Huh? Royalty-free? What does THAT mean?

I recently had someone ask what the big deal was about "royalty-free" music, and exactly what that meant.

In this post, a bit of background (disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, so this isn't legal advice). This may sound a bit idealistic, but here goes anyway:

Copyright law basically says that the creator of a work owns it - and he can then rent it out, sell it outright, give it away, etc - but only the OWNER of a work can do that. (I know - lots of people out there who believe otherwise, but they are wrong). The advantage is that creators of works (music, art, etc) potentially benefit financially. The more money you make in your art, the more motivated you are to create more - it's the basis of capitalism.

Another right granted by the lawmakers is something called "public performance" - i.e. the writer has the right to be paid everytime there is a public performance of their work. A public performance takes place anytime the work is played at all - whether streamed off the internet, played off a CD, played on the radio or satellite radio, etc. So officially anytime you use a piece of music you owe somebody some money.

There are several types of library music available, in terms of licenses:

• A "needle drop" license means you fill out a form and send some money everytime you use a track. This can obviously be a real hassle when you run a government access or cable access channel and need background music 24x7.


• "Royalty Free" music means that you buy a permanent license to play the music whenever and wherever you need it (depending on the license you agree to when purchasing the music. Some of the licenses restrict what you can do). Note that you can't do absolutely anything with that music - you just don't have to pay a usage fee everytime you use the track. This type of license can about in reaction to the "needle drop" licenses. Traditionally,royalty-free tracks were of a lower quality (in terms of the music and/or the audio quality). This is not as true anymore.


• There are some hybrid licenses out there. For example, some companies make their music royalty free for certain uses, but require a different license if the track will be used in broadcast media. This is not an evil thing - just a business decision. It is something you need to watch for when purchasing library music.

Website news

We are getting closer to launching the site. Behind the scenes a shopping cart has been installed and wea re working on making it fully functional. At the start we'll be using PayPal to process payments, and the files will be available for immediate download.

Later we'll be adding the ability to order CDs with custom designed playlists - the idea being you just pop the CD into your player and you've got a well designed set of music to go behind your cable access/government access cable channel.

More details as they become available.

Also coming "real soon now" - a free demo track of some of the music that will be available.

The music DOES matter.......

I've been perusing government access channels in some of my recent travels, and have noticed quite a few things that pertain to GovAccessMusic.com's target audience. As I flip around the dial, i try to view the channel as if I was a resident of the area instead of just someone traveling through.

1. Having no music at all is boring. I flipped away from a residential area channel that had no audio at all, even though the pictures that were showing of a recent event were nice.



2. Having bad music is even worse. Once educational access channel I watched for a while had music that was VERY badly recorded - and was even distorting on top of that. No one with any ears at all was going to watch their content for very long.



3. The music had a direct affect on my perception of the quality of the information being presented. Bad music meant the station staff either didn't care about the presentation as a whole (so why should I believe or pay attention to the information?), OR they were incompetent and didn't know any better (so why should I believe the information?).


So if you are managing an access channel of some kind, PLEASE pay attention to the music you use. You'll be able to pick up some quality tracks from GovAccessMusic.com before long!

Why Royalty-Free music?

There are several reasons to use royalty-free music from GovAccessMusic.com for your government access channel. Here's just the beginning of the list!

(Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, and I've never played one on TV. Although the opinions expressed in this article are well reasoned, loaded with common sense, and correct, please don't treat them as a legal opinion. That's a whole 'nother arena!)

1.  Using Royalty free music from GovAccessMusic.com lets you use high quality music for your channel without worrying about licensing issues. You don't have to pay a royalty every time you play a tune. You don't even have to track it. You just buy the CD, and you have permission to use the CD on your government access cable channel for a very long time (Check out the agreement terms for details).


2. You'll be getting music DESIGNED for this application - music that is access-channel friendly. This saves you search time!


3. You avoid setting a bad example for the public. If YOU use unlicensed music on your channel, you are in essence saying that the law doesn't matter - neither does right or wrong. By buying music from GovAccessmusic.com you are purchasing a license - staying legal (and in the right) - and setting a good example. in fact, you might want to put a slide up in your program, that the music has been purchased and licensed (If you send us a screenshot, we'll put it up on the website!)


4. You'll support talented musicians that, while not broke, are still hungry! (One of us has teenage boys in the house, so there's never any food in the frig......)

More to come!

What kind of music? (pt.1)

Since we began working on GovAccessMusic.com, I've been paying attention to various government access channels during my travels. It is fascinating the variety of music that I hear, and inevitably I reach some conclusions on whether the channel is useful based solely on the quality of the music and audio.

For example, if I hear music that is extraordinarily cheesy - it sounds like it was picked up at a flea market or is the musical equivalent of a veg-a-matic, I tend to believe that the channel isn't worth my time. On the other hand, if there is quality in the music - it is interesting and recorded well (even if it is a style I don't particularly care for), I'll stop and watch for a while.

So the first point is to make sure you are using quality tracks - and that your audio sounds good. DON'T ASSUME! Make sure!

If you are taking the time to put material up for the public, take the time and make sure your audio is quality - or you will negate the work you put into the visuals.

Next time: Why royalty-free music?

Why use music at all on your Government Access Channel?

The first question I think we need to deal with is at first glance stupid:

Why have music at all on your channel?

On the other hand, anyone who has had the audio go out on their channel knows right off that no sound = no viewers. We as a culture are SO used to having sound and picture wedded together, that we find video without audio boring (or even perhaps uncomfortable). So potential channel-surfing viewers skip right over the channel if there is no audio.

As one wise audio guy once said to me -

Video without Audio is just a silent movie.

So you really do need to use background music on your government access channel.

But what kind? What type?

That's the subject for another entry!

June update

As is usual with new efforts, it's taking a bit longer than anticipated to finish up the first set of products. It is amazing how much creativity is required to setup a new business (something this creative person should NOT have been surprised by, but has been!)

We'll be sending out an email when we're almost ready to launch. If you'd like to join the list [which comes with 3 promises from us: 1) We'll never sell your contact info, or even give it away - unless a court says we have to, 2) We'll keep your info private, and 3) you won't get any spam from us - just short, succint tidbits], just send an email to announce@govaccessmusic.com.