Quick question, how many watermarks should you place on very short pieces of music?

I have just put together a very short piece of music, and am wondering how many watermarks I should apply?

The music track is about 8 seconds long, so should I just stick with one someone in the middle, or put one at the end and just before the finish?

Many thanks

You should use the watermark once and as long as it’s used somewhere in your audio that prevents someone from stealing/using it without purchasing it, it doesn’t matter where you put it.

Thanks Scott, that’s great.

Yeah, it can be tricky choosing where to put them, especially on shorter pieces. As Scott said, on an 8 second piece you’ll only really need to have it once, but often it’s worth just playing it by ear, so to speak.

You’ll want to have it appearing often enough that your music can’t easily be recorded and stolen, but not so often that it gets annoying or obscures your work.

One technique I’ve used on some of my files is to apply some reverb or even a subtle delay on the watermark, so that it lasts a bit longer and spills over the beginnings/ends of bars, making it harder to record, but also a bit less repetitive.

(Note – I don’t know how this is viewed by staff, by the way, they might want to confirm how they feel about it before you can take my word on this)

One technique I’ve used on some of my files is to apply some reverb or even a subtle delay on the watermark, so that it lasts a bit longer and spills over the beginnings/ends of bars, making it harder to record, but also a bit less repetitive.

Good question!

Generally speaking, particularly for music, authors should not add excessive effects to the watermark. Pitch-bending is definitely a no-no. Your file may get rejected if the effects applied to the watermark are too excessive. Not only does the watermark serve as a security measure to prevent theft, it is also an important part of our branding, so it’s important our watermark is used consistently and correctly.

HOWEVER , there may be some rare occasions that some echo applied to the watermark may be warranted. A pack of short sound effects for example may benefit from a watermark with echo applied so that the watermark is present, but not too distracting and obtrusive to the main sounds.

HOWEVER , there may be some rare occasions that some echo applied to the watermark may be warranted. A pack of short sound effects for example may benefit from a watermark with echo applied so that the watermark is present, but not too distracting and obtrusive to the main sounds.

Perfectly explained ! Just not sure if every reviewer is aware of that