Do you need music to use in your videos? You’re about to discover the best resources out there 100% free!
There’s no way to keep an audience watching a video without some background song or jingle in it, right? Well, there are some awesome online places where you can get tons of free music, download it and even cut it if you don’t need the full track.
Let’s see where to get free music for videos.
Just one thing first: you need to understand what’s music licensing to make sure you’re using completely free tracks without breaking any owner rights.
A few words about music licensing
One big issue of getting music for videos is the need to avoid copyright violations. Copyright is intellectual property that exclusively grants the music owner the right to make copies of their creative work, which means you can’t use copyright protected music in your videos without the owner’s contentment.
But you can’t directly ask Ariana Grande or Shawn Mendes for permission to use their latest songs in your videos!
One more issue you can have is music royalties, which are payments that music owners require to allow you to use their music in your videos. Actually, even free music has some sort of royalty, the music owner may receive payments from the company that makes the music free of charges to content creators (you’re the content creator, the person who needs the free music).
Another issue you may have is attribution requirements. Sometimes free music owners require you to mention their name in your videos, which can be fine for some people, but it’s better if you avoid that because it reduces your video’s professionalism.
So, copyright/royalty free music with no attribution requirements is tricky to find.
But don’t worry.
Ahead you will see the best resources for this specific type of music for your videos!
YouTube Audio Library: the best free music resource for YouTube creators
YouTube Audio Library is an awesome channel for free music downloads if you’re uploading your videos to YouTube. If you want to upload your videos to websites that aren’t YouTube, there’s one requirement first to use the music of this channel, as you’ll see ahead.
Well, there’s an attribution requirement in every song both for the artists and the YouTube channel itself, but it’s totally worth it!
Here’s why: you don’t need to put the credits inside your video, you must copy & paste the credits to your video description when you upload it to your YouTube channel. A lot more reasonable, right?
YouTube Audio Library has over 3 million subscribers, over 1300 songs and over 12 music genres, such as Pop, Electronic, Hip Hop, R&B, Rock, Country, Jazz and even Classical!
Another cool thing about YouTube Audio Library is that many of it’s songs actually have vocals (people singing). That’s great because other free music resources mostly offer songs without vocals.
Just remember:
- You must include the full credits in your video description, they’re in each song video description, look for them there.
- You can not remove or add parts from/to the songs credits. You can not use third-party software to download the video/track, always use YouTube Audio Library links (also present in the song video description).
- You can not claim the music as your own.
- You can not sell the music anywhere.
- You can not remix the music without the author’s consent.
- You can not use the music without giving any credits in the video description.
- You must contact the artist if you wish to use the music on any kind of project outside of YouTube.
So, if you’re a YouTube video maker, you know where and how to download free songs!
Let’s see some non-YouTube exclusive resources.
Free music resources that aren’t YouTube exclusive
YouTube Audio Library is a great option if you’re creating videos for YouTube. If that’s not your case, you still can make use of their songs, but you will need to contact the song’s author first. That’s easy to do because YouTube Audio Library offers the artist contact info in every song video description.
But if you don’t want that, there are some great resources with copyright/royalty free music you can count on.
Here’s the list:
Pixabay Music offers thousands of music and audio tracks free for personal and commercial use, all under the Pixabay License. Some tracks actually have vocals, just type “Vocals” on the search bar on the left side the screen inside Pixabay Music and it will filter all songs with people singing. You can also download instrumental songs of music genres such as Indie Pop, Techno, Upbeat and Ambient.
Free PD is a source of free Public Domain music tracks that you can download, they’re free for personal and commercial use with no royalties and no attribution requirements. All music tracks you find on Free PD are under the Creative Commons 0 License, meaning that they are “copyright free” to the extent that the law allows. They also offer premium downloads of MP3 and WAV files for a single purchase of $10 and $25.
Free Music Archive has hundreds of free music tracks you can download under Creative Commons License and other licenses. You can search for a keyword on the search bar of the home page and check the license for each track individually on the download page (when you click on the Download button). You can check the Public Domain Music on Free Music Archive, those are most likely under the Creative Commons 0 License, this license has no attribution requirements and allows free personal/commercial use.
Check the commercial use permissions
If you’re going to monetize your videos (make money off your videos content in any way), you need to take some time to read the commercial use permissions of the free music source you’re using.
That’s important because you need to be 100% sure you’re not breaking any rules. But fear not, all of the websites/YouTube channels explained so far allow commercial use of their free music.
Still, it’s totally worth it to read and understand the free music resources policy, even if it’s just to get more informed.
Those are the specific licenses/terms of use/rules of the free music resources explained here in the post:
- YouTube Audio Library Rules of Use (inside the channel’s About)
- Pixabay License
- Pixabay Terms of Service
- FreePD Legal Information
- Free Music Archive Terms of Use
- Free Music Archive Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Things to consider when using 100% free music
After you’re up to date with your free music resources license/terms/rules, there are a few things to consider when using 100% free music that concern your video content:
- You need to be careful with attribution requirements. Don’t just rush into the first free music resource you find and download whatever you see without checking the terms/license/rules of use first! Some songs do require very specific attribution and you want to be informed about that.
- Many free music tracks have no vocals, if that’s essential for you chances are you’re better fit with content marketplaces that offer thousands of vocal music you can use in your videos.
- If you don’t find a good song immediately, be patient and do some research inside the free music resource. There might be a perfect song for your video hidden there!
- If you want to do your own research for free music resources, always check the license/terms/rules of use of ANY website/channel that claims to be 100% free (it can be either one or the other, not necessarily there will be a licence, terms and rules of use, but if you don’t find any of those, it’s a sign the site isn’t trustable).
- Don’t try to fool YouTube or similar platforms using copyright protected music if you don’t have a license (which paid music services offer). If you do that, you will get strikes or copyright claims and may even get your videos banned!
- Some free songs are YouTube exclusive, you can’t use them in your videos if you upload them outside YouTube. Again, check the license and license/terms/rules of use.
- Other content creators may use the same music as you. Given that those free music resources are public, you might stumble into other videos with the same music as yours!
Conclusion
Great! Now you’re ready to boost your media editing projects with hundreds of free songs! So don’t hesitate to check the platforms listed here in the post and see what you get!
You can also share your thoughts in the comments below!
