We’ve already shared some tips on sound design and software. But what if you need some music for your project? Free music means you can download a song without paying for it, but it doesn’t mean you can use it freely in your projects as well.

Is Royalty-Free music actually free?

‘Royalty-free’ means that the track (or video footage) is free from other fees by the composer or the seller side. Sometimes these files are distributed for free, but for commercial use, you will need to pay a small donation.

Why do I need it?

You need it because you’re going to save a lot of money paying for the track only once, and that won’t lead to a scandal or a lawsuit later. You will be able to use a royalty-free track loosely and not be scared of anything, whether your video has twenty or twenty thousand likes.

Where can I get it?

PremiumBeat

A subsidiary of Shutterstock image library offers an excellent collection of music. The site is simple to navigate, so you can quickly find what you are looking for. You can use filtering by bpm, instruments, and track duration. All tracks are copyrighted. The price for a single composition is $49 for a standard non-commercial license or $199 for a premium license that covers the use of music in monetized content. By the way, you can also find a blog with interesting articles on the website.

Artlist

The company has been working with National Geographic, Microsoft, and Toyota. A vast library of music can be easily filtered by mood, topic, genre, instrument, tempo or duration. You can try Artlist free of charge, but you will have to subscribe for full functionality, which is $16.60 a month. But don’t get upset! At such price, you will get unlimited access to music with a subscription, that will allow you to use the tracks in any projects, including commercial ones.

Envato Elements

Envato Elements is a service that provides unlimited downloads of hundreds of thousands of digital assets. Here you can find graphic templates, videos, and music. By paying $16.50, you will receive a monthly subscription that will allow you to download any music and sound effects from the site.

“After your subscription has lapsed you will only be able to use items which have been licensed for Project Use, for the project specified when it was licensed.”

Soundstripe

Beautiful UI and simple navigation make it very easy to find the right track. The library is being regularly updated, so don’t be afraid to stumble on the same songs that don’t suit your project. Well-known businesses like Amazon, Microsoft, and Tesla trust the service. It will cost you $21 monthly for premium subscription, and $11.25 for the standard one (without access to some content).

Epidemic Sound

You simply can not ignore the platform with a collection of more than 30,000. At Epidemic Sound you can download stems of tracks, as well as get free trial access for 30 days to test the service. A subscription for “creators” costs $15 a month, while a business subscription costs $149. A subscription for “creators” is perfect for video bloggers and other content creators for platforms like Youtube or Facebook.

AudioBlocks

You can discover sound effects and music on this website, which is a subsidiary of the famous stock service VideoBlocks. For several years, the service has been around and has an outstanding reputation. You can browse their entire library before registering, but AudioBlocks no longer offers a 7-day free trial. Instead, they now offer a basic plan to download 3 loops, sound effects, or music files for $8.25 per month.

ccMixter

This service is known for creating the platform’s most creative techniques to produce original tracks. The musicians upload their instrumental recordings and singers upload their voice recordings. After that, the beatmakers or DJs create tracks based on the recordings sent. ccMixter provides you access to thousands of hours of free music with many instrumental tracks for commercial projects. All you need is to mention the musicians who have been involved in creating the songs.

You’ll definitely need music if you want to make a film, vlog, or just edit a small video from a trip. You will have different copyright limitations depending on your project, but if the project is large and commercial, you should not risk using the track illegally. That can save you a lot of bucks later on.

Cover image: Shutterstock.com

Pavel Novikov