There are a lot of things to think about when you’re growing a podcast or a YouTube channel such as:
- Music licensing
- Thinking about attribution
- And understanding what creative commons is.
It’s often overlooked and can get you in trouble if you don’t adhere to these.
But finding good music to introduce your video content should not be a massive headache!
Luckily, there are a ton of great royalty free music sites out there to choose from.
With a library of royalty free music at your fingertips, you can enjoy a vast selection of musical choices in different categories.
Music is such a key component in setting the mood for a video and even short form content and video testimonials on social channels.
It’s something that I can obsess over for ages with my own faceless YouTube videos.
In this article, I’ll highlight the best royalty free music sites for a variety of use cases.
So whether you’re looking for modern stream beats, free music for a podcast intro, or some nice lo-fi for your digital content creation, I’ve got you covered!
Here are some of my favorites. 👇
What Are The Best Royalty Free Music Sites?
Here are my top picks for the best royalty free music site for intros, outros, videos, podcasts and more!
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1. Artlist – Best for YouTube
Price: $14.99/mo
Annual Discount: Yes, Save 34%
Promotion: Free Trial, Download Tracks With Watermark
Artlist at a glance 👇
- Large stock music library.
- Offers different royalty-free music tracks for all types of media projects.
- Variety of music genres to choose from.
- Licensing music tracks is made effortless through their platform.
- Even the personal plan covers all of your music needs for one account per social media platform.
Music is essential for any video, whether it’s a commercial, a training video, or just a YouTube Shorts clip, you need to find the right music to set the mood and create the right atmosphere.
That’s where Artlist comes in. They’re the best at what they do, and that’s finding royalty free music and SFX for your videos.
With a massive library of incredible tracks from the best musicians from across the globe, you’re sure to find what you need.
And the licenses are perfect for every video creator out there.
Artlist pricing
Artlist’s pricing is divided into three main tiers:
- Social Creator: $9.99 per month)
- Creator Pro: $16.60 per month
- Teams: $28.20 per month
Note that all prices above are billed annually, so if you opt in for a monthly subscription then the pricing will be somewhat higher.
How Artlist works
Using Artlist is straightforward and easy. Simple search or sort what type of music that you’re after either by mood, theme, instruments, or genre.
You can listen to the music tracks and once you find music that you like, download it for your video project.
The personal plan works great for any type of social media platform and the license is valid forever if you use the music during your subscription.
But once your plan expires, you can’t use the downloaded assets anymore, unless you go with the unlimited license.
Is Artlist Worth It?
Artlist is passionate about creating the best possible experiences for filmmakers and video creators.
That’s why they offer direct and unlimited access to a vast library of incredible music and sound effects. Whatever your next video project may be, be sure to check out Artlist.
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2. Premium Beat – Best music libraries
Price: $12.99/track
Annual Discount: No
Promotion: Listen To Tracks Before Buying
Premium Beat at a glance 👇
- Large stock music catalog
- High-quality tracks for any media project.
- Affordable prices and subscription plans.
- New content is added during your subscription.
- Many genres to choose from!
Premium Beat is another popular stock music site. 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!
Premium Beat 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.
Is Premium Beat worth it?
Overall, Premium Beat is worth it if you’re looking for high-quality, exclusive music to polish up your video productions.
The tracks are copyright clear, so you don’t have to worry about any legal trouble down the line.
And with a monthly subscription, you can download 5 tracks for as little as 12.99 per track. If you’re ready to step up your production game, give Premium Beat a try.
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3. Videvo – Best overall sound effects
Price: $24.99/mo+
Discount: Save 20% with the annual plan
Promotion: Unlimited premium downloads with annual plan
Videvo at a glance 👇
- Easy to navigate genres and moods
- Browse through newly added music easily
- Has over 184.000 movie-quality sound effects
You want to make a great video, but you don’t have the time or money to hire a professional sound engineer.
It can be tough to find good quality sound effects and music that’s free for commercial use. Most stock audio libraries charge per download, and even the best ones can be expensive.
Videvo is a great middleground for your sound needs. They offer over 180k sound effects and music tracks that are all royalty free for personal and commercial use.
Videvo pricing
The pricing is super simple:
Either pay a monthly subscription of $24.99 and get 50 premium downloads, or buy the annual plan that makes it a bit cheaper.
If you do opt for annual, then you get unlimited premium downloads which makes Videvo incredibly affordable.
Is Videvo worth it?
Videvo is a great resource for anyone looking for free, high-quality music and videos, and Videvo offers something for everyone.
You can use the royalty free music site without a premium plan, but the pricing is affordable even for content creators on a budget.
Try it out for yourself and see if you like it for your own content.
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4. Audiio – Best for podcasts
Price: $299 One time purchase
Annual Discount: Yes, save 70% the first year
Promotion: Free account creation
Audiio at a glance 👇
- Unlimited music tracks to choose from
- Access to top indie artists and albums
- Affordable pricing that makes sense
- A variety of genres and instruments are available
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!
Audiio Pricing
Audiio has a lifetime deal for $299 billed one time where you get access to 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 a great pick for one of the best royalty free music sites around.
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5. Epidemic Sound – Best for videos
Epidemic Sound at a glance 👇
- Full-service sound library with high-quality music
- Has over 35,000 tracks and 90,000 sound effects and royalty free music
- 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
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.
Epidemic Sound pricing
A single subscription for $15 per month (for commercial use) will give you unlimited access to all of Epidemic Sound content.
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.
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6. Music Vine – Best for filmmakers
Music Vine at a glance 👇
- 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.
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.
Music Vine 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.
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7. Hook Sounds – Best for different moods
Hook Sounds at a glance 👇
- Mood based royalty free music 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
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!
Hook Sounds 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.
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8. Audio Jungle – Best for facebook video ads
Audio Jungle at a glance 👇
- A large royalty free music library.
- 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.
Audio Jungle (now part of the EnvatoMarket) is one of the oldest stock music sites and has a large catalog.
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.
Audio Jungle 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.
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9. Pond5 – Best for commercial use
Pond5 at a glance 👇
- 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
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.
Pond5 pricing
Pond5 is not the cheapest alternative around 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 $25 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.
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10. Bensound – Best music subscription
Bensound at a glance 👇
- An easy no-fuss download of royalty free tracks made by Bensounds.
- Licensing options are available for commercial use that is safe for YouTube.
At Bensound you can download affordable stock music tracks which are perfect for any type of multimedia project like YouTube videos, podcasts, slideshows, or eLearning courses.
The library has plenty of tracks available in Wave+MP3 formats although the selection of genres is limited.
Bensound pricing
The standard subscription allows you to use music for YouTube for €139 per year with unlimited downloads, simple and straightforward.
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11. Best 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, but it can’t be redistributed without the owner’s permission.
This means you can use music tracks in your YouTube videos, music-making software, 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.
Listeners should 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.
FAQs
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Is there any good royalty-free music?
There are a lot of great royalty-free music options out there. A good place to start is with the free YouTube Audio Library, which has a wide selection of music that you can use for free.
I personally don’t like the music over there and if you’re the same then you can’t go wrong with any of my top three picks, such as Epidemic Sound, Artlist, or PremiumBeat.
They offer royalty-free music that you can use in your videos and other projects.
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What free music do Youtubers use?
Generally, YouTubers use some kind of royalty free music subscription as it makes life and content creation that much easier.
There are no complicated licenses to think about, and you can find just the right tunes for your videos easily.
Just whatever you do, make sure to invest in a good sounding microphone for your YouTube video content.
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What music is good for videos?
It depends on the type of video you’re making. If you’re looking for something intense and dramatic, then heavier rock or metal music might work well.
But if you’re looking for something more mellow and relaxing, then acoustic music might be a better choice.
Ultimately, it’s up to the individual filmmaker to decide what soundtracks will work best for their particular videos.
Personally, I love anything related to Lo-Fi, Synth, and Drum and Bass.