Do not use music from copyrighted sources in Youtube videos. Use one of these sites for copyright-free music instead.
Do not post videos on YouTube with background music from copyrighted sources. It may be removed. Instead, get free and royalty-free music from one of these sites.
It doesn’t matter if you want to be a viral sensation or just post something for family and friends to see. If it’s free for the public to see, the copyright owner of that music can file a claim and remove your video. Yes, YouTube is notorious for making your favorite videos disappear as a result.
A better option is to use copyright-free or royalty-free music. It saves you the trouble of checking for copyright restrictions. These sites will give you free background options as long as you add a link to the source in the description.
#1 Thematic
Thematic is the service that most YouTube creators should use for free songs from established artists and musicians. To get access, you need to become a member of Thematic, but you don’t even need a credit card to sign up.
Once you become a member, you’ll be able to see Thematic’s entire music catalog, which includes music from several unique artists. Besides, you’ll get access to tracks by some very popular musicians.
Of course, there are some rules for this. Thematic members must follow a certain link and style to use the songs on YouTube or Instagram. And those are the only two platforms you’re allowed to show your video on. But as long as you meet the requirements, you can use a professionally created song for your videos.
#2 Unminus
Unminus has fewer tracks available on the website. They vary in style, and you can download them all for free. But this site is different from all the others here because the tracks are licensed with a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
In case you’re not familiar with Creative Commons licenses: The CC0 license allows you to use any work for free for personal or commercial purposes, edit it as you see fit, and use it without attribution. This means you can do whatever you want with the music on Unminus. And you don’t have to include a link in the YouTube description or credits.
New tracks are added to Unminus only from time to time. If you want to know when the next time new material is available, subscribe to the newsletter for notifications.
#3 Icons8
Icons8 is a well-known source of free stock icons and photos. They also offer a wide selection of royalty-free music and audio tracks. Each track can be downloaded to your drive as a free high-quality MP3 file, or you can pay to unlock the WAV file.
The music collection is divided into three categories: Themes, Genres, and Moods. Each category has its own subcategories to further refine the selection and quickly find what you are looking for. You can stream each song in full before downloading it and get information like running time, visualizer, etc.
Of course, there is also a search function. But it’s probably better to use a large number of tags on the site to search and find what you need.
#4 TeknoAxe
The musician and YouTuber TeknoAXE has been creating songs and film music for many years. Most of these tracks are electronic dance music, rock, and metal, but there are also many thematic compositions.
The CC 4.0 license simply means that you have to provide the original link and note if you have made any changes. In return, you get a collection of almost 1,500 songs that span different genres and even moods like comedy, drama, horror, and so on. When you listen to a few tracks, you might think, “Hey, I’ve heard this before”. That’s because TeknoAXE’s music has been widely used on YouTube.
To listen to his latest music, you can follow TeknoAXE’s YouTube channel. He usually uploads a new track every week, and this is a good way to find a new sound for your video before it becomes popular.
#5 CCHound
The Internet is full of royalty-free, Creative Commons-protected music, but not every song is a winner here. That’s why a few music lovers got together to pick their favorites and publish them on CCHound.
The collection is no longer actively updated, but even with what’s available, it’s a great way to find the best of the best instead of digging through the vast number of royalty-free tracks on sites like Jamendo or SoundCloud. You can search by tags, genres, or other criteria. And each song is clearly marked as to whether or not you can use it with attribution.
If you can’t find something on CCHound, you may need to go to Sources. This collection of sites with free Creative Commons music should help you find a track that suits your taste.
