If you use YouTube, you should seriously consider adding background music to capture viewers’ attention, set the tone, engage, and create an emotional connection with your audience. Remove the unnecessary parts, adjust the volume, and insert close options. There’s no shortage of free music, but wouldn’t it be a better idea to use a song that everyone knows? In case you didn’t already know, YouTube is very strict about copyright, so the online video sharing and social media platform can easily take down your video and even suspend your account for copyright infringement.
YouTube has a copyright system, called Content ID, which enables music owners to protect their work and make money, while others can use their creations in YouTube videos. Independent artists can distribute their music and get paid. If you cause an incident, a copyright strike is put on your account. Three strikes, your account is permanently deleted. The point is that you need to be careful. You can’t use just any music in YouTube videos.
How to avoid copyright claims
Don’t attempt to pull fancy schemes to avoid paying for music in YouTube. YouTubers try to avoid copyright claims by resorting to all sorts of tricks, such as writing “I claim no rights to this song” or changing the speed of the music. You should take the high road and create content correctly.
Reuse music from YouTube videos with a Creative Commons license
YouTube users mark their videos with a CC BY license. The point is that you can legally use some rights reserved music for free. It doesn’t matter if the clips you make are for commercial or non-commercial purposes. You can produce video content thanks to the Creative Commons license several online platforms make available music published under this flexible copyright license. ccMixer is one such example. Here you can find tracks from the Beastie Boys, Fort Minor, and more.
Also read: Trending Songs on Apple Music for Every Mood
Use music without copyright or royalty-free music
If you’d like to use a popular song, the only possible way to avoid a claim is to get a license from the copyright owner. Attention needs to be paid to the fact that a copyright application can end up costing thousands of dollars. Let’s not even mention the renewal fees. If you don’t run an ads agency or a movie production company, obtaining the license is nearly impossible. Don’t worry because not all is lost. There is legal free music on the Web, but you have to be willing to look hard enough.
You can use royalty-free music. It’s a specific type of music licensing that enables you to purchase music for the license only and use it for as long as you want. For instance, if you purchase royalty-free music from a music source like Melody Loops, you pay once and you can use the content for as long as you desire. Don’t be confused by the term free. While you don’t have to pay a fee every time the music is used, you have to dig into your pockets. Royalty-free music isn’t a specific type of music, meaning that it can be anything from classical to heavy metal.
Use content that you’ve created yourself
The best way to avoid copyright infringement on YouTube is to use content that you’ve created yourself. Since you’re the owner, you don’t have to worry about a thing. If you’re not tone deaf, you can create good music. Find a musical instrument such as a guitar. Better yet, you can use your laptop. In the old days, making music with high fidelity sound demanded large sums of money, not to mention experience in training in composition and instrumentation. Now, it’s a completely different story. You can create beautiful songs with nothing more than a computer.
What to consider when selecting music for your YouTube video
The choice of background music is important for your YouTube video, as it will set the tone. Combining footage with the right music can result in a great clip. You have the opportunity to create something that stands out and gets countless views. Here are some aspects to take into consideration when choosing music for your YouTube video.
- What type of clip are you making?
The type of video content is directly related to the type of genre you’re going to use. You can make a performance video, a narrative video, an animated video, and so on. Think about what message you’re trying to get across and consider what music genre would complement that. The music should be speaking to your viewers just as much as the images.
- Who is watching?
Choose the most appropriate music based on the tastes of your audience. No matter your project, identify the target audience and choose the right background music for your video. Different people like different types of music, which means that you must go to great lengths to find something that speaks to your viewers.
- What music genre is appropriate?
If you want to grow an impressive YouTube audience, carefully pick the music genre. Examples of musical genres that would be a perfect fit for your video include but aren’t limited to cinematic, ambient, acoustic, jazz, electronic, classical, hip hop, rock, funk, country, and reggae. The rhythm and other sounds make the clip more attractive.
Most importantly, stay away from corny digital instruments. Even if some examples might sound good, your clip will feel outdated. It doesn’t take too long for the audience to tell the difference between the good, the bad, and the corny. The music should be in the background, meaning that viewers should barely feel it’s there. The idea is that the music should be subtle and not too intrusive. You can achieve better results, hard as it may be to believe.
