Need an advise about certain "royalty-free" music

[Shin Kitsune]

Hello! Hope this is the right forum. I would appreciate some advice using some music in a commercial game.

I'm getting straight to the point. I am intending to use certain music clips from Kevin MacLeod's website, incompetech.com. I am not really familiar with terms such as royalty-free, or how he handles music licensing. There's a section where he mentions his licenses, including Creative Commons, which would require me to credit him in my game (which I intended to anyways, since I'm including everyone involved in my project), and there's the Standard license which states this:

The Standard License is available for projects where attribution is not wanted or is otherwise impossible. (radio ad, TV ad, corporate presentation, commercial short, on-hold music, etc.)

Since I was unsure now whether or not I should use the music for a game I intend on selling, I sent him a message regarding my doubt. In no time I got an answer, but I don't think it actually answered my question. I kind of expected an explicit answer like "Yes, you can use it", or "You need to pay a fee per piece". Anyways, this is the response I got from Mr. MacLeod:

Sometimes normal credits don't work for a given situation, so follow these general guidelines:

The purpose of a credit is so that someone - with reasonable effort - can find out the details on the music.

A store or spa fill not have a "credits screen", but they can put up a sign. I person with reasonable effort could read that.

If you're giving a speech, you can just mention that the music is from me, and you can be asked for details later.

If you have a video game, you can add a line to a 'credits' button somewhere.

Use your own judgement, and be nice.

Let us know if there is anything else we can do!

So, does this mean "Do whatever you think is right"? Does the (CC) license still apply as long as I include Mr. MacLeod in the game's credits?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Shaz]

You can use it under the creative commons license, because you do have the ability to give him credit, whether it's within the game itself or in a text file.


He is pointing out that the Standard License is for things where you really can't easily give credit - if you look at the examples he gives (radio ad, tv, presentation), how would you give credit for all the resources you used in those formats? A game is different.


Royalty free simply means you don't have to pay him when you start making money from selling the game.

 

[Shin Kitsune]

Thanks so much! Then this means I can use his music in my game without worries.

I guess this can be closed now that my question got answered.

 

[Shaz]

A link to the website would have been helpful, so we could see the T&C ourselves.

 

[Shin Kitsune]

Sure. Here's their FAQ: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/faq.html

And these are the licenses he has: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/licenses/

 

[Shaz]

okay, that's easy. "Anyone can use any of my music in any project. You do need to attribute correctly if you are using the CC license or pay for the no-attribution license, if you choose that one."


So if you credit, you don't have to pay. If you don't credit, you do have to pay. This is why he gave you examples of formats that would make it difficult to give credit.


Note that he specifically gives the format he wants you to use when you credit him.