How to Use Copyrighted Music in Adobe Express (Legally) + 5 Royalty-Free Tracks to Elevate Your Sound

Since first being introduced as Adobe Spark back in 2016, before being relaunched as Adobe Express in 2022, Adobe’s cloud-based design platform has proven to be one of the most popular content creation tools for all types of projects.

From web pages and PDF designs to highly detailed graphics and other digital assets, Adobe Express offers a wide range of applications—even including video creation and editing. Yet, while many design applications are quite similar, video can be tricky for creatives with a background in production and editing.

Many questions surrounding if and how you can use copyrighted music in your videos are quite common. To help creatives and creators of all types get up to speed, let’s go over how to use copyrighted music in Adobe Express and share some high-quality royalty-free music tracks to consider using in your projects that aren’t liable for copyright issues.

The basics of how to add music to Adobe Express

Unlike more advanced video editing apps like Adobe products like Premiere Pro and After Effects or other brands like DaVinci Resolve or Final Cut Pro, Adobe Express is not a non-linear editing system that features a more traditional and familiar timeline-based workflow.

Instead, adding music in Adobe Express works the same way as adding any other digital asset or file. If you’re looking to upload your own audio, all you have to do is drag and drop your song file directly into your project. 

However, this methodology does not account for proper licensing or copyright concerns. The easiest way to quickly add music in Adobe Express is to use the Soundstripe Music add-on, one of Soundstripe’s integrations that helps you sync Soundstripe with the tools you already know and love.

We’ll discuss how to use the Soundstripe Music add-on in Adobe Express below, but if you’re curious, you can read a full guide to getting started here.

Understanding the types of music copyrights

Before we get too into the weeds of adding and editing music in Adobe Express, though, we should probably go over some basic aspects of how music copyrights and licensing work. In particular, let’s go over what royalty free music is and why it will almost always be your best option for your video projects.

If you want to use any copyrighted music in your videos or content, you’ll need to negotiate with the copyright holders for the songs. This protects the artists and is how we can ensure that musicians and songwriters are compensated for their hard and awesome work.

At Soundstripe, we also own every single song in our library, so you won’t find our music anywhere else. And you’ll have two options on how to license a song. You can pay for a single song license in our royalty free music library and use that song for as many projects as you want. You can also sign up for one of our Soundstripe subscription plans, which gives you unlimited access to our entire library.

How to use copyrighted music in Adobe Express legally

The easiest way to safely and legally use copyrighted music in Adobe Express without being liable for having your content taken down for copyright infringements is to license tracks directly from Soundstripe. 

To help you become familiar with Soundstripe's offerings, here are some top track recommendations for royalty-free music for Adobe Express projects

1. Unnecessary Behaviour by Tony Sopiano

• Description: A high-energy, hip-hop song best described as happy and fun. Synth and organ are the primary instruments in this track.
• BPM: 89
• Key: Bb/A# Minor
• Listen and license here

2. Yellow by Wilasco

• Description: A medium-energy, electronic song best described as happy and fun. Synth and bass are the primary instruments in this track.
• BPM: 110
• Key: F Minor 
• Listen and license here

3. Octane by LNDÖ

• Description: A high-energy rock song best described as happy and angry. The guitar and electric guitar are the primary instruments on this track.
• BPM: 95
• Key: D Major
• Listen and license here

4. Finish Line by Reveille

• Description: A medium-energy, acoustic song best described as inspiring and hopeful. Guitar and acoustic guitar are the primary instruments in this track.
• BPM: 138
• Key: D Major
• Listen and license here

5. Lagos Love by PALA

• Description: A low-energy, electronic song best described as chill and inspiring. The guitar and electric guitar are the primary instruments on this track.
• BPM: 102
• Key: B Minor
• Listen and license here

You can explore the best royalty-free music for Adobe Express here, and you can find more high-quality tracks in Soundstripe’s full music library. 

Using copyrighted music on Adobe Express

As mentioned above, actually adding music of any type to your Adobe Express projects is quite simple. (And it's even simpler if you use the Soundstripe Music add-on in Adobe Express.)

To get started with the Soundstripe Music add-on in Adobe Express, your first step is to connect the add-on to your Soundstripe account. If you don’t have a Soundstripe account, you can sign up for one for free right now.

With a free account, you can explore Soundstripe’s music, video, and sound effect libraries, create unlimited projects, add favorites, curate playlists, and even download song previews.

A membership plan unlocks full access and can supercharge your workflows. Explore the different levels of the Soundstripe pricing page here. Once you’ve set up a plan and connected your account, adding copyrighted music in Adobe Express is quite simple.

Simply pick a song you’d like to use and drag and drop it into your project. From there, you’ll be able to adjust each song's duration and start time directly on your timeline. (For further song length control, try out Soundstripe’s AI song editor to instantly cut your track to your preferred length.)

Once you’ve adjusted the duration, you can further adjust the volume, add additional soundtracks, or keep editing. Once you’re happy with how the track sounds in your video, you can download your new video with the music baked in as an MP4 file and share it online.

And voilà, just like that, you’re using copyrighted music in Adobe Express. Except you’re not just using any music; you’re using royalty free music from Soundstripe that is fully copyright-protected and safe to use on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, or any other social media platforms or for all your other marketing channels.

More tips and resources for working in Adobe Express

For tips on working with music in Adobe Express or other video editing software, check out these additional resources from the Soundstripe blog.

• How to Add Music to Adobe Premiere Rush: 10 Royalty Free Tracks to Get Your Project Started Right
• The 6 Best Adobe Express Add-Ons for Creatives of All Types: From Dynamic Light FX to Stunning Sound & More
• How to Add Music to CapCut + 10 Top Royalty Free Music Tracks to Make Your Videos Stand Out
• What is Production Music vs. Popular Music? Understanding Licensing, Costs, and Creative Use
• How to Use Copyrighted Music on YouTube Shorts – Master the Rules and Grow Your Reach