This is a old piece of news but a fundamental case in European law for the
benefit of musicians who are considering entering the royalty free background
music market.

We all are aware of the old dinosaurs we call record labels, but there is an
older creature lurking in the shadows; the performing rights society. They
have been, yet still act as if they are a monopoly in many cases and in
particular, in Europe.

This case came to court in 2005, whereby, “the main Spanish collecting
society Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (’SGAE’) sued Ricardo
Andres Utrera Fernendez, the owner of Metropol, a disco bar located in
Badajoz alleging that he had failed to pay SGAE’s license fee..”

(see the full article
about how musicians and music customers can be sure they can use royalty
free background music instead of music that have royalties due here at the
Creative Commons site)

Quite simply, the court rejected the performing rights society’s claims
because the owner of the bar proved in court that the music he was using was
not listed in the societies music and thus not managed by the society. An
important point here is that Fernendez was able to prove that he exclusively
used music licensed to him (via a Creative Commons license) that was not
managed by the performing rights society. Had he mixed both sources of music
he would no doubt have been found guilty & would have needed to pay the fee.

The Creative Commons article continues by stating,

“This case shows that there is more music that can be enjoyed and played
publicly than that which is managed by the collecting societies..

…As CC Spain project lead Ignasi Labastida said: ‘This decision
demonstrates that authors can choose how to manage their rights for their
own benefit and anyone can benefit from that choice, too. I expect that
collecting societies will understand that something has to change to face
this new reality.?’”

Performing rights societies say they are there to support and protect the
artist from missed revenues but even though they are ‘not for profit’ in
reality the only interest they have to heart is their own jobs.

Sure these guys do good for artists, and have done great in the past but my
concern is that they are deliberately reluctant and can become quite
aggressive with anyone that threatens their monopoly and so deliberately
restrict artists from exploiting new business opportunities. The protection
of their monopoly and the restrictions to artists are two very different
things that are often mixed up with their own protectionism.

Who was it that said it is hard to convince a man if it means he
will loose his job?

Many people look for copyright free music when they don’t understand what it is they really need for their business project (such as background music for DVD or video productions, background music for presentations).

Musicians rarely create something and give it free for anyone to use in any way whatsoever. They may give away music as part of a wider promotional plan to create earnings from sales these free versions attract, of from earnings for giving permission to use their music in specific ways, which is called licensing. Check out Creative Commons for more details on the most popular way that artists offer up their music. For example, they may offer their music free to listen to only in non commercial situations. But if you want to use their music for a business use then they will want payment for the use of their work.

Musicians are not hard to understand, they just want payment for their hard work. They are passionate people who love what they do. Consider (for example) a bricklayer. He would want, and need payment for his work so he can pay his bills and earn a living. Unless he is doing it for charity or as a hobby.

Royalty free music is music that is offered for sale whilst the artist retains the ownership of his or her music. Royalty free music offers the music to customers with terms that will not need additional payments for usage after purchasing the music in the first place.

Royalty Free music will be sold and therefore licensed for specific uses. For example an artist may only offer you the right to use their music within dvd productions or presentation backgrounds and not for TV broadcasting. The use of their music in certain conditions will also require different fees depending on use. For example to use a piece of work in a major international film will probably be more expensive than using music for wedding background music understandably. Expect the amount of effort and quality of the music production will also be relative, i.e. a musician will probably work on a range of remixes and edits for a film production whilst a piece of music for backgrounds in presentations will be as is.

So, back to copyright.

If you wanted copyright free music you are effectively asking for ownership of a piece of music. Now that’s expensive. Say an artist has taken a week to create a piece of music. He / she is skilled and earns well at their art and so they don’t come that cheap either. How much do you think a piece of music would cost to own? Well some people do actually want to have the exclusive right to a piece of music. Take for example a signature tune. You will probably going to play this a lot. Take for example the Intel signature tune, all 2 seconds of it. Just to own that piece of music outright would have costs tens of thousands of dollars. Had they licensed it, Im sure it would have over time cost a lot more.

But if you just want a piece of music for a specific project, for a given number of production units, within certain boundaries (i.e. time and countries for instance) you wont need it for all the other reasons you would have access to if you owned the copyright. So, its going to be dramatically cheaper to just purchase the right to use the music in this way only, and for no other use. Take that tens of thousands of dollars and knock off approximately three of those zeros and that is the difference.

So, forget looking for copyright free music, cut to the chaise and check out royalty free music for your project today. Go somewhere that has a good collection of the specific genre you are looking for and listen to a good range of pieces from different artists. Develop a dialogue with the music library and ask them as many questions as you need before feeling happy that you will get exactly what you want.

Here at Ambient Music Garden we are ready for you if you are looking for royalty free ambient and downtempo music. We don’t do much else but pride ourselves in the music that we do offer. Please take a look when you have time.

Click here to check out our ambient relaxation, chillout and downtempo music.

Ambient Music Garden has launched a new category to present the most popular music for royalty free use in commercial uses.

“We’ve had some interesting success so far even though we have not publicised our commercial licensing business”, said Guy Lewis, founder of Ambient Music Garden. “Businesses are finding our music catalogue perfect for online browsing and downloading for their own business projects. We have businesses using music for PowerPoint presentation background music, Flash embedded music projects, web sites, background music for retail outlets and also for DVD & CD projects. There are many other uses for music and Ambient Music Garden has geared up for them with the new category.”

“However you don’t have to choose music within the Royalty-free category only, that only presents our most popular music for commercial use. Check out all the categories of Ambient Music Garden as almost all our music is available for commercial licensing as well.”

Click Here To Go To Ambient Music Garden’s Royalty Free Production Music Top Page Here. Don’t forget to check all the other categories for royalty free music for business use. Just change the license option at the bottom of the page to purchase the music for business use.

Ambient Music Garden:
Using our Royalty-Free Production Music License you can use our music as background music in powerpoint presentations, in retail, galleries and restaurants, on-hold music, Flash & website music, music for commercials, music for video games, film music, and music for video / dvd production.

What is Royalty Free Music?

Royalty Free Music is music offered for use without the professional user needing to pay additional costs for using the music within their own line of work, just the initial purchase price.

Don’t get the term ‘royalty free music’ mixed up with copyright. Copyright is about the ownership of a piece of music. Each artist will aim to retain the ownership of their piece of music unless they specifically sell it, or hand it over to a record label as part of their contractual agreement (although this is changing with the entry of net labels such as Ambient Music Garden.)

Music you hear on the radio costs the radio stations for each broadcast. Music you hear within a film production has to be purchased specifically for film making. Music played in the background of shops and galleries requires additional costs to cover royalties. However Ambient Music Garden music is royalty free so you can play our music within your theraputic sessions without being charged any additional costs.

Each piece of Ambient Music Garden music is licensed to an individual for their use within their own theraputic work and also for those that are self healing. A different agreement is required where the piece of music is going to be used with large audiences or for large health organisations. This agreement is included within the terms and conditions of sale.

Musicians are protected by international treaties that enable them to collect money from users of their work.

Creating Successful Relaxation & Meditation Music; Sound And Composition

Recently I gave a positive critique to a talented musician who had submitted a piece for my comment with regards its suitability for therapeutic environments. The piece was lovely, however had a number of points about the piece that inspired me to consider what elelements in my opinion make a successfull relaxation and meditation music piece. Here’s my opinion.

I must say I am not trying to be an expert here. After all, the therapists themselves know what works for them specifically within their own therapeutic environment and discipline, and with each specific client of there’s. Not everyone is relaxed by the same type of music. However, generally, and in my experience the following does provide a good list of considerations. Please let me know if you have any additional thoughts on this list.

Key Point: Consider You Are Making Music To Communicate With The Unconscious.

Unlike popular music (and others) that aims to engage your mind, relaxation and meditation music aims to connect with your unconscious, so less is more. Less Instruments, less notes and less melody as well.

Beat & percussion

Percussion has to be subtle if it even exists within the composition at all. A beat provides a link to your heart beat so if you introduce a beat; you need to be careful what heart rate you may be inspiring. A beat is also engaging. A beat can wake up and stimulate rather than relax. Percussion can provide ambience but once it forms a beat it may raise the consciousness of a listener at the time when the therapist is trying to relax a client and move closer towards unconsciousness.

Its great for sitting at home chilling out but my opinion is that percussion can be just a little engaging of the mind, its like it puts you on a treadmill in some sort of way rather than keeps you in a timeless space that other sounds can create. When I think of soundtrack music, the percussion comes up when its time to move on within the storyline, get on your bike and peddle. So, without percussion, I think you are left in a timeless space where the sounds bounce around a room that reflects nature and so relaxes.

A subtle introduction of a percussive beat can help to wake a client up at the end of their session. So if timed for the ending of a piece of music, this could be useful to suggest subconsciously to a client that its wakeup time and their heart begins to pump slightly faster.

To engage a listener in therapy music is something I am quite passionate about. Read on to hear more.

Sudden noises or instrumental chords

Anything sudden is definitely not right for relaxation. Don’t even think about it. It’s not even useful for waking people up since it is too much of a sharp wakeup call.

Choose your tones well to blend

Much like any composition arrangement you need to think about the collection of sounds that your instruments will be making. Make sure you take some time to spread out your sounds in the audio spectrum and so avoid making everything muddy and unclear. Conversely, don’t try to cram so much into the dynamic range that it complicates what is going on and is too busy and not relaxing at all.

Consider the sound of each instrument and the contribution it makes to your piece. Avoid high sounds particularly as they are not felt by most tastes as relaxing but are more stimulating (hence the use of violins in horror movies!!)

Focus on warm flowing low sounds before you layer on more specific higher sounds such as bells and flutes.

Instruments

Look for a set of complimenting instruments that are played calmly and not with passion. For instance, a violin tends to focus on high frequency notes and is often used to represent high emotions. Conversely a tenor saxophone can be relaxing but also arousing, both best avoided in our therapeutic environment. A bass, particularly a double bass can have a woolly ‘rounded’ deep note that doesn’t ask for a lot of concentration nor forces its clarity onto your mind to interpret. Distant flowing strings (as long as they aren’t too high frequency) can lay a background for other more gentle sounds to sit on. Bells and flutes can risk creating a stereotype but if used sparingly and not flooding a piece of music can offer up some melting relaxing feelings for listeners.

Sounds

Generally, people find the sound of trickling water a calming sound. Too fast a trickle and you might be inspiring someone to go to the bathroom instead! Likewise the sound of waves against a sea shore can take someone away from there current environment to relax but more stormy waves will raise their consciousness that they might be listening to an oncoming storm

Birds twittering, trees rustling both connect us back to nature and anything that does that calmly, like the trickling water above, will provide as good a relaxing feeling as a shot in the arm with something less natural.

The sounds of voices can tend to relax, however the spoken word engages the mind with its lyric which isnt good for keeping someone in the unconscious, unless you are delivering a guided meditation piece in which the objective of the piece is to take someone on a guided imaginary journey and facilitating this journey from beginning to end.

Melody

As hard as I try, I continually fail on this one myself. I am always looking for an engaging melody in my compositions. Therein lies the fault; therapeutic music in my opinion should not be too engaging. Avoid strong melodic pieces that connect with the mood of the listener too much. Consider ballads for example. They aim to express love and passion; too strong an emotional connection for relaxation and therapy music.

One needs to look at a composition in a totally different way from the aim of most music, which is to engage the listener and draw them in more and more into the flow and storyline of a musical piece.

Almost (but not quite) the opposite is required for therapy and relaxation music. You need subtlety in everything. You are creating an ambience, and environment for therapy and relaxation, not a soundtrack to the latest blockbuster.

Arrangement

A relaxation and therapy piece of music needs to not differ too much as it flows from beginning, to middle and then to end. It shouldn’t have changes in tempo, nor changes in the subtle melody.

What is important, and very useful for therapists is to have a piece of music that begins slowly and forms a relax-down for 10 minutes. This helps the therapist relax the client for the therapy. So a slow build of instruments towards a plateau where the therapy takes place, and then at the ending, a slow removal of instruments leaving the lower noted instruments ending last.

Duration

A 40-minute piece with 10 minutes relax-down and 10-minute wake up gives a client a full 20 minutes of focused therapy. Add more to the middle to give therapists options of longer therapy sessions but no more than 50 minutes in total is the norm, unless a therapist specifically requests it. For example, A therapist might be interested in commissioning a piece that flows throughout a longer introduction session with a client where he gets to understand them before then moving into a therapeutic session. In this way, a piece could be continually playing from when a client enters the room to when they leave. This could enhance the therapeutic experience considerably.

Lastly, all I can say is, give it a go. Don’t be shy. If you are a musician looking for ways to sell your music then music within therapy is a real opportunity. Contact me and tell me all about your piece and send me a sample. I promise to respond as soon as I can.

Guy

Click Here AmbientMusicGarden.com. The ambient relaxation & meditation mp3 download music site.

Here’s some more thoughts on the subject of composing music for therapeutic practice. Located at Dr Harry Henshaw’s Blog titled “The Therapeutic Nature of Therapeutic Relaxation Music.” Thank you Dr Harry Henshaw for this article.

Copyright Kesseny ltd 2008. All Rights Reserved.

The love of collaborating with artists · 113 days ago

One thing thats been great about running f4b is sharing in the excitement of many of the active artists here at f4b. Its like a view into the world of ambient music across the globe, as they travel and collaborate and produce new pieces inspired by their meetings with one another.

Its great to have pieces particularly put here for f4b too. I am honoured to have such interest here. But then, maybe its understandable when one thinks less of ones-self and more about what the music is here for and what it can achieve for anyone.

That’s why artists are motivated. Many talk of the rewarding feeling that some of their music is somewhere helping someone. even just relaxing in our complicated world is enough for us, to achieve that is not a simple task sometimes.

I am excited about the new work the guys are doing, and the new artists who are bringing new styles of music to us here, creating an increased diversity of what I am now struggling to just call ambient. For that reason alone I am forever re-thinking how to help the f4b visitor to browse through our music. Ambient.. Meditation audio, meditation soundscapes.. buddhist meditations.. I need to continually question these categories that they are helping musician and listener connect.

Look out for new artists with new interpretations of ambient and relaxation music, new interpretations of chillout music and soundscapes.

I am also hoping to up our catelogue to include guided imagery / guided meditations, nature inspired ambient music, organic ambient music, and hopefully eventually, ambient dub and even dark ambient maybe.

— Guy