With the COVID-19 pandemic still rendering us all pretty much housebound, podcasts are on the rise. If you have recently started your own podcast and need music, this article is for you. Looking up copyright laws and asking ‘what is a podcast music license’ can be draining and pretty confusing if you’re new to music licensing. So, let us break it down for you!
Podcast Music Licenses
As with using music in other various media types, there are copyright laws that need to be obeyed. Due to this, those wanting to use music in their podcasts will need to make sure they obtain the correct licenses. In this case, that would be a sync license. Sync licenses allow creators to use music in their content such as TV, Film, Podcasts, Games and so on. Some try to skate around this by only using a few seconds of music, or finding music that is pitched as ‘royalty free’. But what really is the best option? How can you find music for your podcast that isn’t difficult, expensive or time-consuming to use?
Fair Use Policy
There is such thing as Fair Use Policy, and this is a very risky option indeed. Fair Use Policy means that you can use segments of copyrighted material for reviews, parodies or commentaries. However, using music in your podcast wouldn’t really fall into this category. That is, unless your podcast centers around this subject, or you are critiquing or reviewing music. So, it’s most likely best to skip this option!
Royalty Free Music
This is an option that a lot of people turn to. Royalty free music sounds great, but can be tricky to find and have questionable audio quality. Let’s say you want to use music as a theme song for your podcast. You don’t want new listeners to be instantly turned off by poor audio quality, and abandon listening before the episode has started! Also, it’s difficult to be sure that there aren’t going to be any copyright issues when using music found online.
Audiosocket
The final option (and by far, the best) is to pay a low-cost subscription to a music licensing company such as Audiosocket. For as little as $10 a month, you can gain unlimited use of the thousands of tracks in the catalog. Instead of sneaking in small snippets or battling poor quality, you can use as much music as you like. With tons of genres, playlists and moods, Audiosocket is definitely the best way to get tracks with a properly handled podcast music license.
Final Thoughts
Even if you have a minuscule audience, risking copyright infringement is truly a terrible idea. Chances are that it will unfortunately come back on you, and you could cause a lot of problems for yourself. We understand that budget can be a big hurdle for new podcasters, and that finding a podcast music license can be tricky. That’s why Audiosocket is the best choice to save your money, whilst obtaining the correct licenses. Happy podcasting!
