legal to use YouTube Audio Library, does it comply with the creator’s creative demands considering the latest trends and highly competitive music available? I highly doubt, since the music available, does not have all the latest tracks, is often outdated, and this world is now a ‘world of trends’.
To cater to these needs, there are a number of platforms that offer licenses at low costs to use copyright free music, some of which are listed below:
If you are a musician and want your music to be used across the world for content curation, it’s best to create and sell licensed stock music on platforms such as Hoopr.
For your contribution to copyright free music, which can be used by creators, you need to first understand their needs and requirements, the instruments which gain popularity beats which are foot-tapping, and tunes already in trend.
For example, with short video platforms gaining enormous popularity these days, people need shorter compositions for it, mostly ranging anywhere between 20-60 seconds.
Here are a few tips and tricks to kickstart your stock music selling with Hoopr:
Be it creating or using music for your content, it is always fun to play around with tracks. For a YouTuber, buying licenses could be a way out, since it is perfectly safe, and easy to use with minimal costs. With such platforms, your video is safe from copyrighted music issues; and for a creator to have copyright claims/strikes is the biggest roadblock on their path of a successful YouTube journey.
Go ahead without worries, create music, content, and much more.