If you’re a filmmaker, a video editor or a content creator, you won’t need us to tell you how important music is. Using music in your videos can polish them off and make them more professional and more entertaining. Viewers connect to music on an emotional level, so using it in your projects can help them engage audiences more successfully.
However, using music can also cause issues. If you want to use a song by your favourite singer or band, you’ll have to get permission. This can be extremely costly, but if you don’t you could find yourself faced with a copyright issue. This is where stock music comes in. We’ve written up a guide detailing the benefits of stock music. Read on to check it out.
There’s Lots of Choice
Finding the right music for your video can be tough. Whether you’re making a short film or a training video for your business, finding the perfect soundtrack can be an extremely difficult task.
Music can be used to reinforce the message and thematic content of your video while also providing more entertainment and stimulation. However, the wrong kind of music can have the opposite effect. It can leave viewers feeling confused, distracted and disoriented; the wrong music means your video won’t be able to effectively deliver its message.
Stock music libraries have colossal collections of sound and audio clips for you to peruse. Maybe you’re looking for something light and playful, or you could be looking for something serious and slightly ominous. Whatever it is you need for your project, you can be certain you’ll find it in a stock music library.
There are no Copyright Issues
Copyright issues can be a serious thorn in the side of a content creator. Let’s say you’ve made a brand-new video, with lots of fancy editing and an engaging hook that your viewers will love. Better yet, you’ve soundtracked it with a popular song that has been getting plenty of online streams.
After uploading your video to social media and to YouTube, you’ll be ready to kick back and watch the views and engagements roll in. However, you’ll quickly realise that you’ve made a grave error. By including that song, you’ve breached copyright, and your video has been flagged. This could mean that your video has been muted, blocked in certain jurisdictions, or taken offline. On YouTube, you may be given a copyright strike. After three strikes, your entire channel will be deleted, a catastrophic event for any content creator.
Stock music libraries are full of royalty-free music. What this means is that they are not protected under standard copyright laws and that you can use them free of charge. You will not have to pay a flat fee or share a portion of your royalties. All you might have to pay is your subscription fee to the stock music service and you’ll have a huge collection of royalty-free music at your disposal. Â
It’s More Efficient
Video production can be difficult and complex. First, you need to shoot the raw footage. This can involve long days shooting in studios and on location, operating heavy camera and lighting equipment.
Next comes the editing stage. This is a meticulous process that takes time, concentration, and dedication. You will have to sift through all of your raw footage to find the best shots and then arrange these into a narrative structure. Then, you will have to add transitions, effects, and apply colour correction tools to make your video look polished and professional.
After all of this effort, it can be hard to find the time to source music. This involves speaking to musicians, record labels and publishers and attempting to strike deals to use certain tracks and songs. If you’re working with a composer, you’ll be engaged in a constant back and forth as you both collaborate to create music for your video.
While these two approaches can certainly get great results, they are time-consuming, laborious, and often very expensive. Not only can they throw you off schedule, but they can also see your expenditures skyrocket. For example, the creators of the acclaimed TV series Mad Men were charged $250,000 to use a song by The Beatles in the show.
Using stock music is a far more time-efficient process. You can quickly browse through huge libraries to find the song you need. All tracks will be tagged with keywords that describe them, which makes searching incredibly easy.
Conclusion
If you’re putting together a video, be it a social media clip or a short film, you should seriously consider making use of a stock music library. You’ll be able to browse and choose music from an enormous library of tracks, all of which are royalty-free and will give you no issues with copyright. It makes the process much easier and more time-efficient, perfect for ensuring you stay on schedule.
Read Also: What Should You Copyright: A Guide for Business Owners
