Director: Ryan Camarda
One composer, thousands of songs, millions of videos, and billions of views: Kevin MacLeod is the world's most-heard living composer¡who nobody's heard of. His music reaches more people on a daily basis (measured by unique internet views) than every cable, broadcast, and network in western media combined.
Royalty Free brings to life this remarkable musician, who has released thousands of his songs "royalty free," allowing anyone to use his music for no charge, from the biggest Hollywood studios down to grandmas making cat videos. The film delves into the digital audio revolution, which allows one person with a synthesizer to become an entire orchestra. This 'democratization of music' has enabled great creativity, but at has threatened the livelihood of analog musicians, from recording artists to orchestra members and Broadway musicians.
Ultimately, the film is about the value we place on creative work in our society, and how the evolving landscape of technology influences our consumption, production, and distribution of the work itself.
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