Copyright Free Music Defined

Posted by Larry Pecorella in Tutorials on January 27, 2020

Copyright free music

What is it, what does it mean?

Understanding the business of music can be very confusing, even for those that are in it.  After all, most people get into the music business because they love music,  not because they love business.  While there are plenty of educational resources out there, they are often written from a technical or legal standpoint. Well, I’m going to break this down in the simplest way I know, so you never face the copyright claim issues many creators do.

Copyright Free in the Music World

Copyright free music is not really copyright free. Unless a song is in the public domain (PD) someone has to own the publishing, the master or both to a recorded song or track. If someone is charging you money for a track, then there’s a copyright connected to it.  If they didn’t own it,  how could they charge you? So it turns out most copyright free music has a copyright and isn’t free!

Copyright Free Music: What Is It?
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Music Libraries claim they’re copyright free

When a library says it’s copyright free, what they’re really claiming is that you can use their song or track only if you first purchase a license or subscription. Then, and only then, will it be free of a copyright claim.  They won’t file a claim if you’re allowed to use their music, which in this arena means copyright free music. Either they have gotten permission from the copyright holders (artists, publishers or labels) to offer this to the public, or–as in our case–they own it themselves.

What’s the risk?

People get into trouble with copyright claims when they publish videos with tracks that they haven’t cleared the rights to. Once again, you need the holder of the copyright to give you permission. But what if you buy it from some library with thousands of artists? They have to guarantee on their end that every “i” is dotted and “t” is crossed for every single one of their artists, and also that artist’s label, and publisher, and even every band member! Things can get out of hand quickly.

What’s the solution?

Comma owns both the publishing and master recordings to all the music in our catalog. Active subscribers have unlimited access to this music free of copyright claims in exchange for the monthly fee we are charging. If you give us your YouTube channel ID when downloading a track it will be “whitelisted” and free of claims. Any library, including ours, will make a claim if you publish a video without whitelisting, or use music while not a subscriber. If you’re ready to dip your toe in the copyright free world, you can get started here.

Ready To Get Started?