Why & How to Use Music in Ads (Without Getting Sued!)
Digital Marketing involves running ads in video form. Most of the time brands prefer to use music in ads. This is is because using music has proven to give better results. It is said that music can increase ad recall, mood enhancement, and the likelihood of purchasing. Here are the things, people love to listen to good music and they would watch anything that has their favorite music in it. To prove this, here’s a statistics from wordstream Source Music is an important part of video marketing and brand that use music in ads needs to get it right. In light of that, this post is all about getting it right. Benefits of using music in ads Music helps to grab attention even before anything happens in the video. It can inspire people to buy. This is because music is saved in the long-term memory, processed faster, processed in the emotional part of the brain(medial temporal lobe), and connects great to the brain. A lot of people have reported that they tend to remember the music in an ad for a long time. Music has proven to do the following: Must you have music in your ads? No, you must not. Using music in ads is just a matter of knowing how best you want to communicate your message. You can use an animated explainer video if the ads require it. You can also use voice-overs or you can just go for sound. How to pick the right music in your ads Having music in your ads is one, picking the right music for your ad’s message is another. Ultimately, the goal should be to give your audience the best experience and subsequently drive sales. First, you should consider your brand before using any music in your ads. What does your brand represent? what are the cultures? what do you want to be known for?. These questions would help you in choosing the right kind of music for your ads. Let’s take, for example, you want your brand to be known for peace and calmness. With this in mind, you can’t use music that is so loud or violent because it won’t represent who your brand is. Secondly, you have to consider your audience and their demographics. Demographics go beyond who your audience is (in terms of age, gender, interest, location, profession, race, etc.) to their purchase history. This purchase history talks about how your audience must have made buying decisions in the past. This information would shed light on what makes them tick and how you can leverage that. You can use CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software to make this easier. Thirdly, What kind of message do you want to pass?. If it’s more about demonstration then you can use explainer videos. And If it is more sensual, you can use sensual music and so on. The kind of message you want to pass influences the kind of music you use. When you have considered all these, you can go on and choose the right music in your ads! However, it doesn’t stop at choosing the right music, you should know how and where to place this music. And then, unto the main thing, licensing! Licensing talks about if you have permission to use the music or not. Music in ads licensing Using music without getting a license will affect you negatively. It will cost your brand one or more of the following: Getting a license for your music involved a lot of things depending on the music and your resources. In most cases, commercial music rights are split between the record label and the publisher. The publisher controls the song (that is, the words and the melody), while the record label controls the recording of that song. Therefore, to use a commercial song in any video, you must obtain two licenses: 1. Sync (synchronization) license from the publisher. 2. Master license from the recording label. The publisher may vary from a large company with thousands of artists to individual songwriters who publish their work. The Sync and Master licenses will give you the right to use copyrighted music in videos and similar media projects. However, if you plan to broadcast or publicly play your video, you may also need to obtain a performance license. Terms in music licensing You can use any music under this law. Although, there are restrictions to this especially if you’re using the music for a commercial purpose. There is a lot of free music under creative commons. However, you should do your research and pay attention to details. There might be restrictions that you should watch out for. Even at that, there’s no guarantee that you would use this music without paying any fee. Therefore, you should check the details before you use any music under this domain. Moreover, you still have to pay some fees. Do your research well and know the requirements for using this kind of music. What if you don’t have enough resources to get a license for music?. There are ways to go about it and make the process easier. You can go through any of the following: key take-aways for using music in ads Now that you’ve learned how to use music in ads without getting sued, here’s a bonus on how to place your ads to get results FAQs on using music in Ads Must you use music in your ads? No, you mustn’t. You can only use music in your ads when it’s necessary and suitable for your ad’s message. There are other options like animated videos, voiceovers, recorded conferences and even using just sound or beat. Would you get sued for using an artist’s music in your ads? You get sued when you didn’t get the license to use the music. You might pay for the license or not. The important thing is that you have permission to use the music whether directly from the artists or through other means like fair use,