Are you a musician? If you are, then you are probably well aware of the importance of music licensing. Any serious musician that plays jazz, rock and roll, folk, or even classical or some other genre knows that this is a vital issue. This is because it is crucial for a musician to keep his rights by licensing and copyrighting his work properly. Someone else might want to license your music from you if you came up with a particularly successful song. This usually means big bucks for you.

However, my cousin who is a classically trained violinist was unaware of the importance of music licensing. A few months ago, she decided to enter a contest to compose a hit new piece of music for a commercial for a popular fast food chain, even though she rarely composed songs. She was overjoyed when she won a $500 award for her song and heard it played on the television until she realized that she had been robbed.

You see, she hadn't used music licensing. My cousin realized that she wouldn't even get a penny of the rights when the company sold the rights to another fast food company, and then to a movie for a soundtrack. The license now belonged to the business which had held the contest.

On the other hand, music licensing can be bad for you if you are a consumer of music. This is because many common practices of music listeners are actually illegal. For instance, if you are caught while making a mix tape for a friend, then you can be fined for thousands of dollars in legal fees. The penalties can be much worse if you are caught while trading music, either in person or on the Internet.

You should not let yourself be lured in by the promise of free music. The majority of the songs that are put up on file sharing websites are actually nothing but noise. Companies that own the music licensing placed them there to fool you into downloading them and wasting your time.

Nevertheless, you can still listen to unlicensed songs and discover the bands that made them on the Internet. This is a popular way for musicians to get discovered by new fans. If the band isn't already on a big label with lots of fans, then you can easily log on to a band's website and listen to their music. This is because they have everything to gain by letting you listen to their music, trading their songs and giving you their music licensing.