What’s the difference between Copyright Free or Royalty Free music?

To use music within a media production requires permission and licensing. Depending on the use, the figure charged will need to be paid each and every time the final product is duplicated or played. If you then wish to use the same piece of music on another production, fees again will be levied against you. Even if a piece of music is old (up to 70 years after the death of the composer) these laws will still apply.

There are many people who have made the mistake of not getting appropriate clearances and paying the very hefty and embarrassing fines. Often wiping out the profits of the project entirely!

The AVP Copyright Free Library is MCPS free. As we are not members of the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society we transfer the user rights to you with each purchase. Therefore once you own a CD you can use any of the music on it as many times as you like, in as many projects as you like, within that initial purchase agreement.

So you can use it on video, multimedia, the web, within sell through products or CD-Roms with legal impunity.

However the difference is that the AVP Library are PRS Members (Performing Rights Society).

COPYRIGHT FREE - The only time it may effect you is when the music is played at, for example a trade fair. In the UK the PRS charge the stand holder a few pounds to allow this to happen. Sometimes this charge is ignored. Other European countries levy different fees and it might be worthwhile checking this before incorporating the music within your production.

ROYALTY FREE – Allows you to play the music anywhere, in any way you or your client chooses and no other fees will be due for any reason.

The only other restrictions are that you can’t sell the music on as a library piece, either under its own or different name.

We hope this clears up any confusion you may have between Copyright Free and Royalty Free.

Thankfully graphics and animations don’t have the same confusion. You can use them anyway you choose without worry. Naturally you can’t re-distribute the files as library material, but that’s about it!