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So that we may help you as efficiently as possible:

The following common questions and answers may be of help to you. If you still need help or information, fill in the contact form and we will be happy to help you.

1) I placed an order on this site and now I don't know how or where to download it?

You can always download any order that you've placed here at Shockwave-Sound. Jut Sign in and then go to the My Orders page. Here you will see a list of all your purchases, and from there you can click on the order number, which will take you to the pick-up page (download page) for that order.

If you need help, contact us with this form and we will help you.

2) I downloaded my file okay, but now I cannot find the file on my computer

When you download a file from the internet, the file gets stored in a folder on your computer. Normally, when you click a download link, your computer / web browser should ask you where you want to store the file. If it doesn't, it's because you have set up your operating system or web browser with a pre-determined location (download directory) for storing downloaded files. Check your web browsers' "Options/Settings" screens. See if you can find something about where the browser will store downloaded files.

(Tip: in Mozilla Firefox, press Ctrl-J. Firefox will show you a list of recently downloaded files. You can right-click on any one of them and choose "Open containing folder". That will open a new window that displays the folder in which the file was downloaded).

3) I have downloaded my order, but the file won't open / play / work

When you download your order from us, the audio file is wrapped inside a zip file. A zip file is a kind of archive, a compressed folder with the actual sound file packed inside it. In order to find your actual audio file, you need to unzip/unpack/open the zip-file first, and then you'll find the actual WAV or MP3 audio file inside. To open a zip-file, simply double-click on it. It should open up like a folder. Inside you can see your audio file (WAV or MP3). Grab it with your mouse and drag it to the folder where you want to put it (for example, "My Music" folder or where ever you want it to be stored on your computer).

The reason we pack the sound files inside .zip files is not to save server space. It's to avoid problems with downloaded audio files auto-opening on customers' computers instead of being saved to their hard disk. We used to serve the downloads as straight MP3 or WAV files, but some customers had problems with the files simply auto-opening in iTunes, Windows Media Player or some other player, and from there, they didn't know how to get the file stored on their computer and couldn't actually find the file anywhere on the computer. This is the reason we are now wrapping the downloaded audio files inside .zip files. It enables people to actually get the file saved to a folder on their computer.

The following common questions and answers may be of help to you. If you still need help or information, fill in the contact form and we will be happy to help you.

1) Trying to make payment, but the credit card isn't accepted?

We here at Shockwave-sound.com don't actually deal with any credit card payments. We offer payment via two different payment processing companies: Paypal and Stripe (or via bank transfer - see below). Paypal or Stripe will charge the customer's credit card on our behalf, and then hand the money to us later. We here at Shockwave-Sound.com never deal with credit cards, we never get to see credit card numbers, and we have no say in which cards are accepted or rejected by Paypal or Stripe.

If neither Paypal nor Stripe will accept your credit card, then you may want to call your bank / credit card issuer and tell them that two different companies are refusing to accept your credit card online. You may have triggered some kind of temporary lockdown on your card. This is usually solved quite easily by calling your bank.

We also accept payment by bank transfer / wire transfer (See below).

2) Can I pay by bank transfer?

Yes, we can take payment by bank transfer in USA, UK and EU, through our Global Payment receiving service at Payoneer.

You'll find our account numbers on this page. When you've put your products in the shopping cart and filled in all the information on the Checkout page, you will have an "unpaid order" in our system. At that point, please contact us by filling in the contact form below and let us know that you're paying through Bank transfer and when to expect your payment. We need to have your money before you get to download your music and license document (Except as agreed specifically with Shockwave-Sound manager).

3) I need an invoice / receipt from an order I placed here

While logged into our site, click My orders in the left menu, and you will find a list of all the orders you've placed with us. From here, click on the order number, and you get taken to the download-page for that order. There you can download the music itself, as well as the license / invoice as a printable PDF document.

The following common questions and answers may be of help to you. If you still need help or information, fill in the contact form and we will be happy to help you.

1) Can I use your music in my YouTube videos?

If you have bought the track from our website, yes. Your purchase with us includes a license to use that music on YouTube.

2) Can I use the music in multiple videos?

Yes, you can use the music in multiple videos.

Under the Standard License Agreement, you may use the music only on one YouTube Channel (though in multiple videos on that channel).

To use the music on multiple YouTube Channels, you would need to buy the music with the Extended License option.

3) Received a 'copyright claim' on your YouTube video?

Copyright claims on YouTube are automated. YouTube automatically recognizes music in videos, by using "audio fingerprint" technology and this is what causes 'copyright claims'.

A 'copyright claim' is not dramatic. It is not the same as a 'copyright strike', which is a more serious issue.

A 'copyright claim' does not cause your video to be blocked, and it does not cause any negative effect on your YouTube account standing. 

We have our music managed at YouTube in a system called Licensease. When you place an order on our website, you can input your YouTube channel link on the checkout page. The music you are buying then goes into Licensease and gets cleared for use on that YouTube channel (from the day that you placed the order with us).

Even if your channel is cleared for using the music, a soft "copyright claim" will happen, and then automatically self-release within minutes or hours. This is just how the system works. The YouTube copyright claim happens immediately when the music is found - and then the Licensesase automatic process will release the claim.

If you got a copyright claim on your video and the claim is still there a few hours later, we'll be happy to help you. Please fill in our contact form and let us know (A) the link/URL to your video, (B) details of your license order, such as order number or customer name so that we may find the order, (C) information from the copyright claim screen on YouTube which displays the track title being found in your video, the artist and the company claiming administration of the track. We will help you to look into the matter, and possibly contact the artist to get them to help as well. If you are a paying customer, we will definitely get the copyright claim removed from your video(s).

4) If I license music for use in a game, can gamers create "Let's Play' videos from the game and post the video on YouTube?

From time to time, our music is playing in a video on YouTube because the video is footage from a game being played, and the music is licensed for the game.

Our position is that we allow it for videos that the license holder endorses. As long as the game creator/publisher has the correct license to use our music in his game, the license holder can contact us about any video that has a copyright claim on it and ask us to release the copyright claim -- and we will release it.

There is no way to "preemptively" pre-clear the use of our music in any and all videos or channels that may, or may not, use our music sometime in the future. We would literally have to allow-list every channel on YouTube and obviously, we can't do that. So the copyright claim needs to happen, we need to be contacted by the license holder and asked to release the claim (include documentation of license), and we will then release it from that video.

5) Can I use your music for FREE in my YouTube video?

We allow completely free use of our music in YouTube videos, so long as we get to keep a soft “copyright claim” on your video.

For more information on this offer and how to get the track from us, please read this blog post

The following common questions and answers may be of help to you. If you still need help or information, fill in the contact form and we will be happy to help you.

1) Can you tell me if I would be allowed to use your music in my project?

We are generous in our licensing terms, and you can use our music for almost any kind of project, but please read our license page before asking about how you can use our music. We have tried to keep the license page as short and to-the-point as possible, and it won't take you more than 5 minutes to read the whole thing.

If you still have a question after reading the license page, we are very happy to help. Fill in the form and submit your question.

2) Am I allowed to use the same track in two different projects, if I've only purchased one music license? Or will I need to have two separate licenses, one for each project, even though it is the same track?

It depends on whether you are producing these projects for your own company, or whether you're producing the projects for different companies. If you buy a license from our website and you use that music within a video that you produce for your client, then you are really holding the license on behalf of your client. That's fine. Your client becomes the end-user of the music. But you can only hold that license on behalf of one of your clients.

Scenario 1:

Today you're making Film nr. 1 for Company A
Next month you're making Film nr. 2 for Company A

One license is enough. Company A is in fact the only company that ended up using the music, and you're holding the license on their behalf. Company A can have this music in an unlimited number of projects, videos, etc.

Scenario 2:

Today you're making Film nr. 1 for Company A
Next month you're producing another film for Company B

In this scenario, you would need to re-purchase a new license, because two different companies ended up using the music.

What if I'm buying a collection with 10 tracks on it? Can I use one track for producing a video for one client, and another track for producing a video for another client?

In terms of the license, when you buy a "ready-made collection" or "CD collection" from us that contains 10 tracks, we consider that the same as if you had bought those 10 tracks individually. So, you may use the first track to produce a film for Company A, and you can use the second track to produce a film for Company B, etc. Just make sure that you don't use the same composition for two different companies.

If you still have a question about this, please contact us and we'll consider your case specifically.

3) If I have bought the Standard Licence for a track, and used the track in a video, can I post the video on both my Youtube and my Facebook account?

Yes, you can.

4) Do you have a Free or Low-Cost option for non-commercial use of your music?

Yes, we do! 

  • Personal, non-distributed, family & friends only projects: $2.95.
  • YouTube video where we get to keep a soft copyright-claim on your video: FREE.
  • Just listening to the music: Free via YouTube, Spotify, Deezer, Soundcloud etc.

For more details on these options and how to get hold of the music files, please read this blog post

 

 

5) I want to add my voice over your music, to use as a Podcast intro. Can I do that?

Yes, you can do that, no problem.

Some people are confused over the part of our License Terms that say:

"2. To not create derivative works of our Tracks: This means that you cannot buy our Tracks, add your own voice, instruments or sounds, and then treat that as your own music. What you are doing then is to create new music that is partially built on our music, i.e. a “derivative work,” and this is not allowed under ANY license type."

What we mean is that you may not make new music based on our music. So if you are a rapper or singer, you can't take our music, sing over our music, and then try to release that music as your song. Or indeed, to play instruments over the top of our music and then treat that as "your music". This is what is called "creating a derivative work", you are making music that's really based on our music, just with your own voice or instruments over the top. And trying to pass that off as "your music".  That's what we don't allow.

Using our music behind their own spoken words in things like Podcasts and instructional videos is fine - we don't have a problem with this at all.

6) If I license music for use in a game, can gamers create "Let's Play' videos from the game and post the video on YouTube?

From time to time, our music is playing in a video on YouTube because the video is footage from a game being played, and the music is licensed for the game.

Our position is that we allow it for videos that the license holder endorses. As long as the game creator/publisher has the correct license to use our music in his game, the license holder can contact us about any video that has a copyright claim on it and ask us to release the copyright claim -- and we will release it.

There is no way to "preemptively" pre-clear the use of our music in any and all videos or channels that may, or may not, use our music sometime in the future. We would literally have to allow-list every channel on YouTube and obviously, we can't do that. So the copyright claim needs to happen, we need to be contacted by the license holder and asked to release the claim (include documentation of license), and we will then release it from that video.

7) What if I have other needs?

We are happy to discuss your needs with you, perhaps you need a custom made solution that works just right for you. Contact us to discuss.

The following common questions and answers may be of help to you. If you still need help or information, fill in the contact form and we will be happy to help you.

1) How do I know whether I need the "Standard License", "Extended License", "Widest License", or "Web Applications License" ?

The Standard License is sufficient for the vast majority of uses and projects. If in doubt, however, please read our license page and if you still have a question about this, fill in the contact form with your question.

2) How much does the Standard License cost and how much does the Extended License cost?

The prices you see listed on this website (for example, $32.95 or $17.95) is the price for that piece of music with the Standard License. For example, for $17.95 you get to download the 30-second MP3 file and you get a Standard License to use that music file in your projects.

The Extended License always costs exactly 2.5 x the price of the Standard License. So if you see a product listed at a price of $17.95, that means the Standard License costs $17.95 and the Extended License costs $17.95 * 2.5 = $44.88. And so on.

The Widest License costs exactly 7 x the price of the Standard License. So if you see a product listed at a price of $17.95, that means the Standard License costs $17.95 and the Widest License costs $17.95 * 7 = $125.65. And so on.

Click the "Add to shopping cart" icon on any product, and you will be presented with a screen that shows all the prices for that product, with the various license options.

3) Can I upgrade my license from Standard to Extended or Widest?

You can buy an "Upgrade" for your previously purchased license, directly from our site.

Just go back to our site, find the product you want to upgrade (the same product you purchased earlier), click the "Add to shopping cart" icon for that product, and on the following license selection screen, scroll down until you see Upgrade options. Here you can buy an upgrade from one license type to another, for a product you purchased previously. You'll pay only the difference in price between the license type you are upgrading from and the type you're upgrading to.

The following common questions and answers may be of help to you. If you still need help or information, fill in the contact form and we will be happy to help you.

1) How do I listen to previews right in my web browser?

Just click on the little Play icon next to any music track / version. The audio will start playing in an audio player displayed at the bottom of the page. You can pause / play, and move back/forward by clicking directly in the visual waveform of the audio.

2) How can I download the preview files / comp files to my computer?

Where you see the little 'download' icon Download-icon-22x22.jpg, right-click (or on a Mac, Ctrl-Click) on it, and a little menu will appear under your mouse pointer. From this menu, select "Save File As..." or "Save Target As.." (wording may vary slightly depending on your web browser). The preview file will be saved to your computer. From there, you can also forward it by email to colleagues etc.

3) Special access to preview files without voiceover watermark

Access to download non-watermarked MP3 preview files may be granted to clients with specific needs to download our music to try it out in their project, without the voiceover watermark, before buying a license.

We keep a pretty strict limit on the type and number of clients who are granted this level of trust. We ask for your understanding that we can only grant this access to:

* High volume customers,
* Large/high profile companies,
* Long standing repeat customers,
* Other companies that we feel it is in our particular interest to show this level of trust.

If you would like to speak with us about getting access to our non-watermarked MP3 preview files, please contact us through the below contact form. Please include your full name, company name, company postal address, company website, telephone number, and a short introduction of your company and how you plan to use our files. Most likely we will give you a phone call to discuss briefly, and then set up your access.

The following common questions and answers may be of help to you. If you still need help or information, fill in the contact form and we will be happy to help you.

1) Can you suggest a track from your catalogue that sounds like...

Unfortunately, we are rarely able to help with requests like this. It's not that we don't want to help, but we have many, many thousands of tracks and there simply isn't anyone here who remembers every track well enough that we can say "Oh yes, that sounds like track number 8651 from our catalogue". Or, "Oh yes, I remember that track number 16610 in our catalogue has a particularly fragile string build-up in the middle section around 2 minutes". We simply have too much music to be able to think of a particular track that would fit your project. We spend a lot of time listening to the music we sell, but even so. Have you tried memorizing twenty thousand instrumental tracks and several new ones every day? :-)

So, for the most part, you need to find the suitable music yourself, by browsing and searching our site for titles, composers, styles and keywords. You can search for things like "aggressive" or "heavenly" and our search engine will produce results for you. Likewise, you can search for composer names, track titles and more. You can also browse our many music genres by clicking on the genres in the menu on the left-hand side of our site. If you find something that's in the right area and you wish to explore that sound further, try the "Find Similar Tracks" function. It will bring up the Advanced Browse page and pre-fill several criteria with information from the track you started from - enabling you to find tracks that have many of the same qualities.

Finding the right music for your project may take some time, but it may also be rewarding and in the end, we feel that only you can choose the right music for your project.

We will of course try our best to help, and if you contact us, we may be able to offer help on what kind of search terms you should be searching for on our site. For example, we may suggest to you that you search for the keyword "minimalist" or "crescendo".

The following common questions and answers may be of help to you. If you still need help or information, fill in the contact form and we will be happy to help you.

1) Please read this before submitting your music to us

  • For instrumental music, we are only interested in taking in exclusive music tracks. No interest in music that is already being published or sold elsewhere. We will publish the music and try our best to get income on the music from many different sources and channels, so we need to have exclusive use of the tracks. 

  • If you have good quality vocal music (with lyrics), we are interested and we don't need the music exclusively. We can sell your music non-exclusively on our site and pay you royalties on sales.

Having read the above, if you would like us to consider your music, please feel free to contact us via the support ticket form and let us know a bit about you. Please include links to listen or download previews/demos of your music. Do not attach any attachment larger than 1 MB, as this support ticket system automatically removes any attachments over that size. Instead, include links to files via WeTransfer, Google Drive, Onedrive, Dropbox, or to a page with an audio player. Thanks!

 

The following common questions and answers may be of help to you. If you still need help or information, fill in the contact form and we will be happy to help you.

1) Can I get a discount when buying music here?

We give discounts to people who buy our ready-made, downloadable CD-collections in bulk.

If you are buying 5, 10, 15 or more ready-made collections of music, you can get them for heavily discounted prices. Our ready-made collections are already significantly discounted in comparison with buying individual tracks. Our individual tracks are generally around $32 for a full-length track, whereas the ready-made collections typically contain 10-12 different tracks, all for $99.95. That's less than $10 per track, but you have to take the whole collection "as it is". And if you buy these ready-made collections in quantities of 5, 10 or more, you can get them even more discounted. See the Bulk Purchases page for more details.

Bulk Purchases cannot be made through the automated online shopping cart. To buy in bulk (5, 10, 15 etc. ready-made collections), please contact us through this contact form with your request, and we will set up this purchase manually. We normally get the download links to you within a couple of hours during office hours, or 12 hours outside office hours.

 

The following common questions and answers may be of help to you. If you still need help or information, fill in the contact form and we will be happy to help you.

1) Do you have an Affiliate program?

Yes, we do. You can earn money by referring customers to us, or get yourself a discount by using your own affiliate link and in effect earning a "cash-back" on your own purchases. If you wish to sign up for our Affiliate Program, please fill in the form on our Affiliate Sign-up page.

The following common questions and answers may be of help to you. If you still need help or information, fill in the contact form and we will be happy to help you.

1) I have another question or comment which is not answered here

We have a Help/FAQ section where we have more answers to other common questions and queries. Please visit it learn more about how things work here.

If you still have a question, or you have a comment / feedback, or want to get in touch with us for any reason, we will be very happy to hear from you. Please fill in this contact form and we will get back to you ASAP. During business hours we are usually able to answer within 4 hours. Outside of business hours we are usually able to answer within about 12 hours. Either way, we will always strive to get back to you as soon as we can.

The following common questions and answers may be of help to you. If you still need help or information, fill in the contact form and we will be happy to help you.

1) Do you offer a Subscription model?

Although we don't have links to buy a Subscription type model on our site, we do have the means to set up this, and we sometimes do this as a custom-made agreement with some customers. This is discussed case-by-case with each customer and we will do our best to find a solution that works for you, and is fair for us and our musicians. Contact us to discuss.

2) I don't know exactly how much music I need for my project - can we just agree on a license fee for my entire project?

Yes, we are happy to work out something like this. You may not know exactly what or how much music you need for your project. In that case, we can discuss a "Blanket license" for your project, where we simply agree on a flat fee, and then we make sure that you get all the music you need for your project. Contact us to discuss.

3) I'd like to get a license for my YouTube channel

Just go ahead and buy a track from our site in the normal way, by adding the track to your shopping cart with the "Standard License" option, and input your YouTube channel link into that field on the checkout page when you place the order. This music track will now be "cleared" for use on your YouTube channel, forever. The clearing process typically takes anywhere from 4 to 24 hours.

You may have other, specific needs. For example, to agree on a monthly fee to license all of the music you need for your YouTube channel. So a flat monthly fee, instead of buying individual tracks. If this is the case, contact us to discuss. We're happy to work something out. 

4) I have other needs that I need to discuss

We are happy to discuss your needs with you, perhaps you need a custom made solution that works just right for you. Contact us to discuss.

The following common questions and answers may be of help to you. If you still need help or information, fill in the contact form and we will be happy to help you.

1) About our free custom music editing service

For our customers here at Shockwave-Sound, we offer a free music editing/customization service. 

For example:

  • Create a longer-playing version of a music track that plays for the length of your video/presentation.
  • Edit out a part/section that you don't like, or doesn't fit your project.
  • Make the track go quieter or louder at certain times to match your project.
  • Remove the intro / build-up, to make the track go straight into the main part.
  • In some cases (where we have the track's stem files) we can change the volumes of different instruments/sounds in the music, or remove certain instruments from the mix.

This type of music editing work is quite easy for us - We have a ton of experience and we use good music editing software and various techniques such as precise cutting, looping, cross-fading, volume equalization, overlaying etc. to create a version matched to your video or other projects.

We only do this for music tracks and sound FX that you have actually licensed from us here at Shockwave-Sound. We do not work for free on any music/sounds that you've obtained from anywhere else -- though, we may do that too, for a service fee.

This offer is with an understanding that we will work for free for you "within reason". We'll spend minutes, maybe an hour or two -- not several hours or days.

Please contact us through the contact form to request help from our free music editing and customization service.