Epidemic Sound's definition of royalty-free music goes beyond the standard. We own all economic rights connected to our music and can offer a direct license.
Royalty-free music is music that you can use in content without having to pay royalties to artists or rights holders every time it’s played. Royalty-free music doesn’t automatically include public performance rights, meaning you still might have to pay royalties when you publish it on digital platforms.
Our music is more than just royalty-free. What sets us apart is that we own all rights to our music and offer users a direct license. In fact, our model is unique in ensuring that artists are paid fairly and that storytellers are fully covered.
Synchronization rights, mechanical rights and public performance rights? All included. Additional fees or royalties? Forget about it.
Music rights are generally split into several categories:
Synchronisation rights: The right to add the track to a video or moving image.
Mechanical rights: The right to make copies of the audiovisual production including the track.
Public performance rights: The right to make the audiovisual production, including the track, available to the public.
Royalties are the sums being paid to songwriters, producers, performing artists and musicians when their music is being played.
If you upload content that uses our music to YouTube without having an active subscription, we’ll reach out to you with a claim. This is because we own the rights to our music, giving us the right to claim any ad revenue that is generated by content featuring our music.
This might sound scary, but don't worry. A claim from us doesn’t mean that your content will be taken down, muted or blocked. We’re simply making a request for any ad revenues generated so that we can keep paying our artists to create even more great music.