9+ Best Royalty Free Stock Music Sites of 2022 (Ranked)
The royalty free music industry is an exciting and rapidly changing field. With so many sites offering stock music tracks it can be hard to find the best site for your needs.
To help, I have compiled a list of some of the most popular stock music sites that you should know about in 2022!
Below are my rankings for the best royalty free music sites based on the quality of tracks offered, the amount of tracks available, pricing options, and genres supported.
What are the best royalty free music sites to make your content and videos stand out?
Here are my top picks for the best royalty free music sites on the market right now and in the coming year.
1. Premium Beat
Best premium stock music tracks
Premium Beat is one of the most popular stock music sites in 2022. They have a wide variety of high-quality tracks available for all different types of media projects.
Their prices are very affordable, especially their subscription plans that give you access to any new content they add during your subscription period!
Premium Beat offers music tracks from many genres including acoustic, cinematic, classical, dance/electronic, dubstep/trap/hardstyle, hip hop & rap, pop rock & alternative country, world music, and much more!
Highlights
Here are the highlights for PremiumBeat
Large stock music catalog
High-quality tracks for any media project.
Affordable prices and subscription plans.
New content added during your subscription.
Many genres to choose from!
Pricing
Premium Beat stock music is available starting from $12.99 per track, giving you access to their entire music library.
Other packages are available if you require more tracks with single purchases.
2. Artlist
Best value for quality music
Artlist is one of the best royalty free stock music sites for all types of users. They offer great prices on music tracks, and their large catalog allows you to find almost any type of stock music that suits your needs!
Highlights
Here are the highlights for Artlist
Large music catalog.
Very affordable prices start from $16 per month.
Offers many different royalty-free music tracks for all types of media projects.
Variety of music genres to choose from!
Pricing
Artlist pricing is divided into three tiers, the premium membership is $25 a month and provides stock music from thousands of artists, custom licensing for your projects, instant download after the purchase, and an SFX library as well.
The music subscription costs $16.60 a month if you only need the music without the sound effects, or $12.41 if you only need SFX and nothing else.
3. Audiio
Best for content creators and filmmakers
If you're a filmmaker, podcaster, or other content creator looking to license original music for your next project, Audiio got you covered.
They offer unlimited access to thousands of high-quality songs from indie artists around the world. You'll find everything from modern pop hits to classical masterpieces in the library.
With Audiio Pro, you get unlimited access to over 100k tracks by independent musicians - no negotiations needed!
Whether it's background music for a YouTube video or a full-length feature film soundtrack, they make it easy to find exactly what you need at prices that won't break your budget!
Highlights
Unlimited music tracks to choose from
Access to top indie artists and albums
Affordable pricing that makes sense
Variety of genres and instruments available
Pricing
Audiio Pro costs $16.60 per month for unlimited royalty-free music and SFX downloads. This plan is perfect if you create content for commercial use (ie. YouTube ads and monetization)
They also have a lifetime deal for $299 billed one time to get the entire music catalog with unlimited downloads, new music added daily, and works with YouTube monetization.
This is an insane deal worth the investment, making Audiio one of the best royalty free music sites around.
4. Epidemic Sound
Best library of music
Epidemic Sound is an affordable subscription service for adding background music and sound effects to your video creations. With one simple monthly payment, you get full access to a library of over 35,000 songs and 90,000 sounds.
This means that you can quickly add high-quality audio tracks & SFXs into any project without having to worry about copyright issues or buying expensive stock media separately for each project.
Highlights
Full-service sound library with high-quality music
over 35,000 tracks and 90,000 sound effects
Everything from indie rock bands to classical orchestras.
Use all content however you like without having to worry about copyright issues.
Sounds are 100% original and recorded by professional musicians & producers
Pricing
A single subscription for $25 per month (for commercial use) will give you unlimited access to all of Epidemic Sounds content so there's no need for multiple subscriptions or digging through hundreds of thousands of songs on YouTube hoping something works out.
You'll get every piece at once with instant downloads available as well as streaming options when needed. If you only aim to create content for personal use, then it's even cheaper at $12 per month, making it one of the best royalty free music sites on the market.
5. Music Vine
Best curated premium tracks
Music Vine is different from other stock music websites because they have been curating tracks since 2015, and they only offer premium quality royalty free music that fits any project.
The hand-picked playlists are thematically organized by genre and mood so you can easily search for exactly what you need – whether it’s an indie rock track or a cinematic score – all of which come with high-quality stems and licenses at affordable prices.
Music Vine has everything you need to elevate your creativity and inspire your audience with world-class production music from thousands of top composers, songwriters & beatmakers, discover new sounds that you love in just seconds.
Highlights
Royalty free music for a great price
Tracks are handpicked for quality and fit with any project
Discover new sounds in seconds on Music Vine
Used and trusted by brands such as Nike, Amazon, Tesla, Dell, and more.
Pricing
You can use Music Vine's royalty free music subscription for creators, which means the music is cleared for YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more for $24.99 per month, which is priced reasonably.
They also have a Pro subscription for $44.99 per month if you need professional premium grade music for advertising, marketing, and entertainment purposes.
6. Hook sounds
Best mood and trends based music
Hook sounds have a highly curated collection of exclusive stock music tracks that you can't find anywhere else. Their artists produce sounds based on research, insights, and trends so that you can get exactly what your audience is looking for.
Hook Sounds offers unique premium quality audio content to help creators boost their creativity and deliver a better user experience. Whether it's background music for YouTube videos or podcasts, jingles for radio ads or TV commercials – their library has everything covered with high-quality sound effects in all genres!
Highlights
Mood based tracks
100% copyright free music
Talented in-house artists that produce content
Over 20,000 curated stock music tracks to choose from
Trusted by companies such as Disney, Uber, and Microsoft
Pricing
The pricing is a bit on the high end compared to the competitors on this list, starting at $69 per month for the premium plan that also includes SFX sounds.
They really want you to pay annually though, as the same subscriptions price drops to only $29 per month just by going annual which is worth it.
7. AudioJungle
Best all-catch
AudioJungle (now part of the EnvatoMarket) is one of the oldest stock music sites and has a large catalog in 2022.
They have many different prices per individual track to choose from, providing you with music that suits your budget!
AudioJungle offers music tracks in most if not all genres including dubstep/trap/hardstyle, electronic house & dance, hip hop & rap, pop, rock, and more.
Highlights
A large music catalog.
Long history over the past decade.
Quality is good but varies depending on the price that you choose.
Great "discovery" feature which can help you find new royalty-free music tracks.
Pricing
Since AudioJungle is part of the EnvatoMarket you have two choices, either buy individual music tracks that you want for as low as $1 per track or join the monthly subscription of EnvatoElements.
The EnvatoElements gives you to access unlimited access to almost anything, and this is not just limited to audio, you also get stock video for video marketing, and more, just note that this is not AudioJungle anymore.
In EnvatoElements you have endless digital assets such as photos, stock videos, video templates, and graphic templates just to name a few. It's a great catch-all type of subscription for only $16.99/month.
8. Pond5
Best music site to discover new tracks
Pond5 is a marketplace that makes it easy to discover, purchase and distribute media content. Whether you're looking for stock footage or music tracks, they have tens of millions of assets available from thousands of creators around the world.
Use the search tool to quickly filter through everything they have in seconds - no more endless scrolling! And with a simple licensing option, you can easily use any asset across multiple projects without having to worry about additional costs or legal agreements.
Highlights
Millions of royalty-free stock footage and music tracks
Creators on the platform receive royalty revenue each time their assets are downloaded.
Streamlined search capabilities make it super easy to find what you need
Pricing
Pond5 is not the cheapest alternative around both when it comes to the price of individual tracks or the membership alternatives. But what you get is premium quality sounds without any fuss.
The monthly plan is $199 per month, and for that price, you get 10 downloads per month, which thankfully roll over to the next month if you don't use them up.
9. Bensound
Best alternative to YouTube Audio Library
At Bensound you can download affordable stock music tracks which is perfect for any type of multimedia project like YouTube videos, podcasts, slideshows, or eLearning courses.
The library has plenty of tracks available in Wav+MP3 formats although the selection of genres is limited.
Highlights
An easy no-fuss download of royalty free tracks made by Bensounds.
Licensing options available for commercial use that is safe for YouTube.
Pricing
The standard subscription allows you to use music for YouTube for €139 per year with unlimited downloads, simple and straightforward.
10. YouTube Audio Library
Best 100% free stock music site
Yes the good old YouTube audio library, for anyone that has a YouTube studio account, you get an unlimited sea of music for your videos free of charge. The only downside with the royalty free music found on YouTube is that the quality and tracks are pretty boring, bland, and just bad in my personal opinion.
For generic advertisement clips and such it's great, but for videos that you're trying to imbue a personal touch, then you're better off picking something else on this list.
What is royalty free music?
Royalty free music is copyright-protected, pre-licensed music that can be used in media content that you create.
It can't be redistributed without the owner's permission. This means you could use music tracks in your YouTube videos or business presentations and not worry about getting sued if someone else hears it or sees it without permission.
You usually have to either pay to acquire these music tracks, give credits to the creator, or get the creator’s personal permission depending on the license.
Is royalty free music copyright free?
No, royalty free music is not copyright-free. Even if the music doesn't have a copyright symbol or notice next to it that means nothing.
Any free stock music site should either provide license information directly on their website or in an FAQ section so listeners know how they can use royalty free tunes for commercial purposes and what kind of copyrights that apply to that specific piece of content.
Royalty free vs. free?
Royalty free music means you cannot resell the track without permission, but it can be used for your business or commercial purposes.
Free music usually is public domain and royalty-free with certain restrictions regarding redistribution.
If you are unsure about whether a piece of content has royalty-free status or not always ask permission from the creator before using it.