Believe it or not there’s a huge difference between free music and royalty free music. Free music is just free to download and listen to but it’s not necessarily free to use as your own. Plenty of Youtube creators have gotten themselves into some pretty hot water thanks to copyright laws.
In the case of royalty free music it means that the audio is free of any copyright costs. Thus you can download or buy it once then you can use it in videos of for your own music without being charged. This is often how up and coming rappers make early mixtapes, by recording their bars over other royaltyfree backing beats. However, the most popular use is undoubtedly content creation.
So what makes a copyright free music site?
Firstly, music that is completely free to download and use – preferably a searchable database with access to multiple genres and moods. Secondly no licenses to purchase it. And finally, it can be used for commercial use.
To help you on your way we have compiled a list of the 5 best sites for downloading royalty free music.
Here is a list of the 5 best royalty free music sites on the web to help you on your way to becoming the most incredible content creator ever.
But first! A brief history on copyright laws. In 1575 Queen Elizabeth first doled out a patent on music printing to a composer who wrote mostly for the church, Thomas Tallis.
Though copyright has existed in other countries for some time and was introduced in the US in 1790 for things like maps and books, however the United States did not include musical works in it’s federal law until 1831 during a revision of the original copyright act. It wasn’t until 1893 when the song After The Ball sold one million copies of sheet music that the profound impact copyright had on the value of music publishing was noticed. After The Ball went on to sell over 10 million copies did the most adventurous business people sense to take closer notice of music ownership as a revenue stream.
This lead to a boom of music publishers in New York City in the early 1900s in an area now known as Tin Pan Alley. Song plugging was also born – the new business model in which a piano player was employed in music stores to help promote music sales. Tin Pan Alley created music to the tune of 25,000 songs per year. Thus the music industry was born and musical entrepreneurs everywhere flocked to America.
1. Youtube Audio Library
Youtube Audio Library is part of the Youtube creator studio and honestly has you covered on almost every front. With a huge library of tracks to choose from the production is solid and the musicreally set a mood. It’s probably the most popular royalty free music source on the web and it’s extremely seamless if you’re already creating Youtube content.
They even have a sound effects library if you feel like adding a little extra flair. It’s searchable and can be filtered by genre, instrument, mood, duration, and attribution. Now we’re talking!
Side-note: always check if attribution is required. If so you have to credit the artist in your video description.
Check out the website here.
2. HookSounds
HookSounds has some seriously tasty jams to work with, and I don’t just mean musical. It is a 100% exclusive site. However, there’s a galaxy of sounds to explore if you’re willing to fork out a bit of cash. Plus if you’re creating high quality content it makes sense to have high quality sounds that not everyone is using.
HookSounds have carefully selected artists from all over the world to compile a collection of modern, trendy music and that’s exactly what most content creators are looking for.One of HookSounds’ main objectives is to create non-generic music that you can’t find anywhere else and thus samples from HookSounds have their own distinct aesthetic.
Check out the website here.
3. Enovo Music
Enovo Music is a super sleek website chockas full of music for commercial use. With everything from future bass to uplifting cinematic to French disco.
Their packages are extremely affordable and considering the depth of their database, Enovo is definitely a site to go with. Whether you’re a Youtube creator, small business owner or large corporate conglomerate, this flashy website and wealth of royalty free music is the perfect choice for you.
Check out the website here.
4. Epidemic Sound
Music for content creation. It’s all there in the motto. Plus they have a 30 day free trial with 30,000 tracks and 60,000 sound effect this is perfect site to dip your toes in before diving headlong into the royalty free goodness.
Designed for individual creators on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Podcasts and Twitch, all sounds are completely copyright and royalty free. Furthermore you can download each track is stems allowing you to take out a keyboard you don’t like or simple strip it back to the bass!
Check out the website here.
5. Free To Use Sounds
While there are already so many good options above we decided to through in a curve ball for the last one. These aren’t your typical music samples. They are all recorded by audiophile extraordinaire Marcel Gnauk who has travelled around the globe capturing the most ambient, and unique sounds of nature.
Many Frogs & Insects On Pond in the middle of the Thai Jungle to the waves of Costa Rica, Free To Use Sounds has a literal lexicon of sound effects and they are all 100% free to use.
They can by used by anyone from novice sound artists to professional sound designers working in the film, music, and video game industry. It’s a sound nerds Disneyland and we highly recommend you check it out here.
