Feb 29, 2024
Licensing music has never been easier for creators. But it wasn’t always that way. Until very recently, there was only one way to get permission to use a song in creative work, and it involved a convoluted negotiation process between multiple copyright holders.
You’d have to get everyone from the different artists, labels, and publishers all together to sign off on any uses of a song for any other distribution or media.
This was both extremely time-consuming and difficult. Oh, and we should also mention that it was hugely expensive as well.
Thankfully, the music industry began to change in the late 2000s and now — with the help of music licensing companies — content creators can now access huge libraries of music that are fully cleared and covered for all types of uses.
Let’s take at some of the best music libraries available today where you can license songs and sound effects in your videos worry-free.
The criteria for choosing the best music libraries
Before we dive into our list of the best music licensing libraries, let’s quickly go over the criteria that we’re using to determine which site will provide you with the most value for your money. And, make no mistake, these different libraries vary significantly in terms of price, quality, and usability.
Here are the main criteria which you should consider:
- Overall music (and sound) quality
- Library diversity and useability
- Pricing plans and options
- Licensing support and agreements
There’s a lot to dive into for each of these, but trust us when we say that picking the right music licensing company for your needs is an important decision. With that in mind, here are nine companies that we would recommend for royalty free music licensing for your videos.
The 9 best music licensing companies
1. Soundstripe
Did you think I would write about the best music licensing companies and not introduce Soundstripe? While we’d like for you to decide for yourself which music licensing company is right for you, we’d be remiss if we didn’t highlight some of the many elements that make Soundstripe awesome.
In particular, Soundstripe offers unlimited music, sound effects, and video downloads when you sign up. You’ll be able to safely and securely connect your channels and monetize your videos. And you’ll have access to over 200K premium music, sound effects, and video assets.
With the Soundstripe app you’ll be able to make use of tons of helpful features like excluding features, alternate versions and stems, cue sheet downloads, and plenty of helpful and customizable playlists.
Plus, we’re always releasing add-ons to our platform that make your life easier —including recently launched plugins for Adobe Premiere and Frame.io.
If you’re at all interested, we would highly recommend that you click here to learn more about why you should license music from us here.
2. Marmoset
If you’d like to do your due diligence though and try out some other music licensing options, we’d also recommend checking out Marmoset. Named after a species of monkeys in South and Central America, the Marmoset Music platform is very diverse and easy to use.
You can search songs by different filter types and, if you’re feeling spontaneous, you can try your luck with the algorithm gods and see what you might find on their Marmoset Radio.
Overall Marmoset is a quality option that’s been around long enough to be a proven reliable choice for creators all over the globe.
3. Pond5
We’d also like to highlight some options that are more than just stock music websites. To video editors in particular, you might be familiar with Pond5 as a supplier of royalty free video footage. While AI is quickly changing that industry, Pond5 remains strong as a solid supplier of all types of different music, video, and other assets.
They’re worth checking out if you use them already for your video, or if you’d like to see what they offer as a bundle compared to the options we have here at Soundstripe.
4. PremiumBeat
Owned by Shutterstock, the Montreal-based PremiumBeat is perhaps best known for the audio bug in their unlicensed tracks that gives a bassy repeat of “PremiumBeat dot com.” If you haven’t used their music in the past, you might not have heard this — but it was a familiar refrain for video editors back in the early days of stock music.
Since being acquired, PremiumBeat has slowly become more and more a part of the greater Shutterstock experience. If you’re someone interested in using millions of stock photo images in your multimedia projects that go beyond just video content, PremiumBeat by Shutterstock is a great option to consider.
5. AudioJungle
One of the oldest music licensing options out there, AudioJungle could be considered the OG in the space. A part of the Envato family, AudioJungle is another great option for those looking to combine their royalty free music needs with many other types of resources and assets.
The Envato Market itself might be better known for their web themes and templates than their music selections, but as far as easy-to-use music goes it provides a simple way to add audio to any web project that might come across your plate.
6. Musicbed
Musicbed was one of the first music licensing companies to market their commitment to quality and they have a reputation for having one of the best audio libraries around.
Musicbed also has a polished user experience for search which lets you exclude types of music from your search. It might sound like a simple feature, but it’s not something everyone offers.
There are also a lot of playlists that are umbrella categories like Genres, Vibes, and Filmmakers, which are playlists made by filmmakers who use Musicbed.
7. Artlist
Artlist is another one of those one-stop-shop options for filmmakers and content creators looking to bundle all of their different audio, video, and asset needs together. They’re one of the bigger companies in the space for a reason as they offer lots of quality and selections.
To many video professionals, they might be more than just a music licensing company though, but if that’s what you’re after then they’ll certainly have plenty of great tracks and sound effects to choose from.
8. Music Vine
While not one of the bigger household names in the music licensing world, Music Vine has quietly become another solid addition to the royalty free music community.
With a diverse set of tracks that could be great for cinematic videos, corporate video spots, or your classic wedding film edits, Music Vine is a nice reminder that there’s tons of great music out there — it’s just on you to go, and find the right tracks for your needs.
9. Epidemic Sound
Founded back in 2009, Epidemic could still be considered a bit of a “newer” company on the stock audio and royalty free music scene. However, they’re certainly no small player in the space.
Epidemic has a huge library of songs and quite a bit of variety. There are plenty of different genres to explore as well as pretty much all of the same licensing options and plug-ins as you’ll find from the rest of the pack.
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So there you have it. Those are our top picks for the most reliable music licensing companies where creators of all kinds will be able to find quality royalty free music.
And, in all honesty, your best bet might simply be to try some of the options listed above yourself. As we’ve found at Soundstripe, the best music comes from authentic artists making music that they care about.
If you’re the same way as a creator, you’ll probably find that the right songs for your projects will be the ones that share the most with your style and voice. So, don’t be afraid to venture out of your comfort zone and see if you can find the best tracks to bring your videos to life.