F.A.Q

Purchasing & Downloading

 

  • Do I have to have a Paypal account to buy your music?

Although our shopping cart is run by Paypal, you don’t need an account. You can use your credit card instead!

Here’s how: When checking out, at the Paypal login window, simply click on ‘Don’t have a PayPal account?‘

  • How do I get the music once I buy it?

You will immediately receive a link to download the products you’ve bought, and will have five opportunities to download them. Should you need more than five downloads, please contact us at info@ royaltyfreekings.com

  • Where can I find the writer and publisher information?

Click here for a document that lists all that info.
We’ve made filling out cue sheets easy, by adding a ‘K’ code to the beginning of the file name of every hi res file you download. The pdf connects the ‘K’ codes with their corresponding composer and publisher info.

 

General Information

  • Where can I buy single tracks?

You’ll find categories listed down the left hand side of www.royaltyfreekings.com. Click on one of those to see a list of single stock music tracks that fall under that category.

  • Why would I buy a track from Royalty Free Kings for $44.95, when I can buy music from iTunes for 99 cents?

Purchasing music from a production music library, like Royalty Free Kings, grants you a license to use it in a media production, such as a video or a film. In contrast, buying music from iTunes does not give a person the rights to use it in media or any kind of production. They’re only allowed to download to their computer and iPod for the purpose of listening to it. This is regardless of whether or not the project is for profit, for example if you put a video up on youtube, and it has music in it that you don’t have permission to use, you risk youtube muting or pulling down the video. Even worse, you could get sued for it. We want to help you avoid getting into trouble!

  • My computer crashed / I had to reformat my hard drive and I didn’t have a back up, can I get another copy of what I bought?

You have five opportunities to download your purchases using the link sent to you. We strongly recommend you back up your music to an external drive and/or alternative media, like data DVDs. If you need another opportunity to access those files, please contact us at info @ royaltyfreekings.com

  • I noticed some of the files in my extras folder are not mp3s, why is that?

We sell the extras as hi res (320 kbps) mp3s, except for loops, which do not work properly in mp3 format (due to the compression process adding a tiny amount of silence at the beginning). You’ll find the loops are 44K wav files, which is what most web designers request.

  • Which format should I choose when purchasing the music, 48K aiff, or 44.1K wav?

It depends on what software you’re using. Mac based software (Final Cut Pro, iMovie) primarily uses 48K aiff, while PC based software (Avid, Adobe Premiere) has traditionally worked with wav files. The wav files are also good for web design, as 44.1K audio seems to work better when embedded in Flash (especially on PCs).

 

Royalty Free License

  • What are the limitations on using the music?

You are free to use your purchased music on any of your projects, whether they be films, corporate videos, commercials, wedding videos, webisodes. You can use it within a game, air it on YouTube, TV, radio (for TV and radio you’ll just need to fill out a cue sheet, for that writer and publisher info click here)… in other words, pretty much anywhere you want!

However… there is a budget cap on film and advertising usage – you can use our music on those projects as long as your budget is under US$250,000.

You can not: use this music to create a new piece of music, nor sell it as your own, nor can you resell the music without our express permission. You also can not give the music to anyone else to use, other than within your own company. The license to use the music you purchase is for you alone.

‘Royalty free’ in our case refers to the freedom you have to re-use the same production music again and again without ever having to pay us for additional use. If your project is broadcast on TV, film or radio, you must submit cue sheets with the correct writer/publisher information. In most cases the only party having to pay for the performance of the music is the broadcaster, i.e. the TV station / network / theater owner, who is probably already paying an annual blanket fee to ASCAP and BMI for unlimited usage of music in their repetoire.

Although you are free to use the same purchased tracks again and again, you don’t actually own the music, and you can’t re-sell the music or add it to your own musical elements and claim it as your own. You or your employees are the only people allowed to use the music that you license from us.

If you’re not sure about the way you’d like to use our music, please get in touch at: info@ royaltyfreekings.com - we’ll let you know if you’re in the clear asap.

 

  • Why do you have that budget limitation for using the music?

We have the cap of $250,000 for total budget on film and advertising, because much of our stock music comes from successful composers who work at the highest levels of the entertainment industry. The license fees (for one time use, not royalty free!) our composers get for big budget projects, such as trailers and commercials, are often in the five figures range. We want to be able to offer the same high quality music to up and coming producers working with smaller budgets, but at the same time not adversely affect the high end business of the entertainment industry.

  • My budget is getting close to $250,000, or is over that threshold, but I really want to use your music. What should I do?

Please contact us at info@ royaltyfreekings.com - we’ll negotiate a fair and competitive license fee for whatever budget you have.

 

Other

  • I used your music within a YouTube video and now there’s a claim against the music, what do I do?

Firstly, we’re very sorry if this ever happens to you. Due to the new (annoying) audio recognition technology being used on YouTube, it does occasionally happen. Rest assured, even if you have a partner account, buying our music gives you the legal right to use any of our music within a video. What’s happened is that another music company is erroneously claiming the track is theirs, because either the audio recognition software mistook our music for theirs, or the other music company is fraudulently claiming our music as theirs. In any case, please dispute the claim on YouTube, and let us know immediately – email us with the details of the claim. We’ll clear it up as soon as possible.

  • Do you offer custom music?

Definitely! Our composers have extensive experience in writing to visual media. Contact us at info@ royaltyfreekings.com for further information.