To some this may seem like an obvious answer, but as business you really shouldn’t be using copyright music as a backing track to your video productions. If you don’t have consent to use the track, then think again before associating illegal use of music with your company brand. If you are making videos for personal use, well this still can’t be recommended however some websites such as Youtube do have some provisions for making this possible, whist still benefitting the recording artist.

Reasons why you shouldn’t be using copyright music in your videos

There’s always the possibility of getting sued if you’re a larger company & seen to be benefiting off the back of someone’s hard work. There’s many free and low price royalty free tracks out there, 1000’s in fact, so it really makes no sense to risk it. Why pay £1000’s when you can licence many royalty free track for under £30. Always check the terms of use before using any track!

If you really do want to use a well recognised track , you should take the legal route, find out who owns the rights to the track, and strike a licence deal with them… expect to pay high hundreds to thousands for the privilege, if they allow you at all.

You may also notice that sites like Facebook and Youtube often take down copyright content until you prove you own it, this is not only frustrating but blocks your videos from any views.

Why Youtube allows copyright music on some of it’s videos

Some record labels have teamed up with Youtube allowing videos using their tracks to be left live, in the return for advertising revenue. Your video will be subject to adverts placed before and possibly during your video, including banner ads. This advertising profit is split between Youtube and the Record label. You as the video producer are not entitled to a penny.