Slideshow Background Music

When you’re putting together a slideshow – whether it’s to celebrate family memories, or to commemorate an event or a person’s life - one of the best things to bear in mind is to keep it relatively short. What’s the perfect length? Probably no more than 3-4 minutes – as in, the length of the average song. If you choose the right slideshow background music, it’ll make your slideshow easy to edit – the challenge is then just working out which photos, videos or other images to include.

Here are five of the best tracks to use as background music for a slideshow no matter what your theme is:

‘Defining Moment’ – Chris Bussey, Craig Bussey, Michael Edward McIafferty

‘Amy Johnson’ – Jessica Dannheisser

‘Sacred Valley’ – Marc Jackson Burrows

‘Glass Animal’ – Tom Peters, Greg McDonald

‘Fresh Outlook’ – Chris Bussey, Craig Bussey

Whatever music you’re featuring, remember that if you’re using it in a public place – or want to put your slideshow onto YouTube – then you need to make sure that you’ve licensed it correctly.

Watch this video to find out more:

Instrumental background music for slideshows

We’re going to walk you through choosing music for slideshows on:

• Great memories – from holidays to engagement parties and weddings
• Sports – from a school sports day to celebrating the season
• Family – all those parties, special anniversaries and big birthdays
• Christmas and the holidays – remember everything from buying the tree to opening the presents
• Funerals – commemorate every aspect of a loved one’s life

What makes the ideal background music for slideshow memories?

When you’re choosing background music for your slideshow, get creative with your  holiday memories or your honeymoon with some authentic music from the area you’ve visited, from exploring Paris to going on safari in Kenya.

For your wedding, then the best music for a slideshow presentation will need shorter clips to move from the service to the speeches and the reception. Start with some classical music, such as ‘The Flower Duet’ by Delibes, or the ‘Bridal Chorus’, then choose something from a pop playlist as you get the party started – why not try the ideally-named ‘Happily Ever After’ by Matt Nasir?

If your engagement, stag or hen party has a theme? Get the slideshow background music to match, whether it’s 1920s flappers and jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, or Hollywood glamour.

Or listen to these tracks for more inspiration:

'Happily Ever After' - Matt Nasir

‘The Affairs Of Bears’ – Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd

‘Pleasure’ – Paddy Conn

‘The Very Last Time’ – Craig Hardy, Carolyn Jordan, Alice Penrose

‘Good Thing’ – Josh Oliver, Edward Hogston

Choosing background music for sports slideshows

When it comes to music for sports slideshows, you’ll be looking for something with plenty of pace and drama to accompany the action, whether it’s a slideshow for your local team, a celebration of a particular player, or even a school sports day or end-of-year round up, like these brilliant tracks:

‘Masochist’ – Gavin Burrough, Kyle Smith

‘Monsters Of Rock’ – Bob Bradley, Steve Dymond, Ben Whynes

‘Glowlights’ – George Georgia

‘Know No Fear’ – Benjamin Thompson

‘Killin’ The Game’ – William Davies, Dag Torgersbraten, Tajh Abdulsamad, Lee Francis

The best background music for family slideshows

Family occasions are the perfect time for a slideshow, whether it’s to show at a party venue, or to create as a really special gift.  If you’re celebrating a big birthday, or a special anniversary, then here are some inspirational tracks:

'Glass Animal' - Tom Peters, Greg McDonald

‘Golden Heart’ – Terry Devine-King

‘Nostalgic Bachata’ – Juan Carlos Rodriguez, Orlando Felice Rodriguez Di Pietro

‘Rather Be’ – Josh Oliver, Edward Hogston

‘Fairytale In Techno’ – John 00 Fleming

Let’s celebrate! Joyful background music for Christmas slideshows

For everything from an enchanting school nativity play, when you might want some classic carols, or instrumental music, to a slideshow of putting up and decorating the tree, opening presents and celebrating together, check out these tracks:

'This Christmas' - Paddy Conn, Angelina Dove

'Deck The Halls' - Patrick Hawes

'We Three Kings' -  Alexander L'Estrange, Ben Parry

'Silent Night' - Thomas Parisch, Laurent Ziliani

'Festive Love' - Paul Clarvis, Frank Ricotti

Choosing suitable background music for a funeral slideshow

When it comes to a funeral slideshow, you may want to move through different moods in order to focus on various aspects of the person’s life. Instrumental background music is a good choice for this type of slideshow, whether it’s epic orchestral, or modern and minimal.

Here are some suggested tracks:

‘I Just Can’t Forget About You’ – Craig Hardy

‘Big Winter Sky’ – Theo Travis

‘Bleaklow’ – Glenn Sharp

‘Simple Matters’ – Bob Bradley, Christopher Wonfor

‘Summer Idyll’ – James Taylor