4 Music Licensing Mistakes Every Content Creator Should Avoid
Music licensing is complicated, and mistakes are easy to make. Here are four mistakes content creators, video editors and agencies make the most often and how to steer clear of them.
Letâs be honest: the music licensing landscape is complicated and mistakes are (understandably) easy to make.
The good news is these mistakes are easy to avoid once you understand a few basics. To help you along your legal music journey, weâve collected the top 4 mistakes we see content creators, video editors, and agency creatives making when it comes to licensing music.
Understanding how to tackle these misunderstandings will help prevent muted videos and unexpected Content ID claims, while simultaneously helping you feel more confident using music in your projects.
Ready to jump in? Letâs go.
Why Music Licensing is So Confusing in The First Place
Music licensing at its core is a legal topic. It involves rights of use, rights of ownership, and its terminology therefore is heavy with music jargon like âCommonsâ and âRoyaltiesâ. Itâs not that the rules of licensing are difficult, itâs that the terms surrounding music licensing are often misunderstood and therefore misused.
A few examples: âRoyalty-free music is free to useâ âCreative Commons means I can use this musicâ âI have a music license, I can use the song in multiple waysâ. These misunderstandings get treated like black-or-white blanket statements when theyâre really just terms that help define what permissions and to which extent the music is licensable. Letâs break this down one-by-one.
Does Royalty-Free Mean Free to Use?
Royalty-free doesnât mean free to use. Instead, royalty-free describes what happens after you buy a track (e.g. when you use it in a project or video). This track usage may generate royalties that you are then obliged to pay to the artist.
Royalty-free in this context basically means there are no royalties you owe the artist, even if you use their music on a channel or platform that would normally generate royalties (such as YouTube).
Some royalty-free music providers are free, which means you get the track for free and donât have to pay royalties on the usage. In other cases, royalty-free tracks are sold for a price. Every royalty-free track comes with defined usage rights: which platforms you can use it on, whether monetization is included, and in some cases how long the license runs.
If you skip reading those specific terms, you can end up using a track outside what you actually paid forâlegally landing you in the same spot as using unlicensed music.
TL;DR: Royalty-free means you pay once, under agreed terms, without needing to pay additional royalties for usage.
If I Bought the Track, Can I Use It Anywhere?
Licensing a track doesnât mean you are legally allowed to use it everywhere. Music licenses are built around usage context, not ownership. In other words, you donât buy the track itself, you buy the right to use the track within a certain, pre-defined situation.
This situation or âusage contextâ may include specifics such as what platform the content lives on (YouTube, TV, film, social media), whether it's a personal project or client work, and where the track is used (internationally, nationally). A single license doesn't automatically extend to your next three client videos, even if you use the exact same track.
This is particularly tough for video editors, as once you license a track and download it, it can be easy to forget that the track is legally only valid for one project. This project-basis is why music licensing can get expensive quick. If you use licensed music frequently, a subscription for unlimited licensed music is probably a better alternative than one-off buys.
If you get caught using the track on a project it wasnât originally licensed for, the result is the same as having no-proof ( = blocked, muted, fined) even if you bought the track.
The solution is easy: every time you go to license music for a project, enter the projectâs name (âEx: Day in the Lifeâ) and platform of use (âEx: YouTubeâ) into your licensing account. This will ensure that a licensing certificate is uniquely tied to each of your projects.
TL;DR: Licenses apply to projects, not tracks. If you want to use a track in more than one place, itâs best to tie each license to a unique project.
I Paid for It â So Why Did I Get a YouTube Claim?
Paying for a track doesn't automatically shield you from a Content ID claim. You can think of Content ID like an automatic (and unbiased) scanner of all YouTube videos. If it finds a match between your videoâs audio and an artistâs track, itâll flag your content regardless of whether you paid for the track or not.
Now, this can be frustrating for creators who post on YouTube consistently because it can mean part of your video becomes muted or ads are added with the revenue going to the artist instead of you (a real bummer if youâre a content creator depending on ad rev).
If youâve licensed music correctly, the good news is Content ID claims can be easily disputed. Remember in the last section how we discussed licensing isn't just proof of payment, it's proof of compliance and traceability? A claim that gets released in a day because you have the correct documentation is a completely different experience than one that sits disputed for two weeks.
If you get a Content ID claim, simply download your licensing certificate for the track and project, and provide it as your âlegalâ proof of use.
TL;DR: Content ID runs independently of whether you have bought a track. Having correct documentation on hand can help resolve a disputed claim quickly.
Why are Some Tracks on Jamendo Licensing Marked Content ID?
You may have noticed that some tracks within our music catalog have the âContent IDâ symbol next to them. This symbol basically indicates that this track has been registered with YouTubeâs Content ID system but via Jamendoâs own services.
The result? If you use this track, itâll flag on YouTube. But because the artist uses Jamendo as their Content ID provider, your claim will be disputed even quicker than a third party which may take more time to approve your licensed certificate.
Is Creative Commons Music Always Safe for Commercial Use?
Although Creative Commons or âCC licensesâ were built with the goal to provide free copyright licenses to creatives, it doesnât mean the track is safe for commercial use.
Instead, you can think of Creative Commons licenses as being built up by four fundamental building blocks: âCC BYâ, âNCâ, âNDâ, and âSAâ. âCC BYâ simply means the creator of the work (an artist, in this case) must be credited when their work is used and âNCâ means non-commercial uses only.
If youâre trying to use a Creative Commons track with the following license specification: âCC BY NCââyou arenât legally allowed to use the track commercially. In general, itâs best to be careful with Creative Commons music. Attribution requirements (âgiving creditâ) can directly conflict with how a video or ad gets edited, especially short-form content with no room for a credits line. Additionally, mislabellingâmeaning tracks get tagged as one CC license type when they're actually under stricter termsâis also a potential risk.
TL;DR: Creative Commons isn't a shortcut for free music. If you want music built for commercial use (without the attribution puzzle), best to opt for a commercial-use approved provider instead.
Summary
Next time youâre sourcing music for your creative projects, youâll now be fully prepared to catch (and question) yourself when making licensing decisions. To recap what weâve learned:
- Royalty-free means you pay once, under pre-defined terms, but donât have to pay additional royalties generated from usage of the track.
- A music license is scoped to specific projects and doesnât mean you own the track for all use cases. To ensure your certificate remains valid, tie each track to a specific project.
- Paying for a track wonât prevent Content ID claims, but having the right documentation on hand can mitigate disputes quicker and easier.
- Creative Commons isnât always safe for commercial use and requires specific attribution. Make sure to read the fine print carefully or opt for commercially-safe licensed music.
Music licensing doesn't have to be a (confusing) legal obstacle course. Want to create projects with confidence? Explore Jamendo's catalog for commercially safe, royalty-free tracks that come with simple, hassle-free licensing certificates.