Things You Need To Know
Good Audio Made Better
What is Copyright?
Copyright law automatically protects creative works – in Australia, you do not need to register copyright. It gives the owner of copyright certain exclusive rights, including the right to:
- reproduce;
- publish; or
- perform their work.
If someone uses your copyright protected material without your permission, they may be breaching copyright. A podcast will consist of several elements that copyright automatically protects, including a sound recording and a written script. The copyright protection will attach to each component independently, meaning the script of a podcast is protected separately from the audio recording itself.
Unlike other forms of intellectual property, copyright protection attaches to a piece of work automatically; it does not require registration. As such, your work will receive protection as soon as you put it into a tangible form of expression.
Podcast/App/Game - Music and FX Copyright.
You must have the permission of the copyright holder for any piece of music/FX you want to use in any form of content, including podcasts. Licensing the music you use in your podcast ensures that you're in compliance with copyright lawsYou may think of famous movie soundtracks that would enhance the tension, energy, melancholy, or happiness of the audience.However, you cannot use these copyrighted songs unless you pay exorbitant licensing fees and sign a contract with a performing rights organization (PRO). Even then, the PRO, recording label, or composer may refuse your request to license the song, so you will not be able to use it at all.There are other places to find great background music for your podcast. You can search some types of licensed music, including:
Royalty-free stock music. Many content creators choose this for its ambiance and because stock music is often designed to be background music for creative works. You pay a fee one time to get the license for royalty-free music or access to a huge library of stock music, and you can use these songs multiple times.
Creative Commons music. You could get this through SoundCloud and other sites, which is a type of free licensing that allows you to use music in certain settings based on what the creator wants the music used for. You probably will not pay a fee for Creative Commons music, but you may need to acknowledge the artist who created it or follow the composer’s other requests.
Public domain music. This contains more than 400,000 songs published in 1926 or before, including numerous silent movie scores. This music is free, and you do not need to credit where it came from.
Audiobook - Music and FX Copyright.
You must have the permission of the copyright holder for any piece of music/FX you want to use in any form of content, including audiobook. Licensing the music you use in your podcast ensures that you're in compliance with copyright lawsFor the musical composition, you will need a “sync” or synchronization license from the music publisher. This often requires that you contact the publisher of the music directly and request the license. You will need to inform them that this is for commercial purposes and outline the specifics of your project and how the music will be used.The sound recording copyright is often owned by the record producer or record company. You will need a master-use license to obtain the rights to use the sound. As with the sync license, you will need to submit a request to the holder of the sound recording copyright with the details of your audiobook project and how you intend to use the sound in order to get permission to use it.You can get royalty-free or public domain music for audiobooks without going through this process. Stock music websites contain music that you can purchase for this purpose — just be sure that the license includes use in an audiobook before buying it..
