Royalty Free Music

The term royalty free music, also known as buyout music or buy-out
music, is frequently a source of confusion. Some believe that it means
there is no cost associated with the music. Others believe that the
music is "copyright free", or that there is no copyright associated with
the music. Each music library license will vary to a certain degree,
however, as a general rule royalty free music simply means that you
have purchased a "lifetime synchronization license" for a given song or
group of songs. In other words, you have the right to synchronize the
music with your audio and/or video productions an unlimited number of
times without incurring any additional expense.  While you don't actually
own the music with a buyout library, you are granted a lifetime license
to synchronize the music with your audio, visual, or multimedia
productions.

The Clay Butler Music Publishing license does away with much of the
complication of typical music licensing by allowing the user to pay a
one-time licensing fee, and then use it as much as they want. Not only
is this a more affordable option, but it’s also more convenient, because
it eliminates much of the paperwork, calculating of fees, and check
writing associated with standard music licensing.

Broadcasting Royalty Free Music

The other big misconception about royalty free music pertains to
broadcasting of the music on television, cable, radio, etc. Television
broadcasters pay annual royalties to the Performing Rights Societies
for the right to broadcast music on their shows. When music is
broadcast on television or cable TV, it is tracked by something called a
Cue Sheet. This is precisely where the term Royalty Free does NOT
apply. Cue sheets determine where the royalties previously paid by the
broadcaster get dispersed. There are no costs associated with cue
sheets, however most Royalty Free music libraries require that cue
sheets be properly filled out when the music is for broadcast use. A cue
sheet is merely a paper trail to ensure writers get paid what is due to
them out of the money that has been previously paid by the television
stations and broadcasting entities.

To summarize, a Royalty Free License means that you do not
continually pay a "synchronization royalty" each time you use a given
piece of music. You pay only one time. It does NOT mean that a writer
is forfeiting the performance royalty or broadcast royalty due him when
his music is aired. This royalty has already been paid by the
broadcaster and should be dispersed appropriately through the filling
out and submission of cue sheets.