You want every video you upload to stand out, and music is one of the most effective ways to do exactly that. The right track doesn’t simply fill silence – it drives the pace of your footage, adds emotion, and leaves a lasting impression.
Think of That’s Amazing’s insane trick shots and you can practically hear them ramping up the drama with epic soundtracks. Or try imagining Safiya Nygaard’s lifestyle videos without her tongue-in-cheek classical music and characterful jazzy jingles. But while finding the perfect track is about nailing the vibe of your videos, it’s also about keeping them safe from copyright headaches.
The search for your signature sound shouldn’t mean hours of trawling sites for music that’s safe to use though. You might not be able to drop a Sabrina Carpenter hit into your edit, but there are countless places to find incredible free tracks that will elevate your videos. Save yourself some time and skip straight to our handpicked list of the best free music sites for creators and YouTubers.
- 1. Uppbeat
- 2. Bensound
- 3. Incompetech
- 4. YouTube Audio Library
- 5. Free Music Archive
- 6. Public Domain music on YouTube
- 7. Soundcloud
- 8. NoCopyrightSounds
- 9. Chillhop
- Downloading music for videos: Your FAQs answered
2025's best free music websites for creators
Finding free music has been a thorn in the side of creators since the early days of YouTube. Thankfully there are loads of different music libraries and resources for content creators, each offering free tracks you can safely use across YouTube and social media.
Some have been around for ages, while other newcomers like Uppbeat are genuinely changing the game. To save you going through them all yourself, we’ve uncovered the nine best free music websites and given you all the reasons why you might (and might not!) use them to soundtrack your YouTube videos.
1. Uppbeat
The free music platform built for creators, by creators. You bet we’re proud to shout about Uppbeat being one of the best places to find free music for your YouTube videos and social media content!
Pros: Head to Uppbeat and you’ll discover a hand-picked catalog of top-quality tracks from talented artists all over the world. The platform makes it easy to find your perfect sound in seconds, with playlists curated around the type of content you create and the vibe you want for your videos.
Best of all, Uppbeat helps you steer clear of copyright issues. Every time you download a track, you’ll get a unique Uppbeat Credit to drop into your video description – a simple step that guarantees you won’t run into problems, even if you’re monetizing your videos.
It’s a win-win. You get to earn from your content, and Uppbeat’s ethical business model ensures artists get paid fairly every time their music is downloaded (not every site on this list can say the same!).
Cons: Signing up for a free Uppbeat account lets you download three free tracks (plus an extra track each month), which for many creators will be enough to soundtrack a video or two. But if you want more, Uppbeat comes with three cost-effective plans, tailored to your needs.
Unlock unlimited downloads, premium tracks, and the ability to safelist your YouTube channel, with Uppbeat Essentials (just $5.59 a month!). Or, go one step further with full access to motion graphics and LUTs with Uppbeat Creator.
Uppbeat is completely geared towards creators. When you download a track, the Uppbeat license covers all creator platforms such as YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok, including sponsored and affiliated content. But if you’re looking for music to use in larger productions and paid advertising, you can simply sign up to Uppbeat Pro.
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2. Bensound
One of the OG royalty-free music sites! Bensound is the work of French musician Benjamin Tissot, who has spent the last decade creating tracks to share with the creator community through his basic music website.
Pros: Bensound allows you to download tracks for free and use them in your videos or live streams. All you need to do is find the track you want, follow the licensing terms and credit Bensound in the video description.
Cons: While Bensound has a variety of different genres and moods to choose from, the catalog of less than 500 tracks is significantly smaller than Uppbeat and many of the other websites on this list. If you don’t find what you’re looking for straight away, you may have to look elsewhere!
3. Incompetech
Chances are you’ve already heard some of Incompetech’s small but mighty catalog! American composer Kevin MacLeod has been helping the creator community for years by making his music available for free through Creative Commons licenses.
Pros: You can download and use some of the most recognisable tracks across platforms like YouTube and TikTok, for no cost whatsoever. Music is listed by genre and all you need to do is credit MacLeod in your video’s description.
Cons: Many of Kevin MacLeod’s best tracks are already available on Uppbeat alongside a full catalog of amazing artists and different genres. You can save some time by using Uppbeat’s super slick navigation to find the perfect sounds for your project, instead of searching across two sites.
4. YouTube Audio Library
The YouTube Audio Library is YouTube’s very own catalog of free stock music for creators to use in their videos. Don’t get it confused with YouTube Music though – unfortunately, it has nothing to do with being able to download your favorite songs for free!
Pros: The library has an impressive 150,000 tracks for you to explore. What’s more, they’re all easily accessible directly from your YouTube Studio. Talk about convenience!
Cons: The flipside of having such a wide variety to choose from is that it can take time to find that perfect song, especially with YouTube Audio Library’s fiddly navigation and no-frills layout. Even if you persevere and find a track to use, you’ve also got to be mindful of whether you need to attribute the artist in your video description too. Use the wrong attribution and you could still get copyright strikes!
5. Free Music Archive
Free Music Archive was founded in 2009 by independent radio station WFMU to give creators access to original music that its artists made available using Creative Commons licenses.
Pros: As a champion of independent artists, Free Music Archive have a wide range of music styles to choose from. You’ll also need to sift through loads of tracks to find the right one for you though, thanks to Free Music Archive’s simplistic search options.
Cons: Make sure you check what type of Creative Commons license applies to each track you download. Some music might not be available to use in videos or commercial projects!
6. Public Domain music on YouTube
If you’ve searched for free tracks on YouTube, you’ve more than likely come across channels offering ‘public domain’ music. This is when musicians give up the rights to their intellectual property, meaning you’re free to use their tunes in your videos.
Pros: The great thing about public domain music is that there are absolutely no restrictions to how you can use it! Plus, you can find some pretty iconic works from old masters like Beethoven and Mozart in the public domain, if that’s what you’re looking for.
Cons: If that sounds too good to be true, finding specific recordings that are in the public domain can be tricky. There are often newer versions that are protected by copyright, and some of the more well-known tracks can also be targeted by people making fraudulent copyright claims against your content.
7. Soundcloud
As well as finding copyright-free music on YouTube, popular music platform Soundcloud can also be a great source of free music from new artists and established beatmakers.
Pros: Lots of artists upload their tracks directly to Soundcloud with Creative Commons licenses allowing you to use their music. Simply search for ‘royalty-free music’ on Soundcloud to start exploring.
Cons: Creative Commons licenses can range from complete freedom to use a track, right through to very specific restrictions, like not being able to monetize your videos. It’s also worth paying attention to how each track needs to be credited in your video description so you avoid getting any copyright strikes.
Lots of artists get started on Soundcloud, but they could later be signed up by a label or register their music with Content ID at some point in the future. If this happens, you could end up receiving copyright claims on any of your videos that use their music.
8. NoCopyrightSounds
Millions of creators turn to YouTube to try and find free music for their videos. Search and you’ll see there are several big channels offering copyright-free music that you can download straight from their video descriptions. The most popular of them all is NoCopyrightSounds (NCS) with over 30 million subscribers!
Pros: You can explore their roster of high-quality independent artists by checking out different genre-specific playlists. Simply find the track you want and click the link in the video description to download.
Cons: NCS often only uploads one track per YouTube video, so browsing their music can be time consuming as you have to load each track one-by-one - not to mention having to sit through YouTube ads!
It’s also worth noting that the NCS catalog only focuses on electronic music, so if you’re looking for cinematic soundscapes, acoustic tracks, or basically any other genre, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
9. Chillhop Music
You may well have found yourself listening to one of Chillhop Music’s hugely successful YouTube streams. Did you know you can also download their tracks to use in your videos?
Pros: Sign up for Chillhop’s Creator’s Program to connect your YouTube channel and you can download tracks to use in your content by putting a simple credit link in the video description.
Cons: While Chillhop does work with some talented artists, you can probably guess that their tracks are limited to, well, chillhop music. Another thing to factor in is that you can only use their tracks on YouTube and Twitch, meaning that if you want to share your latest video on other channels, such as Instagram, TikTok, or in your podcasts, you’ll need to use a different service.
Downloading free music for videos: Your FAQs answered
Finding the perfect soundtrack for your videos is a big part of being a creator. But the last thing you want is to get into a legal tangle over using the wrong track. So you can download music with confidence, we’ve answered some of the common questions we get asked by creators.
Why can’t I use any music on YouTube?
If you want to use music in your YouTube videos, you’ll need to get permission from the artist first. Chances are you don’t have The Weeknd or Miley Cyrus on speed dial and, without their permission, you won’t be able to use their tracks.
All copyrighted music is registered with YouTube. It uses a clever fingerprinting system called Content ID to flag when videos contain copyrighted music. So it can tell if you use Miley’s music to soundtrack your video and, if you don’t have permission, you’ll get a copyright claim.
What are YouTube copyright claims?
If you use copyrighted music or video without permission in your content, YouTube’s Content ID system will automatically flag your video and send you a Content ID claim.
There are a few things that might happen if you get a Content ID claim and it all depends on the copyright owner. They might allow you to use their content in exchange for running ads on your video. Or the other extreme is that they could ask YouTube to take down your video.
It goes without saying that you want to avoid having your videos taken down from YouTube! The last thing you want is to receive a copyright strike or demonetization because you’ve used the wrong track, which is why finding copyright-free music is so important.
What is copyright-free music?
In a nutshell, copyright-free music is music that is not protected by copyright. But the term is more widely used in the creator space to describe tracks that can be used without the threat of copyright issues on YouTube. Get a better understanding of how licensing tracks can keep your content safe with our guide to music copyright.
Start browsing free music downloads now
The search for safe, high-quality background music doesn’t need to be complicated. With these nine free music websites, you’ve now got reliable places to find tracks that enhance your videos without the risk of copyright claims.
If you’re not sure where to start, Uppbeat offers one of the widest selections of incredible free tracks, making it easy to match the perfect soundtrack to your next project. You can find the right music in minutes, download it safely, and spend more time creating the content your audience loves, without the hassle of trawling through endless libraries.
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