25 Best Royalty Free Music Sites for Stunning YouTube Videos

Do you want to improve your videos by adding some royalty free music and sound effects? Here are the best places to find it.

Adding royalty free music and sound effects to your YouTube videos is brilliant.

Music in YouTube videos has various benefits:

  • music strengthens the feeling you want to transmit in your videos and induces certain emotions even without using words
  • it helps with branding your YouTube channel
  • videos with music are more engaging and have an increased chance of being watched until the end

But where to get royalty free music for YouTube videos that's safe against Content ID claims?

Not all the free music for YouTube videos is free to use under any circumstance. There are cases when copyright issues may arise through the Content ID.

Content ID is a system designed by YouTube where copyright owners can add the content they own. From there, they can search the YouTube database to see if any video uses their content without their consent. Furthermore, they can choose to:

  • monetize the video themselves by running ads against it
  • block the whole video

This is why it's extremely important you read the terms on each website you consider downloading music from. Each of them has its own licensing requirements even though they are under “royalty free music”. Some may be ok with you using the tracks in your videos and allow you to monetize it, as long as you specify the source in the video description. Others don't approve using free music for videos that make money (commercial use) and ask you to buy a license.

Also, look over the information about how they proceed if you should receive a Content ID claim. They must state you are able to fight the claim with the license they provide you.

Read the guidelines carefully before proceeding to download royalty free music online for videos.

Now let's see where to download royalty free music for commercial use from. In this list, you'll find free music websites along with some cheap and high-quality options. I also highlighted the licensing terms so it's easier to get an idea of what to expect from each website.

Free Soundtrack Music

This is a community of composers and producers who make music available for video creators. You can find a mix of free songs to use for YouTube videos, along with songs you have to spend 1 credit for. You can search the library based on genres, emotions, lead instrument, producer, or usage.

  • Music genres: A variety of genres including Alternative, Ambient, Dreamy, Dancefloor, Funky, Jazz, Metal, Lounge, Orchestral, Smooth.
  • Licensing: If you use the website as a guest (you don't create an account and buy credits), you are able to download free music you can use for YouTube videos along with crediting the author. When you become a member and purchase credit packages, you get more advantages. One of them is not being required to credit the author.
  • Account: You don't need an account to download the free songs, but you need one if you want 1-credit tracks.
  • Pricing: Free tracks / More packages for 1-credit tracks starting at $3.50 for one 1-credit songs.

Partners in Rhyme

One of the best royalty free music sites for YouTube videos comes with a blend of free and paid tracks you can choose from. You can find royalty free music, sound effects, background music, loops and more. If you're looking for free sound effects to use in your videos, here you have a huge library to search through.

  • Music genres: A variety of genres from Rock, Pop, Dance, Romantic to Corporate and Ambient Chill music.
  • Licensing: You can download free royalty free music for your YouTube videos without worrying about copyright notices.
  • Account: You don't need an account. To download free music you just have to right-click on the track. You can also purchase packs without an account.
  • Pricing: Free / Ranging from $70 to $200 for a pack.

ccMixter

This site is a community of musicians uploading music licensed under Creative Commons where you can find thousands of tracks. Here you can find mostly remixes and samples which you can search by genre, instrumental or bpm. There's a mix of paid and free royalty free music. To search only the free to use music, select “free commercial use” in the top right corner.

  • Music genres: There are over 50 categories, with Hip-Hop, Trip-Hop, Electro, House, Rock, and Jazz having the most number of tracks.
  • Licensing: You can find both tracks allowed to be used for commercial purposes and royalty free music under a non-commercial license. Each song has its license requirements stated on the listing. The free ones require to credit the author in your YouTube video description.
  • Account: You don't need an account.
  • Pricing: Some tracks are free to use for commercial use, while some require a TuneTrack license that grants additional privileges, starting at $22.

PacDV

Here you can find a library of royalty free tracks you can freely use in your YouTube videos. It's not a huge library to chose from. Although there are only around 30 music tracks and more sound effects, it's an easy platform to refer to when you're in need of some sounds in your videos. They also have a pack of 237 tracks you can download for $100.

  • Music genres: They are not labeled by genres but by moods. You can find uplifting, energetic, romantic, emotional, and more.
  • Licensing: You are free to use them as long as you credit the site in your video description.
  • Account: You don't need an account.
  • Pricing: Free to download or $100 for a 237 pack.

Free Stock Music

Here you have one of the top free royalty free music sites. All the music on this website is free to download and use in your YouTube videos, and the library is updated constantly. It's one of the best royalty free music places you can start looking.

  • Music genres: Cinematic, Classical, Corporate, Country, Easy listening, Electronic, Hip-hop, International, Pop, Rock n' Roll.
  • Licensing: You're free to use the music for commercial purposes without being obligated to give credit.
  • Account: You need to register for an account in order to download free music.
  • Pricing: Free.

Machinima Sound

A small library of high-quality tracks. They made the tracks released before 2015 free to download and use for YouTube videos. Besides those, you can buy licensed songs for $8 a piece, which is a small fee to pay for tracks.

  • Music genres: Ambient, Glitch, Trance, Symphonic, Horror, Cinematic, Comedy, Jazz, Electronica, and more.
  • **Licensing: **In the “Legacy Tracks” section you can find tracks that are licensed under Creative Commons and you can use them in monetized YouTube videos without buying a license.
  • Account: An account will be created once you finish a purchase.
  • Pricing: Free (Legacy Tracks) / $8 per track

Free Music Archive

If you want free music to use on YouTube, here's one of the best choices. This is a community of artists where new music is uploaded on a regular basis. There are over 100,000 tracks. So it's impossible not to find something perfect for your YouTube videos even if you're vlogging or promoting a business.

  • Music genres: Blues, Electronic, Jazz, Pop, Classical, Instrumental, and Historic are some of the categories.
  • Licensing: There are 6 kinds of Common Creative licenses. Some do not allow the songs to be used for commercial purposes. You can search the library only for the tracks that approve commercial use with just crediting the creator.
  • Account: You don't need an account.
  • Pricing: Free

Sound Crate

This is a great source of royalty free music with a mix of free and exclusive content. They offer both royalty free music and sound effects. With the free account, you are allowed to download a maximum of 5 files per day.

  • Music genres: Action, Ambiental, Playful, Commercial, Dance, Electronic, Hip-Hop, and more.
  • Licensing: You can use the music for commercial purposes without being obligated to credit the creator.
  • Account: You need to register for a free or pro account.
  • Pricing: Free / $49 per year to get access to pro music and sound effects.

Looperman

Looperman is a community of over 2 million artists who regularly upload loops, samples, and tracks that are free of use. It's one of the best places online with copyright free music for YouTube videos.

  • Music genres: There are 60 genres including Electronic, Hip-Hop, Trap, Blues, House, RnB, Acoustic, and Rock.
  • Licensing: The loops and music are royalty-free to use for commercial purposes.
  • Account: You need to register for a free account.
  • Pricing: Free.

Music Revolution

Another great source for royalty free music for videos where you can search through thousands of songs. Although most of the tracks must be purchased, you can also find free music to use for YouTube videos that are in the public domain.

  • Music genres: From Classical, Folk, and Blues to Hip-Hop, RnB, and Sports.
  • Licensing: For the free music, you must give credit to the creator in the video description.
  • Account: You don't need an account to download the free tracks.
  • Pricing: Free / $10-$90 per track or an annual subscription of $400 which lets you download 50 tracks.

Bensound

The music you find on this site is produced by the composer Benjamin Tissot. All of his music is licensed under Creative Commons License and it's royalty free to use in your YouTube videos. You can search through around 80 tracks.

  • Music genres: Acoustic / Folk, Cinematic, Corporate / Pop, Electronica, Funky / Groove, Jazz, Rock.
  • Licensing: You can use the music in monetized videos if you credit the creator in the video description.
  • Account: You don't need an account.
  • Pricing: Free / More categories for subscriptions if you don't want to credit the author or want high-quality tracks.

Josh Woodward

Josh has a library of over 200 free songs to use for YouTube videos. You can search them by genre, moods, and themes. If his style is fitted for your YouTube channel, you might find a valuable resource for music here. And you might want to purchase the Epic Bundle to get all of his tracks at once.

  • Music genres: Acoustic, Americana, Dark Acoustic, Experimental, Folk Rock, Hard Rock, Pop, Pop Rock, Rock.
  • Licensing: You can safely use the music in YouTube videos without worrying about Content ID claims if you give credits to the author in the description box.
  • Account: You don't need an account.
  • Pricing: Free / $40 to download the Epic Bundle containing 200+ songs.

Incompetech

Incompetech is one of the most popular free royalty free music websites out there. The music is produced by Kevin MacLeod. You can find hundreds of songs and filter your searches based on genre, tempo, length, or you can even search in regards to which instrument you want to hear in the music.

  • Music genres: There are 25 music genres you can choose from. Classical, Contemporary, Electronica Jazz, Rock, and Soundtrack are the richest ones.
  • Licensing: You can use the music for free in your YouTube videos, on your store, in live productions, and more. You only have to credit the author in your YouTube video description. And yes, you can monetize the videos.
  • Account: You don't need an account.
  • Pricing: You can download individual songs for free. If you want to download all the music on the site at once, you can do it for a $38 fee.

TeknoAxe

This site is owned by the artist TeknoAXE and the music is produced by himself. All the music on this site is licensed under the Creative Commons License and it's royalty free music. There are over 1000 tracks and he keeps adding new music. Also, you can check his YouTube channel where he uploads new music, also royalty free.

  • Music genres: Electronic Dance music, Rock, and Metal, Orchestra and Soundtrack, Miscellaneous (each is divided into subcategories).
  • Licensing: You can use the tracks in monetized YouTube videos with crediting the producer.
  • Account: You don't need an account.
  • Pricing: Free.

Audionautix

All the royalty free music on this website is produced by Jason Shaw. There are more than 200 pieces you can choose from and all kinds of genres. You can search for music based on genre, mood, or tempo.

  • Music genres: You can find a variety of genres from Acoustic and Ballads to Hip-Hop, Reggae, and Rock.
  • Licensing: You are free to download the music and use it in your YouTube videos without worrying YouTube will remove your video. Just give credits to the author in the description.
  • Account: You don't need an account.
  • Pricing: The music is free to download, but you can make a donation if you appreciate the work.

DanoSongs

The music is produced by Dan-O. There's a library of around 100 songs you'll see when you enter the site. They are all listed on the main page and you don't get a feature to search based on different queries.

  • Music genres: Acoustic Rock, Pop, Jazz, and Piano are the most common genres.
  • Licensing: You can download the music for free to use in your demo video. But, once you want to publish the YouTube video online, you first have to pay a $10 fee for royalty free rights. You are not obligated to credit the author in the description.
  • Account: You don't need an account.
  • Pricing: $10 for a song.

Beatpick

This is a huge library of royalty free songs you can license for videos, radio, games, or films. Artists are constantly submitting new music on the site. The downside is that you aren't able to download the music for free, you have to license it. Yet, it's an amazing place to find good music for your videos when you are ready to invest.

  • Music genres: All the genres you can think of, including genres like 1950s Italian Opera to Americana Country Rock.
  • Licensing: You have the possibility of licensing the songs for your exact needs.
  • Account: You don't need an account.
  • Pricing: It ranges based on your scope. You can select “license” for the track you want, answer some questions, and get an instant quote on the pricing.

Audio Jungle

One of the best royalty free music websites with a library of over two hundred thousands tracks you can choose from. There are no free to download tracks, but their prices for music are low.

  • Music genres: You have 22 categories to choose from with most tracks found in Corporate, Cinematic, Ambient, Rock, Electronica, and Rock.
  • Licensing: After licensing tracks from Audio Jungle you don't have to worry about Content ID claims on your YouTube videos.
  • Account: You don't need an account.
  • Pricing: $6-$39 / track.

AudioBlocks

This is a subscription-based website for royalty free music. You pay a one time fee and you're able to download an unlimited number of tracks from their over 100,000 music tracks, loops, and sound effects. Hence, if you're going to need a lot of music for your YouTube videos and you find tracks here to fit your channel, it might be worth the investment.

  • Music genres: Ambient, Classical, Corporate, Country, Electronic, Hip-hop, Guitar, are some of the categories you'll find.
  • Licensing: You get royalty free license for all the tracks you download.
  • Account: You don't need an account.
  • Pricing: $149/ one-year membership.

TuneGorilla

This is an amazing library for royalty free music, although the tracks are not free to use. You have to purchase the license prior to using them in your videos. But the prices are pretty low, and the quality of the music is high.

  • Music genres: Over 50 genres including Children, Christmas, Cinematic, Film-TV, Funk, Indie, New Age, Theatrical, and Urban.
  • Licensing: Once you purchase the track, you can use it freely in your YouTube video.
  • Account: You don't need an account.
  • Pricing: Starting at $19.95.

Lickd

This a source of royalty free music designed especially for YouTubers. The fee you have to pay for a song is calculated based on how big your channel is at the moment of the purchase. The website is enjoying to use and you can search the library based on genres, themes, or tempos.

  • Music genres: Indie, DnB, Dubstep, Folk, House, Electronic, Pop, Hip-Hop, Remixes, Rock.
  • Licensing: You don't have to worry about copyright claims.
  • Account: You need to register for an account with your YouTube channel.
  • Pricing: Starting at $8 per song.

Free Music Public Domain

If you want to use the songs from this website on your YouTube videos, you can do it through the Common Creative License with no fee. However, you can't monetize those videos. So to be able to make money from the videos, you have to purchase a license.

  • Music genres: There are over 20 categories containing Classical, Comedy, Blues, Ballads, Country, Dance, Jazz, New Age, Orchestral.
  • Licensing: You can freely use the music in your YouTube videos by crediting the source if you're not monetizing the videos. For monetization, you need to purchase a license.
  • Account: You don't need an account.
  • Pricing: Free / $25 licensing fee per one song if you make money with your YouTube videos.

Synkio

This is one of the best sites for royalty free music. However, you can't download the music for free, you have to pay for it. But this site makes it easy to find the perfect music for the perfect video. You set up a project based on your needs, and the community will suggest the right tracks for your videos. From there, you can listen, ask for edits, and chose what you like most.

  • Music genres: There are all the genres you can think of, divided into over 100 categories.
  • Licensing: Once you purchase the track, you can use it in your YouTube video freely.
  • Account: You need to register for a free account.
  • Pricing: Depends on your projects. You can fill in your requirements and get suggestions that fit your budget. For YouTube videos, prices are usually around $100 per piece.
  • Bonus: There's also an app for Android and iPhone so you can do everything on your smartphone or tablet.

Free Sound Effects

This is a site that specializes only in sound effects. But effects are also important to consider in your YouTube videos. And this is one of the best places to find royalty free sound effects as it has a huge library and a variety of categories to help you find what you need. Here you can find both free royalty free sound effects which you're allowed to use in your videos, and effects you have to pay for.

  • Licensing: You're free to use the sounds in your videos.
  • Account: Not needed. But if you buy more sound effects, you can register for a VIP account to get discounts which is $99.95 for 100 sounds or $199.95 for 250.
  • Pricing: Free / Starting at $2.95 per sound effect.

Sound Gator

A great site for royalty free sound effects you can freely use in YouTube videos, films, game, or other projects. It comes with hundreds of sound effects you can search through. You can find a variety of effects like human sounds, bells, drinks, glasses, fire, metal sounds, and much more.

  • Licensing: You are free to use the sound effects in your projects.
  • Account: You need to register for a free account.
  • Pricing: Free

CONCLUSION

I believe now you have some searching to do on these best royalty free music sites to find the best fit for your needs.

Don't overlook the power of adding music and sound effects to your YouTube videos as they will improve the quality of the content.

To recap what to pay attention to when choosing what music to use in your videos:

  • Pay attention to the license terms on each site
  • Look at their guidelines regarding Content ID claims
  • Don't try to go over their requirements as you will find yourself obligated to take down your videos

One last tip: Even if you don't have to credit the music producer in the description, it won't hurt you if you do. Your followers might like the music and you'll help them with the resource. Also, it shows that you appreciate other creators' work.

I hope now you know where to get royalty free music for YouTube videos and you found this list helpful.

You can bookmark this list for future reference.

Now it's time to take action.

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