Have you ever wanted to add a music clip to YouTube video, but were afraid that you'd
get a copyright strike?
In this video, you'll discover how to use Creative Commons music on YouTube videos so
you won't have to worry about getting a copyright claim.
[background music] Hello, my name is Herman Drost.
If you want to grow your audience on YouTube and generate traffic leads and sales on Autopilot,
hit the subscribe button and click the bell notification icon so be notified whenever
I upload new videos.
Adding some background music to YouTube videos helps viewers to more easily consume your
content.
The music can even alter the mood of your viewers by uplifting and inspiring them.
What is Creative Commons music?
Creative Commons is a system that allows you to legally use the music, images, and movies
all for free.
Creative Commons offers free copyright licenses that anyone can use to mark their creative
work with the freedoms they wish to carry.
Many musicians choose to release their songs on the Creative Commons license.
This gives you the legal right to use their music in your YouTube videos, but I want to
give you a word of warning.
I once received a copyright strike on a video that contained two seconds of music that was
copyrighted.
The video was four years old and had 40,000 views.
I appealed the strike from YouTube, but it failed.
As a result, I couldn't live stream for three months.
Here are four places to find free Creative Commons music to use in your YouTube videos.
Number one, YouTube Audio Library.
Log in to YouTube channel and go to your Audio Library at YouTube.com/audiolibrary/music.
You'll be able to get free music and sound effects.
Under free music, you've got the tracks, you can sort by genre, mood, instrument, duration,
attribution, whether attribution is not required or required, or you can search for any particular
type of music.
Okay, let's search for country & folk.
Mood, bright.
Instrument, acoustic guitar.
Duration, two minutes.
Attribution, not required.
Let's try Picnic on the Roof.
[Picnic on the Roof playing] Let's try Lightfoot.
[Lightfoot playing] After you've selected your song, just click
on the download button.
Then you just add the audio to the timeline in your video editing software.
Number two, SoundCloud.
SoundCloud has an awesome selection of background music for YouTube videos.
Most of the music on SoundCloud is licensed under Creative Commons, which means that you're
free to use the tracks as long as you follow the guidelines established by the artist.
Number three, BenSound.
BenSound is home to hundreds of fantastic tracks created and uploaded by the artist
Benjamin Tissot.
BenSound's music is freely available under the Creative Commons license as long as you
credit BenSound.com.
What I like about BenSound is it's super easy to use the search function.
Number four, Free Music Archive.
If you use the free-play music for personal use only on YouTube, you'll be able to access
nearly all the tracks for free.
Just keep in mind, it's for the use of one track in one video that appears strictly in
a non-revenue generating personal video.
The video can't be used to promote a business.
If it's for business use, then you've got to pay to use the music in your video.
Another alternative to using Creative Commons videos is Royalty Free Music.
This gives users the right to use copyrighted music without paying royalties for recurring
content.
In other words, the buyer only has to pay once to use Royalty Free Music and you can
use it for as long as you like.
Here are seven places where you can get royalty free music.
Number one, Epidemic Sound.
You can find high-quality background music for your videos, and it has an easy search
functionality.
If you have a paid subscription to TubeBuddy, you can get 25% off.
You can also get 250,000 free premium royalty-free music tracks and sound effects from AudioHero.
Number two, AudioJungle.
AudioJungle offers royalty-free music and audio tracks starting from $1 and has over
869,000 tracks.
Number three, AudioBlocks.
With an AudioBlocks subscription, you get access to unlimited downloads or hundreds
of thousands of tracks, loops, sound effects, and collections.
It has a great search bar and you can download previews of the music.
Number four, Jamendo.
Jamendo has an awesome music collection that allows marketers to pick and choose the music
based on what they might be using it for.
Number five, Incompetech.
Incompetech is an artist-run website with free music in just about every genre you can
think of.
If you give proper attribution, users can download and use the music completely free.
Number six, Amazon Music.
Did you know that Amazon has more than 56,000 free tunes and sound effects that you can
easily add in your video backgrounds?
You can get free or premium tracks that start at 99¢.
Just make sure that you only use the music for personal and non-commercial purposes.
Number seven, Pond5.
Pond5 gives you video footage, music, after effects, and more.
You'll find royalty-free stock and production music tracks for any creative project.
The search bar makes it very easy to find the music that you want for your projects.
Here are some important things to keep in mind when using Creative Commons music in
your videos.
Number one, check the license.
Just make sure that the music clip that you're using comes under Creative Commons.
Number two, give attribution.
Give attribution to the original author in the description of your video.
If you want to use copyrighted music in your videos, then make sure you get permission
from the original owner.
Sometimes the original owner just wants to share the revenue with you, which means you
can't monetize your video.
A word of warning about using copyrighted protected music is that sometimes the original
author or artist can change their policies.
This means the original music which you originally got permission to use can no longer be used.
As a result, you might get a copyright strike.
If you want to learn more about using copyrighted music in your video, click the link in the
card.
Let me ask you a question, have you ever used Creative Commons or copyrighted music in your
videos?
Post your answer in the comments below.
I'd love to read them and I'm sure others would too.
Another related question you might have on your mind is how can I use Creative Commons
videos in my own videos?
No worries, just watch the next video on how to find and use Creative Commons videos in
your own videos without getting a copyright strike.
Thanks for watching and we'll see you in the next video.