Licensing & royalties
Royalty-Free Music
Royalty-free music is music licensed without per-use royalties: you pay once or by subscription for the licence, and you owe no further payment per broadcast, view or play.
In practice
It solves cost predictability, not ownership. The library keeps the rights, the same track is sold to many buyers, and your permission ends when the licence ends. It is a good fit for volume content production; it is a poor fit when the music must become part of a brand or must never appear anywhere else.
Real questions
Is royalty-free music free?
No. "Royalty-free" describes the payment model of the licence, not the price.
Can I use royalty-free music forever?
Only if the licence is perpetual. Subscription libraries typically require the licence to be active when the content is published, and some revoke rights for content published after cancellation.
Do I still owe money to a collecting society?
If the track is registered with one, public performance and broadcast can still generate claims. Unregistered catalogues avoid this entirely.
Royalty-free is not copyright-free
The copyright stays with the composer or the library. You are buying a permission with limits, not the work itself.
Related terms
Own the track instead of renting it
Sonify Music sells exclusive buyouts of catalogue tracks: one payment, full ownership, the track removed from sale and a named certificate of ownership.