Using copyrighted music?

[Walter Biscardi]

[Frank J. Lozano] “Can someone recommend a good copy right free music library, or maybe one by subscription where you get updates.”

royaltyfreemusic.com

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.

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[Tim Wilson]

I know that brides often ask for popular songs to be part of their videos, and that that’s where the conversation began. But once we start talking about royalty free music, I like starting with SmartSound. There are plenty of ways to customize tracks so that they don’t sound like “out of the box” music, but it’s some very high quality stuff that I’ve used for years.

My two favorite parts are that you can make the tracks match the length of your clip, and that you can combine elements from several very different sounding clips — again, elements to make your music sound unique and not at all packaged. The newest version has elements to take it farther still, with control over mood, which instruments play and more.

Sony Cinescore takes a similar approach — in fact, they license SmartSound’s technology for fitting music to length. I haven’t heard the music though.

One to watch is the AutoComposer feature in Adobe’s upcoming Soundbooth release as part of Creative Suite 3. The current beta only has 3 scores in it, but the release version this summer will have dozens. Rather than “mood,” their approach is to adjust “intensity.” It’s pretty slick stuff, and even in its beta form, I’ve used those tracks plenty.

Last but not least, I’ve licensed music from professional libraries. The best one by a long shot is FirstCom, but it’s not the cheapest. The coolest thing about it though is that they have truly top-level musicians — major Grammy winners, jazz and popular music artists you’ve heard of, etc. — and a massive library to choose from. I found them totally worth it: I won a number of jobs with their music. I can’t even tell you how many times I heard, “We saw a lot of nice video, but your music was head and shoulders above the rest so we’re hiring you.”

All good options, well worth the money.

[Steve Wargo]

We use Smart Sound. You can custom tailor the length and if you are musically inclined, you can customize the song itself. I am not at all talented in that arena.

I think the company might actually be called Sonic Fire. I just went to look and found this: https://www.smartsound.com/sonicfire/

Se easy, even an editor can do it.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona

It’s a dry heat!

[Debe]

Actually, it’s the other way around, Steve.

The company is SmartSound.

One of their products is Sonicfire Pro.

I’m a relatively new user of Sonicfire Pro. I purchased it at MacWorld back in January, and really had a good chance to get familiar with it on a project for NAB.

It’s excellent for those like me that are….well…. musically inept! I can keep tempo, but that’s about it. You don’t need to be a musician to use it. The Strata Series tracks are so versitile that one track on a disk has three to six variations and on top of that, each variation can have up 10 or more moods. That’s some serious math that will show you that each disk with 12-14 tracks can have so may variations that I can’t even calculate right now.

Now, I love my audio editors, and I’m not about to try to take them out of the equation, but the video editor and producer having the ability to get into more complex “rough” music picks before the audio mix is a new workflow that I’m really excited to explore.

debe

[Rob Webster]

Check out freeplaymusic.com. In limited circumstances, their music is completely free. But in most cases, there will be a liscence fee you have to pay. One option is that you can always download the music for a client, and then purchase the music based on the client’s approval.

[Beau Brotherton]

Tim,

I looked up the FirstCom site. I couldn’t find any pricing with out registering. How much does this service run?

Thanks,
Beau

[Artistdavid]

Just a note on using http:/www.freeplaymusic.com.

https://www.freeplaymusic.com/licensing/ratecard.php
https://www.freeplaymusic.com/licensing/termsofuse.php

I first came across them in early 2001-2002 or so as a huge part of their library was bundled with DVD Studio Pro. With the name of their web site and the original “Music License” things have changed since 2001.

With all of the web, blogs and everything else that are being produced today, what used to be “royalty-free” content (music or image) as long as you weren’t producing for resale or profit is changing.

Good Producing!

“Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art.”—-Leonardo daVinci