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From soft melodies to up-beat jingles, choosing the right background music can bring your video to life, in any genre or aesthetic. Unfortunately, not all music is free to use and share on social media like YouTube. Without knowing about copyright and royalties, adding non-licensed and copyrighted music to your video may result in demonetization, muting, or removal.
The good news is, Clipchamp has curated a content library full of professional and catchy stock audio that's completely royalty-free and copyright-free, so you don't need to worry about licensing. Browse through a huge range of music genres and moods like hip-hop, sad, scary, and happy. You can also find popular royalty-free sound effects including whooshes, pings, dings, and explosions.
Explore more about royalty-free music and how to find the perfect background track for your video in Clipchamp.
Types of royalty-free music in Clipchamp
Royalty-free music, also known as royalty-free licensing, refers to music you can use on your personal and commercial video content for platforms like YouTube and Instagram, without having to pay royalties to the artist yourself. Usually, there are two different royalty-free music categories: paid and free.
Free royalty-free music
Free-to-use royalty-free music means the soundtracks are free, with no payment required. All you have to do is add the audio to your video, save it, and upload it freely to a social media platform like YouTube.
Clipchamp provides you with access to thousands of royalty-free stock audio files from Storyblocks that you can use in your videos for commercial and non-commercial purposes. Explore the free and premium background music tracks and find the perfect fit for your video. You can also find YouTube sound effects in Clipchamp.
Paid royalty-free music
Not all stock music is free to use. Some providers may require you to pay a one-time license fee to give you the right to use the music for personal or commercial use. The music is still royalty-free but not free to add to your videos. If you have a paid subscription plan in Clipchamp, you'll have access to all royalty-free stock media and audio.
Why should you use royalty-free music in videos?
Social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook require users to follow specific music policies when using copyrighted music. If these policies aren't met by posting a video that includes copyright protected music, your video can be muted, removed, or blocked. It can even result in your account getting flagged or banned.
Easily avoid these copyright issues by removing any copyrighted music in your video and replacing it with royalty-free audio tracks. Royalty-free music means you’re essentially outsourcing the licensing to a third-party provider. It is important to note, royalty-free and copyright-free are not the same thing. Sometimes royalty-free music can still receive a copyright infringement warning. If this happens with Clipchamp royalty-free audio, take a look at this help article for troubleshooting.
How to use royalty-free background music in Clipchamp
Step 1. Import videos or select stock footage
Import your own videos, photos, and audio, by clicking on the import media button in the your media tab on the toolbar to browse your computer files, or connect your OneDrive.
You can also use free stock media like video clips, video backgrounds, and stock music. Click on the content library tab on the toolbar and click on the visuals drop down arrow, then videos. You can also search through the different stock categories using the search bar.
Drag and drop your video onto the timeline.
Step 2. Select a royalty-free music track
To add stock music and sound effects to your video, click on the content library tab on the toolbar. Next, click on the audio option. Here, you can find a wide range of music and sound effects that are royalty-free for YouTube and other social media platforms.
Next, click on an audio category. Select from recommended audio files, all music, or all sound effects.
To preview an audio file, click on the play button.
You can also view the audio file in full-screen by clicking on the track. Here, you will be able to see the audio duration and if the asset is available for free or premium Clipchamp accounts. Click on the add to timeline button to add your audio to the timeline, or click on add to my media button to add your audio to the your media tab.
If you added the media to the your media tab, navigate back to that section on the toolbar. Then, drag and drop your chosen audio file onto the timeline below your video.
Step 3. Edit background music to suit your video
To trim your audio, click on the audio file on the timeline so it's highlighted. Move the handles to the left of the timeline to trim the music length. If you trim too much footage off your music, just drag the handle back to the right to recover what you cut.
To edit the volume of your music, click on the audio tab on the property panel. Use the volume slider to make your audio softer or louder. Drag to the left for softer and right for louder.
To add fades to your music, click on the fade tab on the property panel. Drag the fade in and fade out sliders to the right to add and increase the fade.
To edit the speed of your audio track, click on the speed tab on the property panel. Drag the slider to the left to slow down your clip, or to the right to speed up your clip. Choose from 0.1x to up to 16x speed options or input a specific value.
Step 4. Preview and save your video with music
Before saving your new video, make sure to preview by clicking on the play button. When you’re ready to save, click on the export button and select a video resolution.
For more help adding royalty-free background music or sound effects to your video, check out how to add audio to video, or watch our YouTube tutorial.
Frequently asked questions
Can I edit audio separately to video in Clipchamp?
You can trim your audio length, increase or decrease speed, and add fades separately to your video files quickly and simply in Clipchamp. You can also split and delete your audio file on the timeline.
Is royalty-free music copyrighted?
Royalty-free music doesn’t necessarily mean it’s copyright-free, but you won’t have to pay for royalties. The copyright of the music track can still be owned by the artist. The good news is that the music in the Clipchamp content library is royalty-free and copyright-free.
Is all royalty-free background music free in Clipchamp?
Clipchamp offers a free-to-use stock collection of royalty-free music. Clipchamp premium users also gain access to a larger catalogue of royalty-free music.
What is the best YouTube royalty-free music?
The safest option is the Clipchamp content library which has a large collection of royalty-free and copyright-free music. Secondly, YouTube offers royalty-free music in their Audio Library, and United States users can license popular music using the Creator Music service.
Add more tricks to your audio editing toolkit like the Clipchamp free music visualizer tool, or check out these beginner-friendly audio editing hacks.
Explore royalty-free music options today with Clipchamp for free or download the Clipchamp Windows app.
