AP 0099: What Are the Rules about Using Music in a Podcast Intro?

AskPat 99 Episode Transcript

Pat Flynn: Hey, what's up everybody? Pat Flynn here, and welcome to Episode 99 of AskPat. We're almost at Episode 100. Crazy.

Just, thank you so much for being here and all the support and all the reviews on iTunes. Very, very much appreciated. Before we get to today's question from Aaron, which is about podcasting and music, I want to mention a related resource, one I've used before to actually help create the intro that you just heard for AskPat. That is MusicRadioCreative.com, which is an amazing company over in the UK that helps put together these really great, amazing-sounding, just audio files for music and voiceovers. You could pick the different voices you want to help you create the podcast or the radio spot that you want for your show, so again, MusicRadioCreative.com. If you want to go through my affiliate link, I do get a commission if you go through and purchase through this link, that's AskPat.com/mrc. Now let's get to today's question from Aaron.

Aaron: Hey Pat. My name is Aaron. Thank you so much for starting this new podcast, I've heard from a lot of others, and I definitely agree that you really have something great with this new podcast. You were really the first person I came across in the whole world of internet business and have really helped me to be motivated and inspired to get into it myself. I'm now at the initial stages of preparing to podcast, and I had a question. Music in my podcast. I love the band Iiro Rantala New Trio. They're a Finnish jazz group, and I would love to play one of—just a small clip of their song in my intro. What would I have to do, to do so? Would I need permission from the band? Would I need permission from the label? Or would I need to get something like a license? Those seem like they can be pretty expensive. Or do I have to go the indie route and make my own beatboxing intro? Thank you so much for your time, and I wish you and your family all the best, Pat. Thank you.

Pat Flynn: Aaron, thank you so much for the question, and whatever the answer might be, I really think that you have a good beatbox, so you might want to use that because it's free, and you won't have to worry about copyright issues, which is something you would have to worry about if you are going to insert music from another band. There are ways that you can do that but it's hard, and there are legal things like crazy, and you'd have to get signed permissions and maybe licenses. You might have to pay every time you put it in an episode, even if it's a very short snippet of a song that you like from a band that you like. It's crazy. If we're showing support for the bands that we like, and we're promoting their music, there should be no reason not to do it, but obviously there are, and we have to just sort of really pay attention to the laws there.

I am obviously not a lawyer. I'd recommend that if you truly really do want to get a snippet of a favorite song that you have from this band, to connect with an attorney or a lawyer that can help you work with their legal team to make out a deal. But better safe than sorry, and it's just easiest if you just either create something on your own, or you can go through Music Radio Creative like I just mentioned, or you can go with royalty-free or podsafe music, music that's safe to put in your podcast, and there's different podsafe music networks that you can go to. Just look up “podsafe music” online. You can also go . . . I got a lot of songs . . . Actually the intro to the Smart Passive Income podcast came from iStockPhoto.com, yeah, iStockPhoto.com. They have stock music in there as well, and that's where I got the sort of hiphop drum backbeat for the Smart Passive Income intro, and that's royalty-free, so you could use it as much as you'd like without having to pay every single time.

Like I said, it's just . . . When in doubt, just don't use it. When in doubt, don't use it. It's just the best thing to do, because even if the band says it's okay, down the road maybe they won't be okay, and the sucky thing to do would be down the road after you have fifty episodes, you have to shut down, or you have to change them all, and that's just going to be a hassle. It's just better not to worry about that stuff.

So Aaron, that's probably not the answer you want to hear, but most people out there, including yourself Aaron, probably know that that's the safest answer. You could definitely mention their band, and I know a lot of other podcasts put music that they like as well. You just got to really be careful, and just because one podcast does it, and they don't get in trouble, doesn't mean that you could do it and you won't get away with it, or you will get in trouble. I wouldn't even play with that. So going back to your beatbox, it was pretty awesome, Aaron. Maybe we should battle sometime, but yeah, but again, if you really, really really want to go for it, contact them and see what the process might be like. You'll see that it's probably going to be a little bit more difficult than we all hope.

Thank you so much for the question Aaron. Short answer for you today, but I hope it's a useful one. And of course, I'm going to re-mention our resource for today which has helped me create the amazing intro for AskPat. Yes it's very short, but I asked for that. The intro to Entrepreneur On Fire was also done by these people over in the UK. Amazing, amazing people. I've met them in person at New Media Expo, just fantastic work. If you go to AskPat.com/mrc, that's my affiliate link. I get a commission if you go through there, but again, you won't be disappointed. You can make an intro to your liking, or you can use some of the premade ones there that just puts your brand in there as well. It's a great little service.

Thank you so much Aaron, for your question. An AskPat teeshirt is going to be headed your way. For those of you listening, if you have a question you'd like potentially featured here on the show, just head on over to AskPat.com. You can ask right there on that page.

And yeah, I'm going to end with a quote, like I always do. This is a quote from Marcel Proust, and that is, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” I love that, because, and I'm going to expand on this a little bit because this was a shorter episode, but we're always trying to reinvent the wheel. We're always trying to do something completely new, and sometimes you don't need to do that in order to create something amazing, something useful, something valuable for your target audience out there. A lot of times the best things in life that we use or that we come across are just better versions of something. Can you create a better version of something? Can you take something that exists and just turn it on its head or add or enhance it to make it even more useful, even more convenient? As this quote says, you don't need to seek new landscapes, just have new eyes, see things in a different way. Perhaps there are some opportunities right in front of you that you may be missing because you're just not seeing it in that way. So keep your mind open, keep your eyes open, and look for those opportunities. It might be just right there in front of you. Thanks so much. I'll see you in the next episode of AskPat.