I’m convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that the only way to survive in this world is to get a law degree. In an age where everybody and their grandmother is itching to sue the poor sap who just happened to not know the law, a degree could very well be a life saver.
Well, I can’t supply you with a law degree. Nor can I give you any law advice. Only a lawyer can do that. But I can warn you about some of the pitfalls associated with purchasing royalty free music. If you’re not careful, they could land you in a boatload of hot water.
Let’s start with PRS and ASCAP, which is the US equivalent of PRS if you’re living in the UK.
On the outside, it would appear that purchasing royalty free music is a simple process. You pick out the piece of music that you want, pay the fee and then you can use it for whatever project you had in mind as often as you need to use it.
In most cases, that’s exactly how simple it is and there is no need to be concerned about anything else. However, because some royalty free music creators like to cover all their bases and protect themselves further (something I personally don’t understand, but whatever) they will register their music with one of those two organizations depending on where they live. I live in the US, so if I were to register my music, it would be with ASCAP.
So what difference does it make if you purchase music registered with ASCAP as opposed to not being registered with ASCAP or its British counterpart?
Let’s take this example as a way to explain it.
Suppose you run a music venue out of a small club. And before each show begins you play a short little intro of music that you purchased. Let’s say you do 365 shows a year. That’s 365 performances of this piece of music.
If the music in question is not registered with ASCAP or PRS and the creator of the music gives you unlimited rights to the music, then there is nothing to worry about. There are no outside agencies to be concerned with. But what if the piece of music IS registered with ASCAP or PRS. What happens?
Well, if either of these two agencies gets wind that you’re using music registered with them as more than a one time thing, they may very well contact you and inform you that you owe them performance fees for each time that piece of music was played at the venue.
Even though the composer of the music claimed his music is royalty free, because he registered it with an outside organization, the organization in question is more than entitled to come collecting, even though the composer won’t see a dime of that money.
This is why if you decide on purchasing royalty free music you specifically need to ask the composer or the site selling the music (assuming the site has numerous composers) if in fact the music you’re purchasing is registered with either of these agencies. If the answer is yes, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to have to pay additional fees for multiple performances but it could. You need to be aware of this.
This is just one of the pitfalls of purchasing royalty free music.
But they don’t end there.
It has become very easy for people to steal things, especially off the Internet. A site claiming to have royalty free music could very well be one that has simply pirated music from other sources and you’d have no way of knowing until one day you get a knock on the door from somebody with proof that they are the original composer.
In my case, all my master tracks are time stamped and verified, something that a pirate won’t have. They’ll only have the MP3 files off this site. They won’t have the individual track breakdown or sheet music (which I have in some cases) to verify that the music is original. So if you’re concerned about any of the music on my site, just email me for documented proof. I’ve got tons of it.
In short, beware of pirates.
Another pitfall of purchasing royalty free music is the actual quality of the tracks you’re downloading. Some sites will have sample clips on their site where the quality is better than the actual file that you’ll download. This is kind of a bait and switch thing.
Then there are the sites that only allow you to preview 30 seconds from a 3 minute song. Then you download the track and find out that the last 2:30 is absolute garbage. No reputable site would do this and expect to stay in business long. But still, it’s something you need to look out for.
Finally, there is the trap of getting sucked into these package deals. On the surface they sound good. But then you download the whole package (say 200 tracks) and find out that only about 30 or 40 of them are any good and in the long run you would have spent less money had you just purchased the 30 or 40 tracks that you needed.
On my site you will get to hear every track in a package so you will know just how good, or bad, each track is. That way there is no guessing or wondering if the package is any good.
The above only scratches the surface of some of the problems you’ll run into when purchasing royalty free music. Unfortunately, we live in a shady world. If there is a way to put one over on the public, somebody out there will figure out how to exploit that way. At wagsrfm.com, what you see is what you get. No punches pulled and no bait and switch. Just the best music that I can give you at the best affordable price.
The key is knowing exactly what you want BEFORE you buy it. To that end, in future articles I’m going to cover just how to do that.
See you then.
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim