How to Approach Music Licensing Costs with Clients: A Guide for Creators and Businesses

We get it: for creatives producing content for multiple clients, managing your music licensing costs can be tricky. Regardless if you’re a freelancer, you run a small production company, or you work for a larger agency, it can be challenging to always purchase the perfect soundtrack while keeping your expenses in check.

We’re here to help you navigate this difficult process by offering some tried-and-true approaches to analyzing your music licensing costs and, when appropriate, transparently passing them through to your clients so everyone benefits.

If one of your goals for 2025 is to better manage your expenses, follow this guide on approaching music licensing costs with your various clients.

Help your clients understand music licensing basics

Our first tip for discussing music licensing costs and expectations with your clients is to have these conversations early in the creative process. Even if you’re just doing a one-off video for a client, the more you can do at the start to convey that there are more costs for a project besides your time and equipment, the better.

Costs aside, music plays a huge part in any video or campaign, so encouraging your clients to share (or think about) their musical vision at the jump can be quite helpful in developing creative concepts and storyboards. And if your client has a specific request like a famous song, custom original music, or a very niche genre, finding out early is key to avoiding surprises and disappointment and letting you plan ahead.

If you’re already a Soundstripe subscriber, a great trick can be to spend some time exploring the Soundstripe library to find music that you think might be a nice thematic fit for a project. You can also encourage your clients to browse the library to see if any songs (or at least genres) match their vision and expectations.

This is also a great way to start conversations about the basics of music licensing. In short, despite some misconceptions about what terms like ‘royalty free’ and ‘copyright free’ mean, most clients can understand that music isn’t free—and, more specifically, licensing music for commercial use costs money for a reason.

Consider whether to bundle your music licensing costs into your project fees

The first option many creatives consider for music licensing is to bundle any licensing costs directly into their project fees. This approach is often favored by both solo freelancers and bigger agencies because it makes the process easier when discussing budgets and expectations with clients.

It’s worth considering, however, whether to itemize music licenses as expenses separate from your rate–similar to how you might itemize expenses related to travel for a shoot. While it does require a bit more communication and detailed proposals and invoices, directly billing a client for their audio assets can ensure you have the freedom to both select the right music and pay for all the necessary coverage–without going over budget.

Spending the time to educate your clients on both the perks of using royalty free music from companies like Soundstripe, as well as the downsides to risking copyright strikes and takedowns, can help ease confusion about being asked to cover music licensing costs. And confirming these costs will be 100% covered from the start is an easy yet drastic way to elevate your content with a pitch-perfect soundtrack.

Consider a music licensing subscription vs individual licenses

However, there are scenarios where it might make more sense for you to handle all of the music licensing costs on your own. In which case, you might find yourself in a spot where you’re considering a music licensing subscription versus per-song licensing costs for your music and sound effects.

If you’re working off of a retainer or a lump sum that covers all aspects of a video’s production and distribution, for example, these costs might make more sense for you to take on yourself, which is where annual and monthly subscription options for music providers like Soundstripe can offer the most value—especially if you’re doing lots of work with lots of music and sound effects.

That said, it’s important to remember that in many instances, it makes more sense for your clients to sign up for their own plans to get music licensing for business. Unlike individual plans for solo creators, business plans are created by music licensing companies for businesses in order to allow multiple team members (and contractors) to use the service under a single subscription.

Some pros of Soundstripe’s business plans include broader licensing options for commercial purposes (such as coverage for TV spots in addition to digital ads), more robust guarantees and warranties for peace of mind, greater indemnification, and customizable contract terms to fit an organization’s unique needs.

If you’re curious about which Soundstripe plan would be better for you or your clients, here’s a full explainer on whether enterprise plans are right for you.

Personal or corporate plan aside, a music licensing subscription gives you total predictability when it comes to your music licensing costs–ideal for when you can’t just charge overages to your client’s tab. That said, single-song licenses also have their time and place, particularly when you don’t have enough consistent work from clients to warrant the recurring commitment. Here at Soundstripe, every track in our catalog is available for individual purchase so you can always buy the exact license you need, when you need it.

Tie your music licensing costs to where your videos will be used

Another approach professional creators and marketers can try with their clients is to tie music licensing costs directly to where your videos will be used. This is generally a better option for creatives working with larger brands and advertising agencies, as these companies tend to be more familiar with how commercial and broadcast licensing fees work.

Consider using the contract stage of a project to specify and document exactly where your work will be distributed: social media (and whether organic or paid), TV, an event, and so on. This will help you define the appropriate music licensing needs and budget for these costs.

If you’re working with smaller clients who only want their content to be distributed through online channels like various social media platforms and websites, the cost of proper coverage is likely minimal. Therefore, your best option could simply be baking the cost into your overall project estimate.

However, if your client wants to broadcast your content on television or other mass-market media (say, OTT, radio, or OOH) , you’ll want to explore more itemized licensing expenses to cover these distribution costs or direct your clients to explore the music licensing options available with Soundstripe’s enterprise plans.

Remember, all music licenses have specific allowances and limitations–a song that’s cleared for YouTube may not be approved for a TV commercial. Knowing your client’s intent for a project will not only help you budget accurately but will let you secure all the rights necessary for a successful campaign and client engagement.

Additional resources

If you’d like to further explore more tips and tricks for managing your clients and finding the best music for your projects, check out these additional articles from the Soundstripe blog: