I’m making several (at least 10) short cooking videos for a foodstuff manufacturer. Products may vary in different videos, but all fall under the same brand. The videos will be published on the company’s website and on social media. All videos will have the same background music.
Do I have to buy a new music license for every video or whether they are understood as a series, in which case one license is sufficient?
Both YouTube and website use, where there is no charge to access the content, falls under a regular standard music license.
It sounds like these videos can be considered part of a “series”, and you will need only the one standard music license - subject to the relevant terms.
Here’s the text of the relevant terms, taken from the License FAQ
No. You only need to purchase the item once per series.
To be considered a series, all things in the series (eg episode, edition) must be connected, and be released within 1 year of the first installment. There is also a maximum of 52 episodes or editions within the series.
Example: A 12 episode TV series that starts in December and ends in July would only require a single license. A YouTube series that releases an episode every week (52 total) would only need to purchase a license once every year. A magazine that releases an edition every other month would need to purchase a license once every year.