we all know the power of music in videos but when it comes to choosing where to get the music from
it can become very frustrating because on paper they all seem
similar but they have huge differences that may impact the way you work today
i'm comparing the top services i have personally used epidemic sound art list audio and music bed
hey guys i'm rafael and welcome to the channel where our goal is to always fix it in camera
and then finish it in post these services all have great things about them i will tell you the things
i like the things that are similar where they differ the things that frustrate me and ultimately
which one i decided was best for me hopefully this will help you decide which is best for you
there are others but these are the ones i've used personally epidemic art list audio and music bed
for extended periods of time on multiple projects across multiple platforms this is my real world
review so let's get started this is how the services compare on paper so as you can see the
price is comparable for all of them most of them have a monthly or yearly subscription one of them
has a lifetime membership option they all have easy search they have a variety of music styles
the number of tracks varies from each service but they all add more music over time
first epidemic it is very popular with youtubers and i hear their music everywhere so every time i
search for a track i feel like i've already heard that track on someone else's video and if i feel
that way i'm pretty sure that the viewer will feel the same way watching my video so the pros
it has a lot of music and it has sound effects and its subscription covers both for about 15 a month
one of the biggest benefits is the music stems where they provide separate tracks for vocals
guitars drums melody bass and other stuff for you to mix however you'd like the search feature is
fantastic for the most part as well as one of my favorite features the find similar feature
there is a month to month plan or you can pay for the year and save some money
epidemic used to have a threshold for how many followers or views you had before you had to
bump up to the higher paying tier but that's no longer so that's also a pro the biggest downside
is if you cancel your subscription you can no longer use the music on new projects the ones
published on the web are okay but anything new is not allowed for the personal subscription
you can only link one channel one youtube facebook instagram twitch or podcast platform
for each additional channel on these socials you'll need to get an additional subscription
also a 50 a month commercial subscription is required in order to clear content for clients
or third parties that you work with and if you decide you want to create a new channel there's
no easy way of swapping those channels you'll need to cancel the current subscription connected to
the old channel once you've canceled it you'll be able to resubscribe and connect a new channel
also the sound effects don't feel like they're catalogued very well for instance
with the human voice section they have generic labeling like human voice clip number one and it's
hard to find very specific things overall i would rate epidemic really good if your focus is just a
single youtube channel with some extra socials that you control and you create content for
so next is art list art list unlimited license allows you to use the materials from the catalog
in any video production on any platform worldwide this license covers personal projects and even
commercials in short everything a filmmaker would need so the pros any song or sound
effects you download with an active subscription can be used in your films in perpetuity meaning
forever and on client work the license is really really solid and there is no limit to
the amount of followers or views you have which is fantastic for the cons our list doesn't have stems
like epidemic does but they do have instrumental versions of each song and they have versions
without the league vocals but the backing vocals are still present which is a nice touch
they don't have the similar song feature so it's a little harder to find songs that match each other
sound effects aren't included in the subscription that's an additional price that you have to pay
you also have to sign up for the full year there is no month-to-month plan i would rate our list
as really good for you if you make more than youtube or instagram videos if you do client
work corporate wedding short films this is a great choice to add music and knowing that the
license will cover you art list license covers pretty much everything that you can do the only
thing that the art list license doesn't cover is broadcast television and theatrical release films
audio is definitely the new kid on the block just starting their service in january 2020 but they
have a unique offering a lifetime membership and that's one of the biggest pros right out of the
gate i'm not sure how long they'll offer this lifetime membership but it's a heck of a deal
considering that the other services are roughly 150 to 200 a year so for two year investment
you can use this for years to come especially if you make videos outside of youtube's like
for clients or weddings corporate the only thing that their license doesn't cover is broadcast or
theatrical film releases so if you stop making videos for a few years and then come back
first their library is going to be larger and you won't have to sign up for another service again
this is golden this is long-term thinking and because they are new they've been able
to work out the best forward-thinking licenses for the music audio also has no limit to the
amount of followers or views you have to use the service audio has really high quality music
some of my personal favorite like art list has instrumental versions of most of their music
and they just launched their sound effects offering so now the cons so the biggest catch for
me because they're relatively new just starting this past year is i ask myself will they be around
five years from now well the answer to that is will any of these services be around five years
from now it's definitely a higher up front cost and you need to buy the music and sound effects
memberships separately but you only pay one so that's long term savings and overall because it is
new it has a smaller selection of all the services at the moment for both music and sound effects and
they're still in the process of clearing all their songs in their library for monetization
there was one thing that initially confused me a bit when in the process of licensing a song
there's a selection that needs to be made for the type of project the song will be used for
but after reaching out to someone at audio they said it's best to select whatever most accurately
describes your project or film and that it would not affect your license in any way so awesome news
have at it so i would rate audio similar to our list it's a great option for people that do more
than just youtube or instagram videos it allows you to use their music and sound effects in any
project that you're working on besides broadcast and theatrical releases which is fantastic
and because it's a one-time payment it makes the service that much more appealing for the long term
so the fourth service is musicbed and initially i wasn't going to include this one but it is
something that i have used and it was definitely the most frustrating for me so i wanted to share
that experience but first the pros it is the cheapest monthly by far at nine dollars a month
but i put a big fat asterisk beside that because it's music only they have a large selection of
really good music they also have this free song search for you feature which is great punch in the
mood the genre tempo lyrics or instrumental even a reference track and they'll find music for you
now the cons just like epidemic it only covers one channel on the platforms youtube
instagram facebook twitch no festivals no weddings no corporate work no short films
the price goes up if you want to do more than just one channel and it goes up even more if
you have more than 5 000 subscribers and if you want to do month to month the price is even higher
and they also don't have sound effects this is the most frustrating thing about musicbed nearly every
video i did that i posted online got copyright claimed instantly and i had to email support to
get it cleared it happened so often that it became routine and i produced for a few other channels
so my clients were frustrated at me for this so after three months i stopped using them completely
so those are the four services that i've used personally but how do you choose the one that's
right for you there are two options one is simple cost and quantity and if you only have one channel
like youtube and you do minimal uploads then go for the cheapest option but if that's the case
i would recommend youtube's own free library of music that you can use in all your videos
the second way to choose is a little bit more cerebral it's like trying to describe why you
like one song over another it's a feeling it's an emotion i don't really know how to describe it
properly but there's something that connects you personally to the music there's a visceral feeling
that you get from a specific artist that is just missing from the others it connects with you
with your mood it really comes down to your preference you will find that you
really connect with a particular artist and you will use their work over and over again
and typically i start with my favorite artist to see if they have any new material and they usually
do the music on these services is fantastic they are all great but the artists are choosing
their silos to produce music for a particular service and my favorite artists are on art list
and audio that's how i ended up choosing art list and audio i just preferred the artist and the type
of feeling i was getting from the music it may be because the other services are more common
and i hear the music more often in the videos i watch and combined with my need to make something
different enough to stand out it was also an easier decision for the amount of work i produce
outside of youtube my client work calls for a lot of music and art list and audio covered that
i signed up for our list when i started this youtube channel and you have to buy in for the
full year audio launched in january 2020 with a lifetime membership and with the amount of music
that i use it was a no-brainer to sign up for the lifetime membership and as i've progressed
through this year i found that both art list and audio have been great for the music selection
audio is for life and for me that is a big win if i choose to change my channel or put it on pause
for a bit i can always start up again each one of these services has a free trial period or some
kind of money back guarantee and all the links to the services are down below so make sure you go
check out the services and find the one that works best for you now that you know the music service
choices check out this video where i talk about how to choose the right music for your videos as
well as this video how to mix your music into your videos for the best sound as always thanks for
watching give this video a big thumbs up subscribe i'm rafael i'll talk to you soon bye for now