FOI Music creates original soundtracks for visual stories, fashion films and monthly FOI Magazine projects. This journal documents the thinking behind that work in clear, practical language.
The idea
Creators need permission they can understand quickly. A useful free-music licence should identify the recording, the permitted platforms, whether monetisation is allowed, how credit works and what remains prohibited. Ambiguity is not generosity; it is future risk.
Free to download is not automatically free to publish, monetise or use in client work. For FOI Music, the purpose is always to keep the emotional meaning clear while giving the listener enough space to form a personal relationship with the work.
How the craft supports it
The licence should separate use from ownership. A filmmaker may receive permission to synchronise a track with a video while FOI Music keeps the copyright, master rights and right to distribute the recording elsewhere. Reselling or registering the track as someone else’s work remains outside that permission.
A strong production decision should still make sense when the visual reference is removed. Sound and image can belong to the same world without one becoming dependent on the other.
A practical way to begin
Keep a copy of the licence supplied with the download, use the exact credit line and do not upload the music as a standalone release. For paid advertising, broadcast or a feature film, request a project-specific clearance.
Begin with one honest intention, test it in the real context where the work will be experienced, and remove anything that competes with that intention.