While a “Soundtrack Bonus” may sound like a welcome development - who doesn’t enjoy making extra money? - it’s more reflective of the dubious “pro rata” model in place at most streaming platforms. In Epidemic Sound’s case, music creators are encouraged to “earn a living” through several potential revenue streams:Ī flat, upfront fee ranging from $1,000 to $5,000ĥ0/50 splits on any earnings from streaming platforms like SpotifyĪnd a self-proclaimed “Soundtrack Bonus” that is “proportional to the performance of their tracks in our Epidemic Player.” How this works for songwriters who supply royalty-free services with exclusive compositions differs. And royalties are still being paid, even on music considered royalty-free. The vast majority of music you're going to find is, in fact, copyrighted - including royalty-free music. “You might have figured this out on your own already,” Soundstripe explains in its own post about the meaning of royalty-free music, “but finding music tracks that belong to nobody and have 100% zero copyrights is extremely rare. The party who does pay it? Epidemic Sound, of course, thanks to the money its subscription model generates.

The word ‘free’ in royalty-free refers to you not having to pay royalties every time you use a piece of music.” As the latter explains in one of its many tutorials, “royalty-free music is NOT free. For one thing, there’s a big difference between songs that are exploited via a Creative Commons license or the public domain, and songs that are simply available for paying subscribers via a platform like Soundstripe or Epidemic Sound. Depending on how you define it, the phrase “royalty-free music” is either slightly misleading or woefully inaccurate.

Royalty free library music