You might have come across some copyright talk whilst searching for music. But, what does royalty free mean? Get the answers, plus public domain and creative commons here!

When you’re looking for the right track for your stream or video, these terms for copyright can be confusing.
We’re going to run you through what each type of copyright means, and how to use them in your content.

Royalty Free

This term pops up a lot in the world of content creation. So, if you’ve been scratching your head wondering, “what does royalty free mean?”, we’ve got you.

This refers to a type of license, it essentially means “free of royalty”. With royalty free you can use the sound or music recording and you don’t have to pay further royalties to the original copyright holder.

Synchedin’s catalogue is on a royalty free basis. By subscribing to Synchedin, you can use any track that you download in any content that you create. It’s as simple as that!

Public Domain

When a song is created, there’s usually an automatic period of copyright to protect the artist and work.
This can differ depending on the country, but it’s typically 70 years after the original publication for sound and musical recordings.

Once the copyright has expired on a sound or musical recording, it is then part of the public domain which means it’s no longer subject to copyright or other legal restrictions.

Creative Commons

Sound and musical recordings that are under creative commons are free. There are some variations on creative commons licenses depending on how the original copyright holder wants the works to be used and credited.

CC BY – (BY) Credit must be given to the original artist.
This allows you to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.

CC BY-SA – (BY) Credit must be given to the original artist, (SA) adaptations must be shared under the same terms.
This allows you to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.

CC BY-NC – (BY) Credit must be given to the creator, (NC) only non-commercial uses of the work are permitted.
This allows you to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. 

CC BY-NC-SA – (BY) Credit must be given to the original artists, (NC) only non-commercial uses of the work are permitted, (SA) adaptations must be shared under the same terms.
This allows you to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.

CC BY-ND – (BY) Credit must be given to the original artist, (ND) no derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.
This allows you to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.

CC BY-NC-ND – (BY) Credit must be given to the creator, (NC) only non-commercial uses of the work are permitted, (ND) no derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.
This allows you to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for non-commercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.

https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/