The Cheapskate’s Guide to No-Cost Royalty-Free Music in 2020

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Music really makes or breaks your video project. And while there is no shortage of paid options (which, to their credit, are quite good) it’s nice to save some money and support smaller music creators. Especially at a time like now where COVID-19 slowdowns have effectively hammered down the creative services industry.

So I’m sharing my top-secret master list of resources that provide free, no-cost music for video production projects to help out the video creator community. Each website (and sometimes each track) has its own accompanying license type and usage requirements so please be sure to review the usage rights of each. Happy creating!

1. Ritual Music’s Free Audio Library

Website: https://www.ritualmusic.com/browse/free-music
Commercial and Broadcast use: No
Monetized YouTube and social media use: Yes
Attribution requirement: No

2. Clipdad

Website: https://www.clipdad.com/free-music
Commercial and Broadcast use: Yes
Monetized YouTube and social media use: Yes
Attribution requirement: No

3. YouTube Audio Library

Website: https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary
Commercial and Broadcast use: No
Monetized YouTube and social media use: Yes
Attribution requirement: Varies depending on track

4. Pond5’s Public Domain Music

Website: https://www.pond5.com/search?kw=&media=music&type=free
Commercial and Broadcast use: Yes
Monetized YouTube and social media use: Yes
Attribution requirement: No

5. CC Mixter

Website: http://dig.ccmixter.org/
Commercial and Broadcast use: Yes
Monetized YouTube and social media use: Yes
Attribution requirement: Yes

6. CC Hound

Website: https://cchound.com/
Commercial and Broadcast use: Varies by track
Monetized YouTube and social media use: Varies by track
Attribution requirement: Varies by track

7. No Copyright Music

Website: https://no-copyright-music.com/royalty-free-music
Commercial and Broadcast use: Yes
Monetized YouTube and social media use: Yes
Attribution requirement: Yes

8. Moby Gratis

Website: https://mobygratis.com/catalog
Commercial and Broadcast use: No
Monetized YouTube and social media use: Case-by-case
Attribution requirement: None

9. Magic Music

Website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp6_KuNhT0kcFk-jXw9Tivg
Commercial and Broadcast use: No
Monetized YouTube and social media use: Yes. Instructions here.
Attribution requirement: Yes

10. Breaking Copyright

Website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUFDNffZtBGisDliMx12fYw
Commercial and Broadcast use: Yes
Monetized YouTube and social media use: Yes.
Attribution requirement: Yes

11. ZapSplat

Website: https://www.zapsplat.com/
Commercial and Broadcast use: No
Monetized YouTube and social media use: Yes.
Attribution requirement: Yes

12. No Copyright Audio Library

Website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNhmOF-7XMymHPT-oWHLpuQ
Commercial and Broadcast use: No
Monetized YouTube and social media use: Yes
Attribution requirement: No

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