How to Edit Music in YouTube: Create your Project’s Soundtrack with the YouTube Music Editor

While YouTube might have started as a small video-sharing site online, it has quickly become one of the most popular—and most important—platforms in the world. Not only is it one of the most visited sites on the internet, but it’s also the best app for those looking to launch their personal and company brands.

While it’s easier than ever to make video content to share on YouTube, it’s still far from easy. You need to write the right script, find the right camera, use all the right gear, edit your video, and give it a high-quality soundtrack (which many say is the ultimate key to defining a video’s success).

So, if you’re on your own video content creation journey and trying to figure out how to edit music in YouTube, we’re here to help. We’ll explore how to find and license the right music for your YouTube videos, add and edit these songs to your videos, and maximize your resources to create engaging and impactful videos for your YouTube channel.

The basics of adding music to your YouTube videos

To start, let’s review some basics about how music in YouTube videos works. To understand how YouTube uses music, though, you should probably know a quick thing or two about music licensing in general.

In short, all music has natural copyrights associated with it. Every song has copyrights that extend to the song’s composer and the artists who recorded it. These copyrights often extend to producers and studios as well, which can often make licensing confusing.

All that being said, when looking to use music in your YouTube videos, content creators can contact artists directly and negotiate for the ability to use their music in their videos. More often than not, creators will find music that has been licensed for them to use already.

YouTube offers music in its YouTube Music Library that content creators can use in their YouTube videos. However, if you’d like to use the same videos on platforms other than YouTube for commercial use or for other marketing purposes, your best option will be to find royalty free music offered by music licensing companies like Soundstripe.

We’ll share some royalty free music playlists and recommendations below, but for now, all you need to know is that royalty free music is the safest and easiest way to get full coverage for your YouTube videos. If you’d like to learn more about what royalty free music is and how it works, check out this full guide to royalty free music here.

How to add music into your videos using the YouTube editor

Now that we’ve covered some music licensing basics, let’s look at how you can add music into your videos using the built-in music editor, YouTube's editor tool. This feature offered by YouTube is a free tool that’s quite easy to use–but also quite simplistic in what it offers and how it works.

To start, you’ll need to create a YouTube account and upload a video. From there, you’ll want to follow these steps to add music from the YouTube music library:

1. Navigate to the YouTube Studio page.
2. Select “Content”.
3. Click on the video you’d like to edit.
4. Click on the “Editor” button.
5. Select the “Audio” button and use the search filters to find an audio track that you like. (You can preview the tracks here, too.)
6. Once you find a song you like, click the “ADD” button. The song will appear in the editor in a blue box, where you can adjust the endpoints of the track.
7. When you’re finished, click the “SAVE” button.

Pretty easy, right? It’s a pretty simple process but limited in how you might want to customize the music for your video. 

How to add music to your videos using different editing programs

If you’re looking for more advanced controls for editing music in your videos, your best bet is to combine the audio and video in a proper video editing app like Adobe’s Premiere Pro, Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve, or Apple’s Final Cut Pro.

Here are some quick guides on how to add music to your videos using different editing programs.

Premiere Pro

DaVinci Resolve

Final Cut Pro

How to add music to your videos using smartphone apps

If these more advanced video editing desktop programs are too advanced or confusing for you (or if you’re simply looking to edit your videos more quickly and on the run), you can also easily add music to your videos using different smartphone apps.

Here are some of the better smartphone video editing options on the market, which can be great ways for run-and-gun content creators to quickly and easily get videos out. 

• CapCut
• iMovie
• Canva
• GoPro Quik
• Splice

As a bonus tip, we recommend checking out our Soundstripe mobile app to find and license the best royalty free music for your videos.

The best royalty free music for YouTube videos

At the end of the day, though, regardless of how you choose to edit music in YouTube videos, you’ll be best served by using high-quality songs and sound effects. That’s what we offer here at Soundstripe, and we actually have some hand-selected songs that we’d recommend checking out for your YouTube videos.

• Description: A medium-energy, electronic song that is best described as fun and happy. Bass and bass guitar are the primary instruments in this track.
• BPM: 111
• Key: F Major
• Listen and license here.

• Description: A low-energy, electronic song that is best described as chill and reflective. Synth and piano are the primary instruments in this track.
• BPM: 108
• Key: B Major
• Listen and license here.

• Description: A medium-energy, electronic song that is best described as chill and happy. Ambient tones and bass are the primary instruments in this track.
• BPM: 102
• Key: E Major
• Listen and license here.

• Description: A medium-energy, hip-hop song that is best described as happy and hopeful. Bass and bass guitar are the primary instruments in this track.
• BPM: 96
• Key: A Major
• Listen and license here.

• Description: A medium-energy, electronic song that is best described as chill and fun. Synth is the primary instrument in this track.
• BPM: 140
• Key: Eb/D# Major
• Listen and license here.

You can further check out some of the best royalty free music for YouTube videos here, as well as further explore some tips and tricks for creating great YouTube videos with these resources below:

• Understanding YouTube's Algorithm Updates in 2024 - A Primer for Boosting Your Content
• Royalty Free Music for YouTube Intros and Outros – 10 Top Tracks to Boost Your Channel's Vibe
• Why Were Adele, Green Day, Bob Dylan, and More Music Videos Removed from YouTube? Will YouTube Renew SESAC?