| Royalty free music is one of the safest kinds of | | | | Google can get away with crawling your website |
| music you can use on your website. It's designed | | | | and taking all your copyright material. And that's |
| to be used on websites, in videos and other | | | | only because you want the traffic they can send |
| productions with almost no restrictions. The only | | | | back to your website in return! |
| other safe option to use would be a track that | | | | Far and away the safest kind of sounds to use |
| you've written and performed yourself. | | | | on your website or on your YouTube videos are |
| Almost all modern music is copyright. And this | | | | called "royalty free" or sometimes "stock" or |
| copyright is enforced ferociously by the record | | | | "buyout" music. |
| companies corporate lawyers. Which means that | | | | The author takes a one-off fee in return for you |
| if you want to use it on your website, you will | | | | being able to use their work pretty much |
| have to come to an arrangement with the owner | | | | anywhere and any way you see fit. Although |
| of that copyright in order to use it - not the | | | | there's usually a restriction to stop you selling it |
| easiest thing to do as you have to track them | | | | unaltered - you normally have to modify it in |
| down and then find out who handles this kind of | | | | some way. So it's fine to use the track behind |
| copyright issue. Either that or be prepared for a | | | | your YouTube videos but you wouldn't be allowed |
| "cease and desist" letter from their lawyer along | | | | to sell a CD with simply the royalty free music on |
| with a demand for unpaid royalties. The "unpaid | | | | it. Which is fair enough, otherwise the author |
| royalties" figure will be their best guess of what | | | | would never get any money. |
| you are likely to owe and you can be certain that | | | | Once you've bought a track or CD in this manner, |
| it won't be an underestimate - it will be up to you | | | | you can add it to your website and still be able to |
| to prove any lower amount, Not the nicest thing | | | | sleep at night. You can also use it to add variety |
| to have happen to you. | | | | to your YouTube videos, or in an amateur |
| It's a common misconception that if something is | | | | dramatic production, your own movie, CDs and |
| available on the internet, it's OK to use it on your | | | | DVDs you produce, and anything else you can |
| website. People think this about pictures as well as | | | | think of. |
| music. But that's not true - everything published is | | | | There are all sorts of different tracks available |
| automatically copyright unless the author | | | | from new age through to R'n'B, Hip Hop, jazz, |
| specifically says otherwise - this happens | | | | country and any other musical genre you care to |
| nowadays mainly with open source software and | | | | name. So you're bound to be able to get hold of |
| even then there's usually some kind of agreement | | | | something that fits the mood you want to |
| (often called copyleft). Only search engines like | | | | recreate. |