Frequently Asked Questions
How to give proper credit for the music you useWhat is Royalty-Free Music?
What you cannot do with our music
Cue Sheets and Performance Royalties
Pricing and Licenses
How to give proper credit for the music you use
The way you credit the music depends on whether you downloaded free background music (non-commercial use only), or paid for a music license:
- crediting free background music (non-commercial use only)
- crediting music you paid for (standard license or extended license)
Crediting Free Background Music:
If you downloaded free background music (non-commercial use only), the terms of your license require you to create a source citation in the form of a link to stock-music.com. We require this because it helps the music on our site, and ultimately the musicians, achieve better exposure.
Use one of the options below:
Option 1:
Royalty Free Music titled "[track name]" provided by [artist name] and Stock-Music.com
for example: Royalty Free Music titled "Rising Sun" provided by Geoff Groberg and Stock-Music.com
Copy and paste this code: (You can paste it on the credits listing of your project's website, youtube page, blog, etc.)Option 2:
Background Music titled "[track name]" provided by [artist name] and Stock-Music.com
for example: Background Music titled "Rising Sun" provided by Geoff Groberg and Stock-Music.com
Copy and paste this code: (You can paste it on the credits listing of your project's website, youtube page, blog, etc.)Option 3:
Free Background Music titled "[track name]" provided by [artist name] and Stock-Music.com
for example: Free Background Music titled "Rising Sun" provided by Geoff Groberg and Stock-Music.com
Copy and paste this code: (You can paste it on the credits listing of your project's website, youtube page, blog, etc.)Crediting music you paid for:
If you purchased your music with a standard or extended music license, the preferred method of giving credit is a source citation in the form of a web link like this:
Example:
"[Track Name]" copyright [Artist Name] and Stock-Music.com
for example: "Rising Sun" copyright Geoff Groberg and Stock-Music.com
Copy and paste this code: (You can paste it on the credits listing of your project's website, youtube page, blog, etc.)If you paid for your music and you need to create a source citation without using a link, you can do it like this:
"[Track Name]" copyright [Artist Name] and Stock-Music.com.
Thank you for crediting the music you use!
What is Royalty-Free Music?
Royalty Free Music (also known as "Stock Music") is music that is designed to be used as background music for a video, website, ad, or other media. It is called "royalty free music" because you don't need to pay any mechanical royalty fees, even though you might duplicate it many times in connection with your production. At Stock-Music.com, our generous music license grants you, the purchaser, a non-transferable license to synchronize our recorded music with your production without incurring additional royalty fees when the production is duplicated.
Please note that broadcasting stations (TV stations, radio stations, etc.) pay what are known as "performance royalties" but these fees are not paid by you, the producer. Performance royalties are standard music industry fees that all broadcasting companies are required by law to pay. (see Cue Sheets and Performance Royalties below.)
What you cannot do with our music:
- You cannot resell or give away our music on it's own. The music must be incorporated into your production (such as an audio/video production, website, computer game, slide-show, etc..) For example, you couldn't resell a music CD with our music on its own. But you could create and resell a training CD that includes our music in the background mixed with your own voiceover.
- You cannot claim intellectual rights for our music, even if you re-edit, add to it, or manipulate it. It is okay to re-edit, loop, and otherwise manipulate our music. But even after doing so, you can't claim any intellectual rights for the new music that is created. Of course you can use our music as background music for your audiobooks, training tapes, or other productions, but you cannot claim any intellectual rights to the music itself.
Cue Sheets and Performance Royalties
If you use our music for broadcast on TV or radio, the broadcaster will usually require you to fill out a Cue Sheet and submit it to them. The broadcaster uses these cue sheets to pay what are known as "performance royalties." You, the producer, don't pay these royalties. They are standard music industry fees that all broadcasting companies are required to pay. Artists and publishers eventually receive these performance royalties and they are an important part of how they make money for their music. They are paid by TV and radio broadcasters and therefore will not incur any additional royalty fees from you, the producer.
Pricing and Licenses
Our royalty free music licenses grant you, the purchaser, a non-transferable license to synchronize our recorded music with your production.
Non-Commercial Use License ($0/track)
- You can use our free royalty free music for Non-Commercial use only.
- You must provide a source citation in the form of a web link back to Stock-Music.com. (The link can be on your website, YouTube page, blog, etc.)
- Our free royalty free music license means that you (the producer) will not have to pay any royalties. But if our background music is broadcast on TV or Radio, you must file a cue sheet to the broadcasting company.
- Only a small portion of royalty free music in our music library is available with this free licensing option.
Standard Music License ($29.95/track)
- websites, web ads, podcasts
- corporate presentations
- on hold music
- TV/radio advertising (local/regional)
- mobile (cell phone) ads and media
- kiosks/installations
- student, short, and independent films, up to 5000 copies
- corporate, non-profit, and educational videos, up to 5000 copies
- computer games and applications, up to 5000 copies
- DVDs, promotional items, and other media, up to 5000 copies
- license term: in perpetuity (The license lasts as long as the project it is associated with.)
- license territory: worldwide, except for TV/radio advertising which is local/regional
Extended Music License ($99.95/track)
- includes everything in the standard license, plus:
- TV/radio advertising (national)
- commercial (theatrical) films
- unlimited copies for films, videos, games, DVDs, promotional items, and other media
- license term: in perpetuity (The license lasts as long as the project it is associated with.)
- license territory: worldwide
