https://wearethemusicmakers.co/latest Music tech and AI in music: the news that matters, what we think about it, and a directory of the tools. en-us Sun, 25 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/royalty-free-vs-copyright-free https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/royalty-free-vs-copyright-free Three labels get used as if they meant the same thing. They do not. "Royalty-free" describes how you pay for a licence, "copyright-free" is usually a marketing phrase, and "public domain" is a legal status. Here is how to tell them apart and a five-step check before you put someone else's music in your video, game or release. Laws and official pages checked on 25 Oct 2026. Sun, 25 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers copyrightlicensingsyncworkflows https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/production-music-libraries-explained https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/production-music-libraries-explained Production music is written to be licensed: background cues, beds, stings and themes that video makers pick from a catalogue instead of commissioning a score. This guide explains how libraries make money, what an exclusive or non-exclusive deal actually changes for you, why Content ID and retitling collide, and how to write and deliver music a library can use. Sources read on 25 Oct 2026. Sun, 25 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers synclicensingroyaltiesindustry https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/creative-commons-music-licences https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/creative-commons-music-licences Creative Commons gives you six licences built from four elements, plus a public-domain tool called CC0. For musicians, two of those elements matter most: NonCommercial (NC), which shuts out most paid uses, and NoDerivatives (ND), which under the licence text blocks sync to video. Here is what each one allows, and what to pick before you release. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers licensingcopyrightsyncworkflows https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/sync-licensing-basics-for-indies https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/sync-licensing-basics-for-indies A sync placement pays for two separate rights, and a music supervisor has to clear both before your track goes anywhere near a picture. Here is what those rights are, why owning both of them makes you easier to license, how library deals differ, why nobody can quote you a standard fee, and the paperwork that gets you paid after the cheque. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers synclicensingroyaltiescopyrightindustry https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/elevenlabs-instant-soundtracks-sync-library-squeeze https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/elevenlabs-instant-soundtracks-sync-library-squeeze ElevenLabs now generates an original score plus timed sound effects for an uploaded video, on separate editable layers and through an API. Its own licence keeps film, TV, radio and studio games for top-tier enterprise customers, so the first squeeze lands on the online, short-form work that pays many library composers. Wed, 21 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicelevenlabssyncproduction-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/sonilo-raises-11m-ai-video-scoring-sync-composers https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/sonilo-raises-11m-ai-video-scoring-sync-composers Sonilo, a San Francisco start-up founded by former TikTok AI and music staff, has raised $11 million led by B Capital for a model that writes music and sound effects timed to your footage. Its answer on training data is a licensed Shutterstock catalogue, which means stock-music composers are both the training set and the competition. Wed, 14 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicfundingsynclicensingvideo https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/sync-ai-era-clean-chain-of-title https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/sync-ai-era-clean-chain-of-title AI tracks are flooding the cheap end of production music, but a music supervisor can't clear or insure a cue whose authorship and training data nobody can document. Here is how sync money works, and why well-documented human catalogues are gaining value. Thu, 06 Aug 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industrysynclicensingaimusic-supervisorscopyright https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/06/anime-japan-music-export-iris-out-ado https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/06/anime-japan-music-export-iris-out-ado Kenshi Yonezu's anime film theme "IRIS OUT" topped Billboard JAPAN's first-half 2026 chart after reaching No. 5 on the Billboard Global 200, the highest yet for a Japanese-language song. Japan's trade ministry puts the music industry's 2024 overseas income at ¥72.58bn, and most of the money it can trace arrives as streams, not sync fees. The lesson for artists anywhere is that a placement is where discovery starts, and the money comes later. Fri, 05 Jun 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industryjapanj-popanimesyncstreamingtouring