Download Free Copyright-Free Music

Do you need background music for your videos or media projects?

It’s easy to think that, because music can be found pretty easily for free on the Internet, we can use it freely as well on any video that we’re creating and want to publish.

Nothing further from reality.

Let’s see first the pros and cons of using free music and then we will explain how can we download it without any problems :

Pros of using free music.

Cons

The world of Royalty-Free music on the Internet is complex, as there are a wide variety of types of licenses and it is not always clear to which we should stick to.

Not playing by the rules can lead to bad surprises, like:

• Your video being removed from Youtube or Facebook because of Content ID, which automatically detects copyright violations.
• Receiving copyright complaints from the artist or record label.
• In the worst-case scenario, you will receive a lawsuit with economic amounts in which you will be able to do little to defend yourself, since ignorance of the law does not exempt you from compliance with it.

To clarify the subject, we have made a brief summary below with all the basics:

SOME CONCEPTS THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Royalty-Free Music primarily refers to a type of music license that allows the buyer to pay the corresponding license only once and use the music for as long as desired in a single final product or video.

However, this term has been extended, often including also free music that we can use in our projects – either under ‘Public Domain’ or ‘Creative Commons’, as we will see below –.

And also has been widely confused with the term ‘music without copyright’, which does not really exist, even though we ourselves have put it in the title of this very paragraph.

Music under ‘Public Domain’ consists of all works that are not protected by copyright and which can, therefore, be used without permission or without having to pay to the original author. Either because this has expressed it or because some time has already elapsed since his/her death.

If you want to know more about it, visit our in-depth article about Public Domain.

Here is the author himself who establishes the limitations for the reproduction, distribution, diffusion and copy of his work.

There are 6 different types of licences, some more restrictive than others. It is essential to know them well if you want to use any kind of song under these licences.

these icons help us to differentiate the Creative Commons licenses

TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION BEFORE DOWNLOADING A FREE SONG

This means that most of the time we will have to attribute -mention- the artist.

Attribution means that you will have to explain in the description of your video (or within the project if it is not a video) who is the author of the music and where you downloaded the music.

For example, if you use the song ‘Odyssey Drums’, from artist Kevin MacLeod and you have downloaded the song from the webpage Incompetech.com, you should write a phrase like this one below:

That said, it’s very important to read carefully all the legal terms -there are different Creative Commons licenses and each one has his own different terms- and legal advice of the web page from which you’re downloading the music. There may have been some other specific condition in them.

If you don’t find any term or you’re not sure about the conditions, don’t risk yourself or your project!

PAGES TO DOWNLOAD ROYALTY-FREE MUSIC

The best sources for high-quality free Royalty-free music on the Internet are:

Click on any of these links to download songs that can be used in your personal projects without a problem.

However, it is essential that you understand under what kind of licenses these songs are, to know how far their use extends and what you can and cannot do with them.

The world of royalty-free music on the Internet is complex, as there are a wide variety of license types and it is not always clear which one to follow.

I DON’T WANT TO RISK MY PROJECT OR I DON’T WANT TO ATTRIBUTE THE ARTIST. WHAT SHOULD I DO?

Imagine that you are making a video or audiovisual project. Maybe you’re in one of those situations:

Paying $14,50 a month may seem a lot to a person who is used to download free songs, however, we have to keep in mind that both products have nothing in common: we are paying a license to use that music in another final product that will be distributed and viewed, and not for simple personal use.

The artists who create royalty-free music are not usually famous artists, but a team of people working from a dedicated studio or company.

If you’re interested in playing music on videos that you’ll upload to any social network, we’ve written a very comprehensive article on music for Facebook ads and Instagram.

CONCLUSION

Yes, downloading free background music is oftentimes easier and more convenient. Also, there are times in which a person doesn’t really have a budget to do otherwise.

But as your project or Youtube Channel grows, it becomes mandatory to start using music under the corresponding licenses. This will allow you to monetize them, save a lot of time searching for the music, and differentiate yourself from the rest. Thankfully, nowadays this has become a quick, cheap, and easy option as well, thanks to music libraries like Epidemic Sound.