FAQ
What is Royalty Free Music?
Royalty Free Music - also called Buyout Music - is a specific kind of stock or production music, produced for unlimited use in an unspecified number of applications and productions. For more information, please see our What is Royalty Free Music? page.
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What is Copyright?
A simple definition of Copyright is the "right to copy, publish or perform". It is a way of expressing the legal exclusive right of ownership. Sound Ideas is the registered copyright owner of its sound effects and music products.
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What is Synchronization?
Synchronization is the term that describes the way in which Sound Ideas sound effects can be utilized in productions that you create. A sound can be synchronized with a visual presentation (the sound of a creaky door timed perfectly to be heard when a door opens), or with other audio material such as a voice over - as in the case of a radio commercial. A sound can be synchronized for use in many media: television, radio, film, multimedia and audio-visual presentations, Web sites, computer games and music. Sound Ideas' royalty free products are sold with their synchronization rights as described in the Sound Ideas End User License Agreement. Hanna-Barbera and Turner royalty free products are sold with their synchronization rights as described in the Hanna-Barbera & Turner Sound Effects End User License Agreement.
The rights to re-sell, re-publish or otherwise distribute Sound Ideas' sound effects and music are not obtained with your acquisition of synchronization rights to our products. When you use our sound effects and music, they must be synchronized within a multimedia presentation, film, Web site, game, audio-visual production or broadcast.
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What are Synchronization Rights?
With a synchronization license, you gain permission to reproduce a musical composition within an audio-visual media form (like films, TV programs, commercial announcements, music videos, multimedia or other visual presentations). The music is generally synchronized and/or recorded in timed relation with the visual images, graphic design or voiceover.
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What does Royalty Free mean?
Sound Ideas' sound effects are sold as royalty free (or buyout) products and their use is governed by the Sound Ideas End User License Agreement. Use of Hanna-Barbera and Turner sound effects products is governed by the Hanna-Barbera & Turner Sound Effects End User License Agreement. When you buy a Sound Ideas, Hanna-Barbera or Turner library, you buy the rights to synchronize the sounds with your productions. While you own the physical CDs that make up the library and you are allowed to synchronize them for use in your productions - the sounds and their copyright will always belong to either Sound Ideas or the copyright holder of the product.
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What is the difference between Royalty Free and Leased music?
All of the royalty free music represented by Sound Ideas (The Mix Libraries, The Mix Signature Collection, etc.) are copyrighted products, owned or licensed for distribution by Sound Ideas. These products and other leased music products can both be called "Stock Music" - which is defined as a variety of pre-recorded music, generally available at a much lower cost than original music or licensed commercial recordings of popular songs.
With royalty free music, you may purchase the CDs for a one-time fee. The purchase includes the Sound Ideas End User License Agreement (your synchronization license) for the unlimited use of the music in your productions, for life. This kind of music is often referred to as buyout music. Leased music is generally provided on an annual subscription basis, and your license for its use must be renewed on a regular basis, depending upon the length of the license term in your license agreement.
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What does Public Domain mean?
From the time a piece of music is created, it is protected by Copyright. The international laws governing copyright are the Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright Convention. Under the Berne Convention, copyright extends fo