This article is a re-write of one from PodNews.net
People often ask us if they can use their favourite song as the opening music for their podcast. While it would be awesome to start your show with Chariots of Fire or AC/DC’s Thunderstruck, unfortunately, you can’t. At all.
There’s a lot of misinformation about this in internet forums and chat rooms, but the fact is, you cannot use commercial music in your podcast without paying for a licence.
Here are some FAQ’s & excuses…
What if my podcast is a hobby and has only a handful of listeners, and doesn’t make any money?
You still cannot use commercial music.
But it’s fair use!
You would have to prove your use was 'fair’ in court and if you’ve got that far, you’ve already spent a lot of money in legal costs.
I’m best friends with the singer, and they said I could use their music.
The artists are just one part of the equation; you also need permission from the record company, the composers of the music, the publishers of the music, and in many cases a “mechanical” and “sync” right to allow you to copy the material.
In most cases, an artist can’t give you permission, since they signed a contract with publishers and record companies.
But I have a One Music or APRA licence.
This licence does not cover use of music recordings in podcasts.
But don’t Spotify allow it now?
Spotify announced Shows with Music, which is a way to put full tracks into your show - as long as they play off Spotify.
And your listeners can only hear the songs in full if they pay for Spotify Premium.
But I’m only using less than ten seconds of a song.
There’s no minimum duration either. You can’t even use a snippet.
So, I can’t use any commercial music, then?
Not really, not without a licence.
Not even a little bit?
No.
What happens if I do?
If you get caught, you are likely to be sued. For a lot of money.
There are even companies out there who scan podcasts for unauthorized music.
I won’t get caught. I’m going to go ahead and do it.
It’s a gamble, because the record companies may just sit and wait for you to be successful, and THEN come after you, maybe two years later, when you can afford it. But if you go ahead anyway: you might get away with it for a bit; but the bots are coming, and it’s unlikely to be a good plan for long.
Where do I buy a licence, then?
With an awful lot of work, you could licence music by working with each part of the chain, but, as is hopefully clear above, it’s not as easy as you think it’s going to be: and your licence is unlikely to be valid everywhere in the world.
But I’ve heard music on other podcasts!
You can use music, you just can’t use commercial music. You need to use royalty-free music. There are plenty of websites that have huge catalogues of music you can use in your podcast.
www.songsforpodcasters.com
https://artlist.io/
https://pixabay.com/music/
https://soundcloud.com/royaltyfreemusic-nocopyrightmusic
https://www.epidemicsound.com/music/featured/
https://uppbeat.io/
