What you need to know about royalty-free music
The terms ‘royalty-free’ music and ‘PPCA-free’ music can mean lots of different things and they don’t always mean that you don’t need a OneMusic Australia licence.
Not all royalty-free is really royalty-free
Not all music that is called ‘royalty-free’ music is the same. Sometimes it could mean that just the recording is ‘royalty free’ and that the underlying written songs still require an ongoing payment to the creators.
A recording may be ‘royalty-free’ because the supplier already has the permission from the record label that owns the recording, or it could be that the supplier has themselves arranged for a ‘sound-a- like’ recording to be made (sometimes this is called ‘PPCA-free’).
Unfortunately, in our experience, often what is sometimes called ‘royalty-free’ music is in fact not entirely ‘free’ from the payment of ongoing royalties and that you may still require a licence from OneMusic Australia.
You may think that royalty free is a cheap option, but like anything you only get what you pay for. If you’re happy with a much smaller catalogue of music then royalty free may be OK for you. If you want your customers to feel the groove with familiar music, OneMusic has you covered.
If you are not sure if the music you want to use will require a OneMusic Australia licence, please feel free to contact us.
