Where to get free music for video editing
If you have ever recorded or edited a video, you understand how important it is to find the right background music. And it’s one thing if you add sound to the video for personal use. But if you plan to upload your video on YouTube or a social media page, finding good free, or royalty-free music is not an easy task – violating copyright can result in a ton of penalties.
Fortunately, there are services and sites that can help you. Take a look at these few:
SoundCloud
If you want an amazing selection of background music, then SoundCloud is one of the best options for you.
Most of the music here is licensed under Creative Commons, which means you can use it as long as you follow specific guidelines (more on copyright below). The resource takes some time to explore, but once you figure it out, you will find a lot of great tracks from authors from all over the world.
The most important thing is to sort tracks properly. Choose what you need – using/modifying the track commercially or just listening to it – and you’re good to go.
Icons8 Fugue
At Icons8 Fugue, the most convenient feature is sorting the audio files according to your needs. You can sort them by general categories (commercial, instrumental, meditation music, etc.) or more specific genres (like 8-bit, ambient, blues).
Even better – you can simply write words for any mood or emotion in the search box and have a list of music tagged with it. Furthermore, you can sort the list by choosing which instruments should be in the track, how fast, and how long it should be.
YouTube Audio Library
It is easily accessed through a Youtube Creator Studio account and provides you with tons of free songs.
You can sort audio clips by genre, instruments used, duration, source, and even mood. But the “popularity” filter is especially interesting – it allows you to quickly see which songs are most downloaded by users.
Incompetech
Similar to the sites listed above, Incompetech allows selecting a type of mood to sort tracks according to what you need specifically.
All tracks here can be used for commercial and non-commercial purposes, provided their authors are credited. If you have any additional questions about using and crediting audio from Incompetech, check their FAQ.
Musopen
Musopen contains classical works that are in the public domain. Here you can download not only audio recordings but also musical scores. The list can be sorted by composers and by performers. If you want to use timeless classics from artists like Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach in your work, Musopen has it all.
FreePD
All tracks on FreePD are free and marked with emoticons to make it easier to sort them by mood. You are not obligated to attribution even when using the tracks for commercial purposes, as stated in their FAQ.
If you already have a track and wonder how to add background music to video, there are plenty of tools for editing. Some online photo and video makers can even go with their own list of free music.
Avoid copyright infringement
Of course, when you post a video on the Internet, you want it to have no copyright issues. Fortunately, most of the music on the sites listed above is published under a Creative Commons license, which means the author allows everyone to use their content under certain conditions.
These conditions are listed in the license name used (like CC-BY, CC-BY-NC, CC-BY-SA, CC-BY-ND, CC-BY-SA, CC-BY-NC-SA). It may seem complex, but everything is clear when you know the meaning of these abbreviations:
Attribution (abbreviated BY) – the authorship must be indicated.
Noncommercial (abbreviated as NC) – using the work for profit is forbidden.
Share-alike (abbreviated SA) – derivative works must be distributed under the same license terms.
No Derivative Works (abbreviated ND) – creating derivative works based on this work is forbidden.
Now that you know that, simply look at the license of the track you want to use and see which one is it.
