Music to Your Ears

Well, we hear you loud and clear, and when we’re through with you, you’ll be seeing dollar signs while your viewers jam to the latest beats.

So you’re thinking to yourself, ok, I need to put some tunes in my videos, let me just download that new 50 Cent song, throw a segment of it in that scene where my cat Whiskers is playing with his ball of string, and I’ll call it a day, right? WRONG!!! Everyone knows cats and rap music do not mix!!! 

Excuse me, I apologize for that outburst, cats and rap go together fine. What is not fine is the fact that you used that 50 Cent song – even if you do own his CD. Believe me, you do not want to steal from a rapper; it only leads to lawsuits and driveby’s, neither of which you want. 

But don’t worry, even without big label songs, there are still several ways for you to score your videos, including using music with a Creative Commons Attribution license, public domain music, and royalty-free music, as well as your own creations. Once you’re ready to get serious about producing, please read on.  For 50’s sake.

Ask & Receive:

One of the most abundant sources of free music is licensed under Creative Commons, an organization committed to expanding the variety of creative work available for others to legally build upon and modify. Although Creative Commons has developed a number of different licenses for authors to publish their works that allow them to determine what rights others have to their content, the only one that will help you is their Attribution license.

According to Creative Commons, this license “lets others remix, tweak, and build upon [one’s] work even for commercial reasons, as long as they credit [the author] for the original creation.” While a requirement to attribute would normally be fine, due to the terms of the Producer Rewards program, you cannot be required to give credit.

Therefore, to use this music, you’ll need to shoot an email to the artist and ask pretty please to use his song without credit. If you wish to give credit out of the kindness of your heart, that’s fine, but you should know that such credit may not be included on any mobile versions of your video. 

The same goes for using music from unsigned artists on sites like MySpace. Metacafe producers Biink and Tomboys recommend this option because there are plenty of young artists on MySpace who only want a little exposure. If you email them and ask to use their music in exchange for a credit in your title or description, they’ll probably do it. 

When you email the author of the music you want, just make sure to say that you will use the music for your commercial benefit and that the music may be heard on Metacafe or possibly on a mobile platform. 

If the author gives you the ok, include a message in the description of your video with the name of the song, the artist’s name, and that you received permission. You can also forward the permission email along to us at customersupport@metacafe.com.

The Public Domain:

An even easier fix for your music needs is music that is in the public domain. Such music has no laws which restrict its use by the public at large, which means that you can reproduce, distribute, modify, and remix it freely. 

The public domain is a very tricky legal area, and determining what is and what isn’t public domain on your own is difficult (I don’t recommend trying it). For a good definition, look at what Creative Commons has to say on the subject.

Generally, music is in the public domain once its copyright expires.If the work was first created and published before January 1, 1923, you’re pretty much in the clear. But music created after 1923 could still be in the public domain. 

Luckily, many of the same sites where you can find Creative Commons music allow you to search the public domain. One of the most extensive is the Internet Archive, which has thousands of different files for download. 

Produce Your Own:

You don’t have to settle for what you can find on the web – you can always create your own music. I’m not going to go into the details of creating music, because frankly I don’t know the first thing about it, but needless to say there are many options. 

If you’re going to make your own music, but don’t want to compose it, you can always use the sheet music to a song that is in the public domain. Alternatively, you could use audio loop software like Fruity Loops to score your video, but it requires a bit more tech savvy.

Royalty Free Music:

If you’re really serious about being a producer, you may be willing to shell out some cash to improve your film, and there are dozens of sites out in the Googleverse where you can find high quality, low cost music. 

What these sites generally provide is called royalty free music. That doesn’t mean that the music is free, but rather that you pay for it once and then you are free from paying royalties for each use. 

Once you own the track, you can do whatever your little heart desires with it (but definitely read over your license agreement just in case). This can be a great solution to your music woes, so check out the pay-for music sites we have listed in our Resources section or search the web for “royalty free music.”

If you’re still afraid your video might get the boot because of the suspicion of copyrighted music, feel free to email our kind and understanding customer support staff at customersupport@metacafe.com to notify them of the permission you received for your music. We promise they’ll be gentle. 

That’s it, kiddies! Hop on over to our Resources section to check out our list of free and pay-for music sites, as well as the variety of other cool links. And remember… keep it legal.