When it comes to brand videos, aside from the visuals there’s perhaps nothing quite as important as your choice of music. Music sets the emotional tone, reinforces brand identity and makes the content more memorable and engaging for the audience.
Any marketer worth their salt will tell you that the right music track will align with your brand’s personality, appeal to the target audience and enhance the storytelling, creating a cohesive and impactful experience. Additionally, if you can use that music across different videos and branding, it can help consolidate and build a recognizable audio identity, making the brand even more memorable and effective in its messaging.
Filmmaker Roberto Ricotta is no stranger to all of the above. Using Musicbed tracks, he’s been making beautiful branded videos for years.
When it comes to music licensing for corporate videos, Musicbed has long been the standard and go-to service for corporate videographers for years. We know a thing or two about business music licensing, and we’re here to help.
Can You Use Any Music for Advertising?
As fantastic and easy as it would be to just use any music for your advertising campaigns whenever you want, there’s a bit more nuance to it than that. If you don’t obtain the proper licenses and permissions to use music tracks in your corporate videos, then you open yourself up to considerable risk.
Unauthorized use of copyrighted music is a serious issue that can lead to copyright infringement claims, legal action and copyright strikes on platforms like YouTube. Videographers found liable can face financial damages, including statutory and actual damages, as well as potential injunctions that could halt the distribution of their videos until the issue is resolved.
In addition to financial and legal repercussions, copyright infringement can harm a filmmaker’s reputation, leading to negative publicity, loss of credibility and missed opportunities for future collaborations. In extreme cases of willful infringement, there may also be criminal penalties, including fines and imprisonment.
The takeaway here? When it comes to music licensing for corporate videos, it’s simply not worth taking risks and cutting corners. Licensing is important because it allows corporate videographers to legally use the music for their work in the way they’d like, with no stress or risks involved. Meanwhile, musicians and artists are also receiving proper financial compensation and recognition for all their hard work. It’s a fair, win-win situation for all involved.
Music licensing can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. At Musicbed, we have a catalog of some 60,000 songs from over 1,500 artists ready to explore and, more importantly, all of it ready to be licensed and used in your corporate videos in a very simple, straight-forward way.
What’s Commercial Use?
“Commercial use” refers to the use of music in any video or project that is intended to generate revenue or is connected to a business or commercial activity. This can include anything from videos used for advertising, marketing and promotional content to things such as monetized YouTube videos, films, TV shows, corporate presentations, as well as any other projects where the music is being used to support or enhance a commercial venture. In very simple terms, if the video contributes to a profit-making endeavor, directly or indirectly, then it has to be considered as commercial use.
Understanding this concept of commercial use is crucial for corporate videographers because it determines the type of music licenses that you’ll need to obtain for your project. As we’ve established above, using music without the proper license in a commercial context can lead to legal issues including copyright infringement claims, financial penalties, and even damage to your professional reputation.
To protect yourself from these risks, you should know and establish whenever a project qualifies as commercial. This ensures that you can secure the appropriate rights, avoid legal risks and maintain ethical standards throughout your career, which is important for your reputation. Understanding the concept of commercial use can also help you to budget accurately for various projects, so it’s a no-brainer.
How to License Music for a Brand Video?
If you’re looking to license corporate music for video, then Musicbed is the answer. First and foremost, you’ll want to sign up for a business subscription, which covers you for client and brand work with up to 250 employees and social media followings as large as one million.
If there is any paid advertising involved (including social media boosting), these license options will cover up to $5,000 USD in advertising spend. If the planned advertising spend is greater than $5,000 USD, then the project will also require a Custom License.
Once you’re subscribed, the process is really simple. Using the various tools and filters available to you, find the corporate music you’d like to use and simply click to download!
How to Choose Music for Commercial Use
Of course, there’s an art to selecting the right music for corporate videos. There’s no right or wrong answer here because every branded video is going to be different – as long as you pay attention to the criteria below, you can identify the right track for your specific needs.
Alignment with brand identity: Your choice of music should reflect the brand’s personality and values, reinforcing the company’s image and message.
Target audience appeal: You want to choose music that’s going to resonate with the target audience, considering their demographics, preferences, and expectations.
Tone and emotion: Whether it’s inspiration, motivation, trust, or professionalism, the music should set the appropriate tone and evoke the desired emotional response.
Pacing and flow: This one goes for any video, corporate or not – the music needs to complement the pacing of the video, matching the speed and rhythm of the visuals and narration.
Narrative support: Your choice of corporate music should also enhance and support the storytelling, emphasizing key moments and transitions without overpowering the content.
Cultural relevance: Wherever possible, look to pick out music that is culturally appropriate and relevant to your target audience, avoiding any potential misunderstandings or cultural insensitivity.
Licensing and legal compliance: As we’ve been discussing, you must ensure the music is properly licensed for commercial use, with the necessary rights to avoid copyright infringement!
Consistency with previous content: Depending on the campaign being put together, you may be able to maintain consistency with the music used in previous videos to build a cohesive brand sound.
Duration and versatility: Think like an editor, if possible. Your music should match the length of the video or be easily adaptable, with options for looping or editing if needed.
Budget considerations: You also want to choose music that fits within the project’s budget, balancing quality with cost, whether using royalty-free tracks, licensed music, or custom compositions.
Naturally, some of this is easier said than done. For example, if you’re looking to find a piece of music that aligns with brand identity, you might want to start off by clearly defining your brand’s personality and analyzing competitors’ choices. Use descriptive keywords, select genres that match your brand image and then test out some options with your target audience for the best fit. You want to ensure the music both complements your visuals and is legally licensed for commercial use, reinforcing your brand’s message and identity effectively.
Lastly, have you considered custom compositions and collaboration with musicians? Whatever you’re looking for, there’s a really diverse selection of music available for you in the Musicbed catalog. You could take a look through our corporate playlists as a good starting point, too.
If you still can’t quite find what you’re looking for, we can help facilitate a collaboration with some of our favorite artists, working closely with you every step of the way to craft a song that really works for you and your brand video.
Wrapping up
So, that’s the world of business music licensing summarized for you. As with any video project, we want to ensure that as videographers, we’ve got the correct licenses for the job. The risks and hassle involved with copyright infringement simply aren’t worth it.
With Musicbed, your job as a corporate videographer is made easy. You can pick out the perfect song for your branded content, knowing that it’s comprehensively covered by the necessary licenses. It frees you up to spend more time doing what you’re best at – being creative, and producing the best branded video content possible.
