Creative Commons Music licensing and Royalty Free Music licensing can often be easy to confuse – aren’t they doing the same thing after all?  Whilst that’s sometimes the case, there  can be important differences in the details, so it’s always good advice to check the license terms carefully whichever method is being used.

Creative Commons Music

So what is Creative Commons about anyway?  Creative Commons Music is a simple way for artists and musicians to license their music for other people to use in various ways, by choosing a ready-made Creative Commons license.  This license will allow for the music to be used in various ways described in the license.  The idea is that because it encourages people to use and distribute music easily, so the musician or artist gets to have their music heard by a wider audience.  But it’s still easy to get confused – some people think that Creative Commons means it’s OK to use a piece of music however they like, which is usually not the case.  There are many different types of Creative Commons Music licenses, so it’s always important to check out exactly what the license terms are.  You can see the full details of Creative Commons licensing at creativecommons.org.

Royalty Free Music Licensing

Our composers at www.royalty-free.tv also license their music directly, but as Royalty Free Music.  We’re sometimes asked if that’s also the same as licensing under Creative Commons.  The short answer is that it’s not exactly the same, but there are some similarities.  For example, our royalty free music license does allow the music to be used in many ways, such as TV or video soundtracks, music on hold, podcasts to name but three (for the full list check out our royalty free music license).  So would it be easier all round to use a regular Creative Commons license instead?  We don’t believe so, simply because there’s no advantage to be gained.  Creative Commons is essentially off-the-shelf licensing for creators to license their work easily.  Our license is custom-designed to meet the needs of media producers, so it’s actually easier for us to use our own license instead .

Creative Commons Music vs Royalty Free Music

Does this mean we don’t agree with Creative Commons, or that we think it’s not a good idea? Of course not!  We think Creative Commons music  licensing can be a great way for artists to spread and promote their music, whilst still controlling their rights, and anything that helps artists and musicians has got to be a good thing   Likewise, royalty free music licensing is a simple way to license music directly to media producers and people who need music for their own creative projects.  There is no “one cap fits all” solution to music licensing, it’s important to choose the license that works best for the uses that you need.