Before I get into using Royalty Free music, I want to mention that Royalty Free Music does not necessarily mean Free Music. Most quality royalty-free music sites are subscription sites. A good example is Envato. When you download music from Envato, it will ask you to subscribe. If you subscribe, then you can use their royalty-free music.
What is Royalty Free Music?
Royalty-free music is music that you can legally use without having to pay royalties each time the music is used. Royalty-free” does not mean free. You often pay a one-time fee or get the music through a subscription, and then you’re free to use it under the terms of the license. You cannot just cannot download music from your Spotify account and post it online!
Royalties are payments made to the owner, often also the creator, of an intellectual property right (like a copyright or patent) for the right to use, reproduce, or exploit that property. You may have heard that Taylor Swift bought back all her master recordings so she could control all of her music. That is the power of property rights. Capitalism Thmups UP!!
With that said...
Fair Use often protects educational, non-commercial use of intellectual property. As a student, you can usually use any music for classroom assignments as long as you follow a few important rules. It is generally okay in the situations below...
- Private classroom use (e.g., showing a video with music in class or submitting it privately to a teacher).
- It’s part of a critique, commentary, or educational project.
- Only a portion of the music is used.
- It’s not being widely published or monetized.
