royalty free music for weddings

[Dave Haynie]

If you want that kind of canned music, you’re going to pay or take lower quality. There are a few archives of public domain music, such as https://www.musopen.com/music and https://www.openmusicarchive.org. You’ll have to spend some time searching for appropriate music.

Or do what I usually do — make your own. It depends on your style, of course… I’m generally using acoustic guitar for background music. And I’m not doing 20 weddings a year or anything, either — not that you couldn’t re-use such music when it fits the scene.

For more exciting background music, I use Acid. Keep in mind that the video is the centerpiece here — the music needs to act in support of that, it doesn’t ever want to be the central focus. Which means, it has to be of good quality, but it doesn’t have to be terribly innovative.

And also consider, that same canned music you buy is showing up on everyone else’s wedding videos. Same reason I don’t use canned graphics… I take a still camera, with a macro lens, and use elements from the wedding for stills and titles in the video or BD/DVD.

-Dave

[Brent Dunn]

DigitalJuice.com

Check out WEVA’s website. I think it’s WEVA.com. They are the Wedding and Event Videographer’s Association. They have their annual seminar / training in August in Orlando. You’ll learn more in 3 days than you will on your own in 3 years.

Brent Dunn
Owner / Director / Editor
DunnRight Films
DunnRight Video.com
Video Marketing Toolbox.net

Sony EX-1,
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 7D
Mac Pro Tower, Quad Core,
with Final Cut Studio

HP i7 Quad laptop
Adobe CS-5 Production Suite

[Rob Fourchalk]

Thanks Dave – yeah my ability to produce my own scores are very limited – play little guitar. I am a percussionist and can produce some beats (Garageband) but need the full meal sound.

Your right about many of the canned songs showing up in many of the videographers work. I’ll be sure to check out the sites you mention.

[Rob Fourchalk]

Very interesting this WEVA site. I think a business/family vacation is in the works for August in Orlando. Have you personally attended any of these WEVA expo’s yourself. If so, which specific sessions would you recommend for a newbie such as myself?

Thanks for the heads up!

[Brent Dunn]

Yes, it is the best way to go for anyone in the business. You’ll be able to plan ahead as you will see the seminar sessions posted on the site. They also have a pre-session to help you plan which sesions to attend.

You just have to find which fits your needs. There is way more than you will be able to absorb, but that is why you need to go back again and again.

Yes, that’s why they finally wised up and moved it to Orlando from Las Vegas. It’s much more family oriented and they can enjoy the theme parks while you hone your craft.

Brent Dunn
Owner / Director / Editor
DunnRight Films
DunnRight Video.com
Video Marketing Toolbox.net

Sony EX-1,
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 7D
Mac Pro Tower, Quad Core,
with Final Cut Studio

HP i7 Quad laptop
Adobe CS-5 Production Suite

[David Henderschott]

Hi Rob,

If anything, I think prices for royalty free music are going up. Beatsuite.com, a popular rfm site based in the UK, is licensing single tracks for $80/track now. That site is very good. I’d say the average price/track that I see at various sites is around $45 or so. I must say though that the quality of the music has vastly improved over the past 5 years. There seem to be many more sites too.

There are some free sites, as you’ve already discovered, I’ve had better luck at the bigger sites just because of choice factors. Lately, I tend to use a company called UniqueTracks. They in the mid-range about $40/track.

Agree with everything already said about WEVA.

Best and welcome,
Dave

[Grinner Hester]

deWolfe.com is my favorite. They like to work blanket deals and I dig that.
To answer your question about other wedding dues, most of them are pirates. Heck their industry even gives awards to those who steal copyrighted tunage. Go figure.

[Steve Eisen]

[Brent Dunn] “They have their annual seminar / training in August in Orlando”

Not this year. They plan on having a “Virtual Expo” The only travel involved is to your computer.

Changing locations from Vegas to Orlando had nothing to do with being a family friendly location.

The best education at a trade show is Post Production World at NAB.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group

[Brent Dunn]

I didn’t realize WEVA had gone totally virtual. I thought that was in addition to the physical conference. That’s too bad, it’s always nice to meet the people in the industry and share ideas and network.

Anyway, Song Freedom is also a way for you to LEGALLY use copyrighted and popular hit songs that your clients want on their videos. The cost is based on the number of DVD’s or online videos you post. There is a monthly fee, but this should be included in your production costs.

https://songfreedom.com/

Brent Dunn
Owner / Director / Editor
DunnRight Films
DunnRight Video.com
Video Marketing Toolbox.net

Sony EX-1,
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 7D
Mac Pro Tower, Quad Core,
with Final Cut Studio

HP i7 Quad laptop
Adobe CS-5 Production Suite

[Rob Fourchalk]

Thanks for all your responses and help everyone! I guess I will just have to include these hefty price tags for music in production costs. It really does suck that the WEVA expo is completely virtual this year. I mean its awesome on one hand out of convenience, but was hoping to take the wife and kid for business/family vacation. I’m residing in Vancouver, Canada where it has rained almost everyday in the last 5 months (I digress).

This is a great forum and again thanks to everyone!