Using music in audio stories

This guide is to help students understand the purpose and legal responsibilities of using music in audio features. It is not legal advice.

The Junction, Simon Brady • August 2, 2023

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

You hear it used in the podcasts you listen to. You know it would make your audio assignment sound better, but can you and should you use a snip of audio from a song, or movie or ad to enhance your piece?

Simon Brady is a media trainer, journalism lecturer and the producer of our podcast Making a Difference. He offers this advice:

Can I use commercial music?

The advice is don’t use commercial music in your stories or podcast program. Copyright of commercial music belongs to the artist(s) that wrote the lyrics and music as well as the producer that recorded the music and the record label that published the music.

You can try to contact the people, above, to seek permission to use their song but unless Taylor Swift, Post Malone, Foo Fighters, Queen, etc are in your list of contacts, then this could be a long and ultimately fruitless pursuit.

Can I just use seven seconds?

The seven-second rule is a myth. The amount of music you play has no bearing on whether it is legal. Commercial music is copyright – the entire song – regardless of the duration.

Can I use the Copyright Act’s provision for ‘fair dealing’?

‘Fair use’ of copyright music can only be used in these circumstances:

research or study
- criticism or review
- parody or satire
- reporting news
- enabling a person with a disability to access the material.

You might think ‘reporting news’ will cover you but this applies to the information in your story, ie. your voiceover and interview grabs. The use of a song – as a music ‘bed’ – to complement this reporting is NOT covered.

One way – the only way – to use ‘fair dealing’ is to attribute the name of the song and the artist in your script to tie-in the music to the story. But the song needs to be relevant to the story in some way, such as the following script example for a story about the Voice referendum.

Example:

“When Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett reflects on the band’s 1980s protest song, ‘Beds are Burning’, he says it’s both affirming and despairing that the song remains relevant today.

PLAY EXCERPT OF SONG

“The song demanded Indigenous land rights and better living conditions for First Nations people.

Garrett says here we are, almost 40 years later, and there’s still resistance in Australia to righting some of those wrongs.”

What if I bought the song on iTunes or a CD?

When you buy a song, you have the right to play it for your own entertainment (at home, on your phone, in your car). But one of the conditions of buying the song is that you can’t play it publicly (ie. an audio story as part of a radio program or podcast)

Can I use a copyright song because the story is only for a uni assignment?

You should always approach a piece of student journalism with the prospect of it being published. Yes, the story will be marked by your lecturer/tutor but it will also form part of your portfolio, show reel or personal website. And it could be part of a podcast produced by your uni or The Junction. The bottom line is: if the story is published/broadcast on any platform, then you should not use copyright music.

Will the song’s producers really come after me if I’m a uni student?

Maybe not…but record companies are known to be on the lookout for copyright breaches and the advent of AI is only making their task easier.

Directories such as Spotify, Apple and YouTube are using software to detect copyright music. If your story is part of a podcast on these platforms (and many others), it could be flagged as a breach and the podcast would be taken down.

If I can’t use commercial songs, how can I use music in my audio story?

You’re in luck because there are many sites that offer music and plenty of it is free.

There are ‘Royalty-free’ sites where you pay a subscription fee to access their library or you can purchase the license for an individual track.

There are also ‘Creative Commons’ sites that allow you to use a piece of music for free and without permission, so long as you credit the composer in the program credits or ‘Show Notes’.

These libraries are large and you can spend a lot of time trying to find the right track. Use the search filters for ‘genre’ and ‘mood’ to sharpen your focus. And always make sure you read the terms of service as they can vary for each track.

Pixabay

YouTube Audio Library

Finding music that is safe and legal to use is part of your responsibilities as a journalist.

Recommended readings to deepen your understanding:

https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/media-communications-arts/copyright/copyright-basics

Students and Copyright

https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/media-communications-arts/copyright/copyright-basics

https://smartcopying.edu.au/students-and-copyright/