BACKGROUND MUSIC FOR YOUTUBE
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If you’re a creator, then you’re probably looking for music for your videos – it can make or break your content. And you probably also know that copyright can be a bear trap for the unwary (not to mention expensive, if you get on the wrong side of a lawsuit). So, what are your options, and where can you find background music for YouTube? (Hint: Keep scrolling.)
'You Know It's Time' - Peo Haggstrom, Jamie Elder
'Autoschediasm' - Raithe Laurence
'Party Hunt' - Julian Emery, Jeremy Wheatley
'Born To Be A Winner' - William Davies, Dag Torgersbraten
'Jupiter Beach' - Alexis Smith, Joe Henson, Pete Davis
Music for Youtube Videos
An engaging personality and juicy topic mean nothing without music for Youtube videos. Fortunately for you, we’ve got high-quality tracks aplenty for every mood and genre. Prove you’re a professional with one of our picks – conveniently categorised into vlog types – below.
Travel
Calling all go-pro-using globe-trotters: take your travel videos to new heights with our music for Youtube videos. Explore our carefully-curated travel playlist below featuring YouTube background tracks for every type of adventure.
‘Solomon Beach Party’ – Mark Buys
‘Buenos Tiempos’ – Adam Drake, Tom Jenkins
‘My Hula Hula Baby’ – Jeremy Sherman
‘Moonlight Garden’ – Michael Tedstone
Fashion and Beauty
Whether you’re an MUA ready to demonstrate your on-point technique, or a fashion influencer preparing for your next shopping haul, you’re going to need some compelling background music to keep your viewers watching. Explore our fashion and beauty playlist to discover just a handful of our most stylish YouTube background music tracks for any season.
'Revelling' - Thomas McNeice, April MacKay
‘Super Eight’ – Bob Bradley, Thomas Balmforth
‘You Know It’s Time 2’ – Peo Haggstrom, Jamie Elder
'Breezy’ – Martin Felix Kaczmarski, Alex Arcoleo
Sports and Fitness
Arguably, the most appealing thing about your fitness video is the workout music you choose. That or your physique. So, keep your audience engaged (and their blood pumping) with our handpicked Sports and Fitness playlist of background music for Youtube.
'Wild Caracel’ – Anton Flanders, Pablo Love, Campbell E Browning
'Teeth Marks 2’ – Cahir O’Doherty
Food
The missing ingredient to your food-based Youtube channel? A dash of music. For inspiration, look to our food playlist below. Our background music for Youtube is the recipe to your success.
'People Together’ – Barrie Gledden, Chris Bussey, Jason Pedder
'To The Light’ – Phil Panton, Doug Panton, Oliver Daldry, Thomas Newman
'Salad Days’ – Terry Devine-King, Adam Drake
'Never Look Twice’ – Sue Verran
Parenting
It’s almost impossible to film a parenting blog without hearing the sounds of your children. The solution? Our parenting playlist of background music for YouTube.
'Young At Heart’ – Kes Loy, Gavin Harrison
'Let Love 4’ – Lincoln Grounds, Thomm Jutz, Charley Stefl
'Greeting The Day’ – Matt Hill
'Dancing Landscape’ – Philip Guyler
'Numbers’ – Richard Lacy, David Bird, Terry Maskill, Richard Kimmings
Tech
Those who tailor their channel around technology have an increased amount of pressure to create a vlog that looks and sounds cutting edge. Hence, the inclusion of background music is essential. Enter our tech playlist: brimming with YouTube background music tracks for your next video.
'Robot Juice’ – Gavin Harrison, Tom Peters
'Designed 2’ – Vivienne Youel, Thomas Campbell
'Future Triphop’ – Darren Leigh Purkiss
'Androids 2’ – Bob Bradley, Matt Sanchez, Steve Dymond
'Balearic Express’ – John 00 Fleming
Kids
Nothing grabs a child’s attention quite like an enchanting piece of music. At least, that’s what the aforementioned parenting blogs have taught us. Enliven your latest video with a playful selection from our Kids playlist.
'Party Hunt’ – Julian Emery, Jeremy Wheatley
'We Own The Night’ – Pete Masitti, John Andrew Barrow
'One Step At A Time’ – Chris Fairbrass, Richard Fairbrass, Neil Sidwell
'Building Sandcastles’ – Philip Guyler
Gaming
You’ve screen-recorded your gameplay, you’ve combined it with your audio walkthrough and you’ve edited it all together. Now there’s only one thing missing – a suitable piece of background music (of course). Demo our gaming playlist here, guaranteed to take your content to the next level.
'Mysteries' - Richard Lacy, Sarah MacDonald
'Suspicion' - Alexis Smith, Joe Henson
'Following Me’ – Jeff Dale, Tim Reilly
'Mile High' – Julian Emery, Cenzo Townshend, Rupert Lyddon
Comedy
From pranksters to slapstick sketches, Youtube is brimming with comical content of creators clowning around. Ensure your next video stands out with a song (or two) from our gleeful comedy playlist.
Feeling Crabby' - Paul Mottram
'Guilty Secrets' - Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock
'Mighty Ska' - Kevin Browne, David O'Brien
'Humoresque' - David Tobin, Jeff Meegan, Julian Gallant, Rob Kelly
YouTube background music download process
Once you have made your purchase and your payment has been accepted, you can log into your online Audio Network account to download your sound files by following these steps:
- Click on the view box to the right of ‘my orders’.
- Read through the summary of your orders.
- Click on the view arrow to the right of the order you wish to display.
- View your complete order track by track, and discover the option download a background music mp3 or wav file.
- Choose to either download tracks individually (by clicking on the wav/mp3 icon) or all together.
- Download your music to your device.
- Congratulations! You now have your YouTube background music download in the form of a background music mp3 or wav file.
What is the difference between non-copyrighted music, and royalty-free music?
Many people use ‘non-copyrighted’ and ‘royalty-free’ interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. Music that isn’t protected by copyright (the general rule is that the copyright lasts until 70 years after the composer’s death) are in the public domain. You can use these materials without asking permission – but you can never own them.
However, sound recording copyright lasts for 50 years after the music is first released. So, whilst your chosen piece from Beethoven’s Piano Concerto might be out of copyright, the classic recording of it by the Philharmonic Orchestra that you want to use won’t be. For Classical music perfect for video and broadcast, check out our Classical Collection.
Confusingly, Royalty-free doesn’t actually mean that you don’t have to pay for it. It means that you pay for a one-off licence fee to use the music, for a stipulated period, and you don’t have to pay a fee to the copyright owner.
Music Royalties on YouTube Explained
‘Monetisation’ is how you earn money from advertising, based on the number of views your video gets. YouTube has integrated this system into your YouTube account, under the ‘Video Manager’ menu. Once you’ve agreed to YouTube’s T&Cs, you can allow ads to run alongside your videos, and YouTube shares a proportion of the ad revenue they generate with you.
Advertising will appear on most videos that use copyrighted music – the revenue (royalties) paid is shared with the composers. YouTube identifies tracks covered by copyright through their Content ID system, and will block or take down videos that violate the copyright terms.
You essentially need to own the rights to the music track you’re using, in order to monetise your video. Purchasing a one-off licence for royalty-free music provides a cost-effective way of using music, whilst still enabling you to monetise your video, which is especially important if you’re a creator who relies on the ad income that your channel generates.
This was originally published 21/08/2015 , updated on 11/12/2019, 28/05/2020 and 09/07/2020.