What Kind of Music Can I Use in My Podcast?

There is one risk you should absolutely not take with your podcast.

Choosing the Wrong Music for Your Podcast Is Risky

Something I really strongly caution people against in their podcast is using licensed and copy written materials in their final productions. It can be really tempting to want to use a little bit of a popular song, something that just absolutely catches the vibe, or a clip of a video that really illustrates the point that you want to make.

But when you are starting to dabble in playing with licensed and copyrighted materials, you are putting yourself at risk of DMC takedowns, having your content/account flagged and all other manners of legal issues. Now, I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, but I do feel pretty confident in saying – it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to copy written material.

And there are lots of royalty free options available. And lots of options for easily licensable music, sound effects, images and videos. All of these things are available in different marketplaces, where you can get an account, or you can pay for credits, and then get content that you do have the legal right to use. And that’s going to completely eliminate the worries of having your videos taken down, your accounts flagged and all of those things.

If you are absolutely set on having a show where you are dealing with copy written media – your next call should be to an IP lawyer or a marketplace that does license the exact specific media that you want to use – from the owners of those copyrights/products.

This is your professional reputation. It is also your access to the different platforms that you’re using. So this is an area where you really want to be careful and always on the side of caution when it comes to copyright materials. And if you are working with a producer, or you’re signed on with an agency who is handling the different music, sound, video and image elements of your show, they need to be accountable for this as well.

Anything that is used in your podcast that they didn’t create manually, absolutely from scratch, they should be able to provide a license for. And you should have copies of those licenses that you’re able to keep for your own records in case it ever does come up.

Watch: What Kind of Music Can I Use in My Podcast?

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