5 Best Royalty-Free Music Sites for Content Creators in 2023
Let's face it, finding music for your video, podcast, or ads can be difficult. You don't want to use music that will potentially flag your video and have it taken down or demonetized. And you don't want your video to sound cheap, cheesy, or, worst of all, boring. That’s why we wanted to pull together the 5 best royalty-free music sites for content creators!
Finding great royalty-free music doesn't have to be complicated. So, where can you get reasonably priced, GOOD, royalty-free music? We're glad you asked!
We've compiled a list of the best sites with access to thousands of royalty-free music tracks for your videos. Plus, we have sorted this list by price with options for free background music for your video, podcast, or ads. Check out what we think are the 5 best royalty-free music sites for content creators!
TLDR; Here are our top 5 paid stock music sites we love to get royalty-free music:
Table of Contents Show
What is Royalty-Free Music?
Years ago when I first started making videos I wanted to use the music I heard in my favorite movies. Songs like Gonna Fly Now by Bill Conti (Rocky Theme Song), Eye of the Tiger by Survivor, Hearts on Fire by John Cafferty... I guess I really liked Rocky movies. But when I first tried to put these videos on YouTube they got flagged right away.
"Copyright Claim
Your video is ineligible for monetization due to a copyright claim.
Review details and dispute the claim if you believe this is an error. Revenue is held separately until a dispute is resolved." https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7000961
At the time I wasn't worried about making a living on YouTube, so I didn't think anything of it. But a few years later I took a college course on basic journalism law, where we covered copyright, and I learned a lot about how to avoid these claims. Now, this article isn't going to do a deep dive on copyright law, but I did want to provide some context for why royalty-free music is important. First, what is copyright?
"Copyright is a type of intellectual property that protects original works of authorship as soon as an author fixes the work in a tangible form of expression. In copyright law, there are a lot of different types of works, including paintings, photographs, illustrations, musical compositions, sound recordings, computer programs, books, poems, blog posts, movies, architectural works, plays, and so much more!" - https://www.copyright.gov/what-is-copyright/
When you're creating content that is going to help promote your business the last thing you want is for that content to have a limited reach. When you don't abide by copyright laws platforms like YouTube can limit the reach of your content by showing it to fewer people, or just taking it off of their platform altogether.
You may be able to get away with using copyrighted music on your podcast for a while, but inevitably someone will hear the music (most likely a bot) and report the episode. This could lead to the episode being removed and or a fine.
So does that mean that you want copyright-free music? Not necessarily. Usually, copyright-free music tends to be of lower quality. That's because there isn't a great way to make money off of copyright-free music, so the musicians who are talented are getting paid for their work and therefore have copyrighted their music to protect their work. But if you can't use copyrighted music, why do I keep hearing it everywhere? Royalty-free music was created to solve this problem.
"Royalty-free does not mean non-copyright, and it is not free. Royalty-free music is a type of licensing in which a piece of music is bought only once and used for as long as one wishes. That is to say, the user doesn’t have to pay a royalty (a fee) every time they use the song." - Learn More
There are other ways to license music, but for the purpose of this article, we are going to focus on the places where you can get royalty-free music.
5 Questions Content Creators Should Ask Before Picking A Stock Music Site
When trying to pick the best stock music website option for you as a content creator, there is a lot to think about. But we've pulled together a quick and easy list to choose the best personal subscription plan for you.
What Is The Cost?
Think about your budget before starting your research. This will help you to weed out some sites right away. Most stock music subscription models have multiple tiers with different pricing, as well as different pricing for monthly and annual subscriptions. If you're working as part of a team, this can also affect the price. Some sites require one license per user, while others have team plans available.
Where Are You Using The Music?
Are you planning to use the music for YouTube, social media, non-commercial projects, paid ads, indie films, or somewhere else? Depending on where you are going to use the audio and where it will be viewed/listened to will help you determine which site and licensing option are going to be best for you.
How Long Do You Plan To Use The Music?
Some subscription options have limitations on how long a track can be used. Some sites provide an unlimited license where once you download the track it is yours to use for any project forever. While other sites have limitations on using music after you have canceled your subscription.
Will You Make Money?
Different sites have more restrictions on monetized content (i.e. a monetized YouTube channel, paid promotions, or paid ads for Google Ads or Facebook Ads). If you plan to monetize your content it is important to understand the rules of the platform you're downloading audio tracks from so you don't run into legal issues in the future.
Do You Need More Than Music?
Some sites only offer music while others offer sound effects, video, photos, templates, and more! Thinking about your needs in advance can help you decide which platform/s will be best for you.
Artlist.io
Artlist.io is our top choice on the internet for finding the perfect track to use for videos, podcasts, and ads. It provides royalty-free tracks for a subscription of $119.88 or $199 billed annually. Additionally, there is an option to include sound effects for $299 billed annually.
Their standard licenses cover personal projects, and their unlimited license covers commercial projects without limitations. Artlist.io offers access to unlimited downloads of over 22K quality songs and 27K sound effects that are updated daily. Songs are categorized and curated by modes, genres, video themes, and instrumentals.
Plus, they offer lifetime use of any song you download for any projects you want on the unlimited plan. The exception to this is that under the personal plan, you can download and use songs and sound effects only for your Personal Social account ( Youtube, IG, etc.), and you can't use the sounds on client projects. They also provide copyright support, so your videos won't be flagged on YouTube.
The annual subscription includes downloads of as many songs as you want. With Artlist, you can pay for monthly or annual subscriptions at two different tiers.
Artlist.io Pricing
You can choose a subscription tier that fits your creative needs.
Social Creator - Perfect for any type of social media content creator.
Covers all your own social channels
Yearly: $9.99 per month ($119.88 billed annually)
Monthly: $14.99 per month
Creator Pro - covers everything from personal to commercial projects
Yearly: $16.60 per month ($199 billed annually)
Yearly: (Music & SFX): $25 per month ($299 billed annually)
Teams: Build your creative vision, together
Yearly starting at $28.20/month billed annually.
Admin tools, easy management. Unlimited creative assets, unlimited
downloadsLicense covers up to 7 team members
15% discount per user
Artlist.io Number of Tracks
Over 22,000 quality songs
27,000+ sound effects
Artlist.io Pros
Simple License
Affordable
Great selection of music
Easy to find songs
Sound effects included in this plan
Unlimited downloads
Artlist.io Cons
Not free
Discount Link - 2 extra free months for Social Creator and Creator Pro plans.
Epidemic Sound
Epidemic Sound is the most similar to Artlist of all the sites we review in this article. The main difference we can see (aside from the actual music selection) is the license. There are a few more restrictions if you are trying to use epidemic sound to create content for clients.
But if you want a wide range of music for your personal or company's video project, you will be set with Epidemic Sound. With Epidemic Sound you can pay for a monthly subscription or an annual subscription at two different tiers.
Epidemic Sound Pricing
Personal Plan: $9 billed monthly OR $108 billed yearly
Commercial Plan: $19 billed monthly OR $228 billed annually
Epidemic Sound Number of Tracks
35,000 audio tracks
90,000 sound effects
Epidemic Sound Pros
Simple License
Connects directly to your social platforms to help mitigate copyright claims
Affordable
Great selection of music
Easy to find songs
Sound effects included in this plan
Unlimited downloads
Epidemic Sound Cons
More restrictions when creating content for clients' commercial projects
Not free
Discount Link - 10% Off when you sign up for a membership
Lickd
Lickd is a very interesting option for finding high-quality music for your next video project. This platform not only has a royalty-free music library but also gives you access to music licenses for popular songs from big-name artists. What big-name artists do you ask?
Names like Imagine Dragons, Sia, Sean Paul, Charlie Puth, Panic! At The Disco, and more. If you're a content creator looking to include a song you've listened to on Spotify recently, this might be the easiest way to include it in your next video project. Lickd has two patent options, one is a monthly subscription, and the other is a pay-as-you-go plan.
Lickd Pricing
Chart: Starting at $8 per track with unlimited use for a single video
Essentials: $15 per month + cost of each "Chart" track you purchase
Lickd Number of Tracks
100,000 audio tracks
0 sound effects
Lickd Pros
Simple License
Connects directly to your social platforms to help mitigate copyright claims
Affordable
Great selection of music
Access to license popular music
Easy to find songs
Sound effects included in this plan
Unlimited downloads
Lickd Cons
Not free
No sound effects
A limited selection of popular tracks
Discount Link - 25% Off Your First Track when you sign up for an annual membership
Musicbed
Musicbed is one of the more expensive stock music sites but has a solid selection of music. They have more affordable plans for smaller individual creators with YouTube channels, but if you're looking to create ads with their music, the price increases pretty quickly.
They base their pricing for YouTube creators on the number of subscribers they have. They have Business Plans (for production companies, agencies, brands, and non-profits) and Individual Plans (for YouTube creators, freelancers, and wedding videographers).
Musicbed Pricing
Individual: Starting at $25 per month for their subscription service or $59 for an individual track
Business: $70 per month or $280 per track for non-profits or $100 per month or $350 per track for all other businesses
These prices are just if you want to use the tracks for web/social. It does not include podcasts, broadcasts, film festivals, or any of the other use cases they have listed.
Musicbed Number of Tracks
10,000+ audio tracks? (we didn't find any official numbers listed)
0 sound effects
Musicbed Pros
Simple License for YouTube and social media content creators
Connects directly to your social platforms to help mitigate copyright claims
Great selection of music
Access to license popular music
Easy to find songs
Options for unlimited music downloads
Musicbed Cons
Not free
No sound effects
Expensive
No Sound Effects
Distribution Options
Individual Web/Social Account with fewer than 250,000 subscribers
Small (1-50 employees) Agency Pricing
Soundstripe
Soundstripe has a lot of great features for solo creators and teams at affordable prices. They have three tiers plus Enterprise pricing, and every tier allows the songs to be used on social media platforms, YouTube, and podcasts. If you're looking for commercial use, you'll need to bump up from the Creator tier to the Pro tier, and if you're working with a team of up to 5 people, you would want to bump up to the Pro Plus tier.
The amazing thing about Sound Stripe is that it includes access to sound effects and stock footage! If you are looking to access stock footage with Artlist, you need to pay for their partner service Artgrid.io. This is not the only platform to offer video downloads as well as music for video, but it is a really nice feature.
For us, the stand-out thing about Soundstripe is the ability to add team members to the plan and work collaboratively.
Soundstipe Pricing
Creator Plan: $15 billed monthly for $120 billed annually
Pro Plan: $30 billed monthly or $239 billed annually
Pro Plus Plan: $55 billed monthly or $400 billed annually
Soundstipe Number of Tracks
7,500+ audio tracks
65,000+ sound effects
100,000+ Videos from HD to 8K
Soundstipe Pros
Simple License
Affordable
Great selection of music
Easy to find songs
Video Files
Twitch extension for video game streaming
Team collaboration tools
Sound effects included in this plan
Unlimited downloads
Soundstipe Cons
Not free
More expensive than other options
Conclusion
In conclusion, finding great royalty-free music for your content doesn't have to be difficult with the numerous options available online. However, it is important to consider factors such as pricing, licensing, and the scope of the music library before choosing a stock music site.
Artlist.io, Epidemic Sound, Lickd, Musicbed, and Soundstripe are among the top choices for content creators. Each site offers its own unique features and benefits, such as unlimited downloads, sound effects, and options to license popular music tracks. With these options available, content creators can easily elevate their videos, podcasts, and ads with high-quality, copyright-safe music.
