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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 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

YouTube videos – there’s such a variety of them. From beauty tutorials to travel vlogs to sneaker unboxings, there really is something for everyone to be found on the platform. And what do they all have in common? Music. More often than not, YouTubers employ a production music track to give their videos consistency, personality and an air of professionality.

Here, we provide you with an overview of everything you ought to know about music for YouTube videos. Additionally, we will be spotlighting suitable playlists and genres from our YouTube music library for videos. 

Want to know what we'll be covering? Take a look below:

Music For YouTube Videos

• Music For YouTube Videos Definition
• Where to Get Music For YouTube Videos
• Audio Network’s Licence Model
• How to Get Music For YouTube Videos
• What Music Do YouTubers Use in Their Videos?
• What Kind of Music Can I Use on YouTube?
• What Songs Are Good For YouTube Videos?
• YouTube Playlists
• YouTube Genres

Music For YouTube Videos Definition

Let’s start by answering the fundamental question: what is music for YouTube videos?

Simply put, it’s licensed, usually instrumental, music that’s stimulating enough to ensure the viewer is enthralled from beginning to end, but never too distracting that it takes away from the video’s purpose.

Plus, it usually contributes to immersing the viewer in the video’s theme, which is why we’ve sorted our YouTube playlists by themes, from food to fashion and beauty to gaming. 

Where to Get Music For YouTube Videos

Now, this is an easy one. The best place to get music for YouTube videos is – yep, we’re gonna say it – Audio Network!

There really is no better place to find music suitable for your next YouTube production, no matter the purpose of your channel.

But why is Audio Network the best destination to download music for vlogs?

Firstly, we have range. To be specific, we have over 200,000 production music tracks – songs from myriad genres – ready and waiting to be used by you in our online catalogue.

Secondly, each and every one of our tracks is of the very highest quality, created by our exceptional team of artists, producers and composers.

And, last but not least, we have the answers to all of your music licensing needs. 

Audio Network’s Licence Model

We won’t pretend that music licensing isn’t a difficult realm to navigate; however, here at Audio Network, we ensure that the process of licensing music for your project is stress-free.

To discover how you, a YouTuber, can either acquire a licence for a single track or sign up for one of our licence-included subscriptions, we encourage you to consult our infographic music licensing page. 

How to Get Music For YouTube Videos

How do you get music for your YouTube videos?

Log in to your Audio Network account, find the right track for you by exploring our playlists and sampling tracks that tickle your fancy, and then add the composition to your cart.

Next, you’ll be asked to select a licence (that’s unless you’re a subscriber) – most YouTubers that utilise Audio Network’s selection of songs usually opt for one of our two most affordable licences: creator or creator+.

Then you can check out, download the sound file from the ‘my orders’ section of your account, and celebrate having a top-notch song for your next video.

What Music Do YouTubers Use in Their Videos?

YouTubers typically use instrumental music within their videos to ensure that the music track never overshadows the other elements of the video, be that the visuals, the narration, or the on-screen text.

Having said that, it’s not uncommon for vloggers to opt for a vocal-led song when choosing a track for their intro and outro. 

In terms of the type of instrumental musical creators should choose as background music for their next YouTube video, it all comes down to the pivotal topic of the vlog and channel.

For instance, a travel vlogger may be keen to match the background song with the specific destination explored within the video, whilst a beauty vlogger may choose to incorporate the same peaceful tune in all of their skincare reviews. 

What Kind of Music Can I Use on YouTube?

You can use any music on YouTube that you’ve obtained the licence of, no matter if that’s one of our easy-to-licence production tracks or a popular charts hit.

If you attempt to use an unlicensed track on YouTube, you may be penalised.

The platform has been known to punish rule-breaking YouTubers by taking down their content and, in some cases, blocking their entire channel. You’ve been warned!

If you’re looking for a brief overview of music rights when it comes to YouTube music, we invite you to explore our using music in YouTube videos page.

What Songs Are Good For YouTube Videos?

The type of song you may deem ‘good’ may be worlds apart from what another YouTuber understands as a good song for their YouTube videos.

In short, the idea of a good song for YouTube is subjective – it all comes down to your personal preferences.

All we’d want you to make sure is that the song you’re choosing is of a high quality, as no one wants to watch a YouTube video that’s accompanied by a low quality soundtrack.

Still require more knowledge about how to use music on YouTube? Take yourself over to our super helpful using music in YouTube videos: your questions answered article.

YouTube Playlists

Below, we take a look at a selection of the most popular YouTube playlists in our catalogue. Rather make your own way around the playlists? Visit our YouTube playlists page.

Travel

Now the pandemic is becoming a thing of recent history, everyone’s back to travelling. And one of the best places to find destination inspiration is on YouTube – it’s fun to see the world through the eyes of everyday vloggers. Especially when there’s some cheerful travel music involved.

Suggestions

Burrows and Tedstone’s ‘Month of Joy 2’ suits a trip to the Middle East and Drake and Jenkins’ ‘Buenos Tiempos’ encapsulates the spirit of mainland Spain. 

Want more? Check out the tracks below - 

‘Solomon Beach Party’ – Mark Buys

‘Buenos Tiempos’ – Adam Drake, Tom Jenkins

‘Jungle Trek’ – James Brett

‘My Hula Hula Baby’ – Jeremy Sherman

‘Moonlight Garden’ – Michael Tedstone

Fashion & Beauty

Fancy yourself a tastemaker? Well, perhaps you should consider setting up a fashion and beauty YouTube channel – that’s if you haven’t already!

All you need is a decent camera, a loveable or boujee personality (preferably the former) and one of our fashion and beauty tracks. 

Suggestions

Phil Phanton’s ‘Got That Thing’ suits its bohemian dressers, and Peters and McDonald’s ‘Gold’ is calm enough to accompany footage of nighttime skincare routines. 

Want more? Check out the tracks below - 

​'Revelling' - Thomas McNeice, April MacKay

‘Super Eight’ – Bob Bradley, Thomas Balmforth

‘You Know It’s Time 2’ – Peo Haggstrom, Jamie Elder

'New Love’ – Max Brodie

'Breezy’ – Martin Felix Kaczmarski, Alex Arcoleo

Sports & Fitness

There’s always an audience to be found when it comes to sports vlogs. All you have to do is put yourself out there.

So no matter if you have a penchant for paddle tennis, an affinity for football or want more people to get into ultimate frisbee, it’s about time you signed up to YouTube. After you’ve selected a song from our sports playlist, of course. 

Suggestions

Need to attract the attention of football fanatics? Look to William Davies’ ‘Three Strikes’. Want to cover Olympics happenings? Sounds like Masitti and Barrow’s ‘A Champion Spirit’ is right for you.

Want more? Check out the tracks below - 

'Wild Caracel’ – Anton Flanders, Pablo Love, Campbell E Browning

'Reprieve’ – Chris Blackwell

'Dark Brass’ – Sean Allen

'Gold Lambo’ – Jackson Koeper

'Teeth Marks 2’ – Cahir O’Doherty

Food

Food vlogs are always easy to love – after all, salivating whilst watching others bake and cook is probably one of our very favourite pastimes.

It’s also rather calming to watch a passionate foodie get to grips with ingredients. And if you’re looking to set up a food vlog yourself, we recommend you add one of our food-inspired songs to the recipe. 

Suggestions

Devine-King and Drakes' 'Home and Dry' gives us bakery vibes whilst the duo’s ‘Salad Days’ reminds us of summer picnics (we wonder why?).

Want more? Check out the tracks below - 

'People Together’ – Barrie Gledden, Chris Bussey, Jason Pedder

'Sunny Side’ – Jody Jenkins

'To The Light’ – Phil Panton, Doug Panton, Oliver Daldry, Thomas Newman

'Salad Days’ – Terry Devine-King, Adam Drake

'Never Look Twice’ – Sue Verran

Parenting

Before children come into the picture, future parents visit YouTube to gather tips from those who’ve already had one, two or a few little ones.

These parenting channels touch on everything from how to hold newborn babies to what to feed your toddlers.

Essentially, they’re a reassuring voice to many mummies and daddies – a voice often paired with sweet and optimistic parenting songs.

Suggestions

If we had to pick, we’d say Williams and Drake’s ‘Sun Sail’ and Philip Guyler’s ‘Dancing Landscape’ are the warmest songs in our parenting selection.

Want more? Check out the tracks below - 

'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

As soon as Apple releases a new iPhone, or Sony announces a new console, we all head to YouTube to find out more information from our favourite techies.

Needless to say, it comes from our desire to know EVERYTHING! How do tech vloggers keep us engaged? With tech-inspired music, of course.

Suggestions

Alex Arcoleo’s ‘I Go’ has a retro vibe about it, whereas ‘Future Triphop’ by Darren Leigh Purkiss sounds as if it’s from 3030.

Want more? Check out the tracks below - 

'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

If you’re hoping to keep little ones entertained and educated with your YouTube channel – perhaps you’ve created your own series of animated shorts, or maybe you’re hoping to continue teaching outside the classroom – we recommend that you make every video you create as engaging, colourful and musical as possible.

Naturally, we’re happy to help you out with the audio side of things. Explore our kids YouTube playlist now!

Suggestions

Jody Jenkins’ ‘Micro Mischief’ is brimming with magic and sparkle, and Bussey and Bussey’s ‘Reason To Smile’ is a vibrant song that’s perfect for a morning kids cartoon. 

Want more? Check out the tracks below - 

'Party Hunt’ – Julian Emery, Jeremy Wheatley

'We Own The Night’ – Pete Masitti, John Andrew Barrow

'Tinkle Toys’ – Miles Bould

'One Step At A Time’ – Chris Fairbrass, Richard Fairbrass, Neil Sidwell

'Building Sandcastles’ – Philip Guyler

Gaming

Gaming vlogs are super popular worldwide as millions love to escape from their everyday realities into virtual worlds via gameplay streams, tutorials, and other forms of gaming footage. And one of the ways gaming vloggers can give viewers an extra push, nudge and shove into the surreal locations of video games is by soundtracking their videos with one of our gaming compositions. 

Suggestions

Gavin Harrison’s ‘Bits and Bytes’ is just the thing a Nintendo vloggers needs, whilst Mark Petrie’s ‘No Room For Errors’ serves Tomb Raider vibes.

Want more? Check out the tracks below - 

'Mysteries' - Richard Lacy, Sarah MacDonald

'Suspicion' -  Alexis Smith, Joe Henson

'Reanimate’ – Tom Boddy

'Following Me’ – Jeff Dale, Tim Reilly

'Mile High' – Julian Emery, Cenzo Townshend, Rupert Lyddon

Comedy

Exercising your funny bone online for all to see? Brave. Add a song from our comedy playlist to your next YouTube video to ensure your viewers are totally tickled when they tune in to watch your gags.

Suggestions

Neil Sidwell’s ‘Humour Games’ is ideal for prank vlogs, and Grounds and Jutz’s ‘Memphis Or Bust’ is just the thing you need if slapstick comedy is your thing. 

Want more? Check out the tracks below - 

Feeling Crabby' - Paul Mottram

'Woo Hoo' - Randall Breneman

'Guilty Secrets' - Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock

'Mighty Ska' - Kevin Browne, David O'Brien

'Humoresque' - David Tobin, Jeff Meegan, Julian Gallant, Rob Kelly

YouTube Genres

Rather select your YouTube background music track from one of our YouTube genres playlists? Keep reading to become acquainted with five of our most popular compilations, including our rock, pop and hip hop playlists.

Hip Hop & R&B

Explore our hip hop and R&B playlists where you can find Benjamin Thompson’s catchy ‘Birthday Party’, Marfo and Insula’s funky ‘King of the Jungle’, Jackson Koeper’s trap-inspired ‘Gold Lambo’ and more. 

Rock

Take a peek at our rock playlist to treat your ears to Cahir O’Doherty’s aggressive ‘Bully Boy’, Gareth Johnson’s high-octane ‘Lazy J’, Chris Bussey’s edgy ‘Teenage Nerdbag’, Bob Bradley’s adrenaline-fuelled ‘Zero Tolerance’ and more.

Indie 

Sometimes, an atmospheric indie track is just the thing you need to polish your project.

In our indie playlist, you can discover Cahir O’Doherty’s epic ‘Teeth Marks’, Cody Page’s dreamy ‘China Shop’, Nick Kingswell’s moody ‘Bury Your Heart Here’ and more. 

Pop 

You really can’t go wrong with a pop background music track – after all, it’s popular for a reason.

Visit our pop playlist to sample Powell and Roan’s groovy ‘Good Thing Going On’, Robbie Redway’s brooding ‘Trouble Where You Are’, Martin Felix Kaczmarski summery ‘Close Without You’ and more. 

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. 

The Edit

Now that we’ve provided you with everything you needed to know about music for YouTube videos, it’s time for you to read a little more about music – from the music in our catalogue to how music is used in the media.

Visit The Edit, and you will find three categories: inspiration, expertise and news. The inspiration tab will take you to articles that will help you broaden your horizons. The expertise tab will lead you to articles that will teach you a thing or two about creating music, using music and the music industry. The news tab will guide you to articles that’ll help you keep up to date with the latest happenings within the Audio Network catalogue. 

Not sure where to start? Recent highlights include the most extraordinary female activists in music, the wonderful everyday of IKEA ads and a review of the Euphoria soundtrack.

This was originally published 21/08/2015 , updated on 11/12/2019, 28/05/2020, 09/07/2020 and 24/03/2022