Challenges Of ‘Royalty Free' Music

Introduction

Bob Marley was once quoted as saying "one good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain". However, this statement may not ring true for victims whose musical works have been exposed to copyright infringement. For generations, music has provided soul to artists' works worldwide and the importance of legal protection for such works has developed simultaneously. Music producers are zealously tackling copyright infringement wars as it threatens to wreak havoc over their artistic efforts. In a similar case of infringement in Grand Upright Music Ltd v. Warner Bros. Records¹, it was famously opined by the presiding judge that "thou shalt not steal." But what if you had no intention of stealing the intellectual work of another and just wanted to explore cheap options without having to pay steep royalties. Given the general public's benign understanding of convoluted copyright provisions, terms of fair use and the era of Web 2.0, it is only evident