FREE Music for Youtube Videos
by Sue Basko, Esq.
Do you like making videos for Youtube? If so, our good friends at Youtube have worked hard to give some really great options for you to use really good music for free on your Youtube videos.
The first option is a free music library. You can use this on any of your Youtube videos. The Youtube Audio Library has music that can be selected by genre, instrument, mood, or duration of the piece of music. There's a lot of good music to choose from. Go to the site and play around with the settings and listen. You'll hear some excellent selections to suit most videos.
This is what the Audio Library looks like:
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| what the Youtube Audio Library looks like. |
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| SFX Categories |
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| Some SFX Selections in the "Water" Category |
←← Sound Categories.
Sound Effect Selections→→
One the right, you can see some of the sound effect selections listed under "Water." You'll find all kinds of water sounds from bubbling brooks to waves washing up on the shore, to a drinking fountain.
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| what the Ad-Supported Music looks like |
The second option is Ad-Supported Music. These are a few hundred of the most popular songs that lots of people want to use in Youtube videos. The Youtube people have worked hard to cut deals for these songs to be used for free. When you use one of these songs, an ad will play first and that ad money goes to the people who own the song. Or there might be those in-screen ads.
The Ad-Supported songs are a collection of today's most popular songs for Youtube videos along with some songs that have been popular for a few years. In today's selection, you'll notice "Uptown Funk," which is very popular for school videos; several songs from "Fifty Shades of Grey," a few songs by Taylor Swift, the hugely popular "Gangnam Style," and a few hundred other songs that a lot of people like. Some of these would be great for a Youtube wedding or vacation video, a travel video, a dance video, or you own homemade tribute music video. You can use all these songs in your Youtube videos without paying any money or getting any licenses. The songs have been pre-licensed by Youtube for your use in Youtube videos.
Each one of the Ad-Supported Songs has a different set of restrictions. You can see the restrictions by clicking on the arrow by the song. Here we show the restrictions on two different songs.
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| Comparison of the Use Restrictions on 2 Ad-Supported Songs |
Let's compare the restrictions on the two songs, "Love Me Like You Do," and "Uptown Funk." Notice that neither song allows you to monetize the song. That is going to be true of all the Ad-Supported songs. You get to use the song for free, but your use of the song is supported by the ad revenue that goes to pay the copyright owners of the song.
The second restriction is whether Playback is blocked in any nations. For some reason, Germany is a party to very few of the song agreements, and Playback is blocked in Germany on many of the Ad-Supported songs. Notice that is the case with "Love Me Like You Do." Playback of "Uptown Funk" is blocked in 244 countries. That means your friends in the U.S. will be able to watch your video, but friends in other nations will not likely be able to watch. The restrictions on each song are unique, so you need to click the arrow by each song and find out what the deal is with that particular song.
If you are choosing an Ad-Supported song, you will want to check on these restrictions to be sure you pick a song that suits your needs. If you want your song to be playable almost worldwide, you need to choose a song that is blocked in as few nations as possible.
Keep in mind, the use of this music is for use in your videos on Youtube only. If you plan to host your video other places, the Youtube music licensing deal does not hold. But remember -- Youtube videos can be embedded on most websites and social media, including on Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, and Wordpress.
To embed a Youtube video, you copy the embed code and paste it in to any place on a website that accepts HTML. You can choose a size, or you can make it any size by deleting in the height and width in the embed code, and replacing it with new numbers. Be sure to choose a height and width that maintains the original aspect ratio. For example, if the embed code is Height 300 and Width 500, then you must change each number proportionally, such as Height 150 and Width 250. Otherwise, you will get a misshapen picture.
To show a Youtbe video on many social media sites, you just add the URL link. This is true on Facebook and Twitter.
Have fun making Youtube videos with this free music! Please feel free to send me links to the videos you create.
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