Buying mp3s for personal use

For listeners who wish to buy and download my music just for personal listening (e.g. on an iPod, computer or other mp3 player) and not for use in any visual, radio or other media production, obviously no license is necessary (just as if you bought a CD from a physical shop) and the price is as stated in the shop.

Note: none of my mp3s for sale use any kind of restrictive Digital Rights Management meaning they will play on any mp3 device. This is because I believe you should be able to play my music on the equipment of your choice. However, please do not share or distribute my music to third parties or make available on blogs etc. without my permission.

a) Non-commercial home/student productions

This covers the use of the music in non-commercial, non-broadcast audio-visual productions for distribution to friends and family, educational establishments (schools and colleges), film festivals and user-generated content aggregators (e.g. Myspace/Youtube/Facebook). Examples include:

Student films & shorts (including film festivals)
Personal home videos
Theatrical productions with non-paying audiences
Personal/not-for-profit website
Personal/not-for-profit podcast
Church productions

This license does not cover any productions made available for commercial sale or television/cinema broadcast use.

The license pricing structure for non-commercial home/student productions is as follows:

So for example, a license to use 1 track in your student film will cost £12.99; to use 7 tracks will cost £49.99; to use 20 tracks will cost £99.99 etc. This license covers the music use in one production only (including all related promo & trailers), so a separate license is needed for each new production/film that uses it.

b) Commercial non-broadcast productions/websites

This covers the use of the music in commercial non-broadcast films, productions and websites including:

Commercial DVD/video sales (up to 250 copies)
Corporate/business presentations (e.g. trade shows/live presentations)
Corporate/business DVD/video (up to 250 copies)
Commercial websites (e.g. Flash animations, background music)
Commercial (for sale) podcasts

The license pricing structure for commercial non-broadcast productions & websites is as follows:

So for example, to use 1 track in a commercial DVD that you're making available for sale, or as background music on a commercial website, the license fee is £29.99; to use 3 tracks will cost £49.99 etc.

c) Film/radio/television broadcast productions

This license covers the use of the music in commercial broadcast productions for film/TV/cinema or commercial release including:

Feature films & trailers
Documentaries
TV adverts/commercials/spots
TV programmes
Radio programmes

The pricing structure for a film/radio/television broadcast license is:

As is standard for any music used in broadcast productions, you’ll need to fill out a music cue sheet. Please contact me beforehand to ensure you have the correct registered track names and details.

Royalty-free music

In addition, some of my music is available for Royalty-Free purchase (and will be clearly marked as).

Purchase of music labelled as “royalty-free” automatically grants the customer a non-transferable royalty-free license to use the music in the following types of production without any further fee:

Audio-visual broadcast productions (e.g. TV, documentary or film)
Film festivals or promotion
DVD/video productions
Radio broadcasts
Website background music
Radio and TV advertising
Background music for podcasts

Royalty-free music is not registered with MCPS or PRS and as such does not require any further license or clearance for use – the price is fixed at the sale price in the download shop. Once you've paid for the download of royalty-free music, you can use the music immediately.

As the customer, you can use the music in as many of your projects as you wish without paying further fees. So if you’ve made 5 short films, one purchase of the royalty-free music grants you a license to use that music in any or all of your films without further payment. However, the license is non-transferable so the music may only be used by the customer or the company for which it was purchased.

Royalty-free music may not be duplicated or re-sold on CD or other format either in its original or modified form (so for example, it can't be purchased and then re-sold to other filmmakers as production music). It may not be included on its own in audio-only format (e.g. it can't be sold or included on music compilation CDs) and is only for use in audio-visual productions (or to be used behind spoken word podcasts or audiobooks etc.)

The copyright for the recordings and composition remain the property of the composer at all times but you are free to use them with your audio-visual productions in perpetuity.