Music is one of the most powerful tools a video creator has — it sets the mood, maintains viewer engagement, and gives your content a professional feel. But using music on YouTube without the proper licences is one of the fastest ways to lose your monetisation, have your video blocked, or receive a copyright strike. This comprehensive guide explains everything YouTube creators need to know about music licensing in 2025.
When you use someone else's music in your YouTube video, you are potentially infringing on two separate copyrights:
To legally use a commercially released song in a YouTube video, you would theoretically need licences from both copyright holders. For mainstream music, obtaining these licences individually is effectively impossible for individual creators — which is why royalty-free and subscription-based licensing services exist.
A sync licence grants permission to "synchronise" music with visual content (your video). This licence covers the composition copyright. For commercial music, sync licences are typically negotiated directly with music publishers and can cost from hundreds to tens of thousands of pounds depending on the song and the intended use.
A master licence grants permission to use a specific recording of a song. This covers the master recording copyright and is typically negotiated with the record label. Both a sync licence and a master licence are required to use a commercial song in a video.
"Royalty-free" does NOT mean free. It means you pay a one-time fee (or subscription) for the music and then don't pay ongoing royalties for each use. Royalty-free music platforms like Epidemic Sound, Artlist, and Musicbed charge monthly or annual subscription fees in exchange for unlimited use of their catalogues on YouTube without copyright claims.
Creative Commons (CC) licences are standardised public licences that creators can attach to their work to grant specific permissions to others without negotiation. For YouTube, the most useful CC licences are:
Avoid CC BY-NC (non-commercial) licences for monetised YouTube videos, as monetisation may constitute commercial use.
YouTube's own Audio Library (accessible in YouTube Studio) offers thousands of tracks specifically cleared for use on YouTube. Tracks are categorised as either completely free with no attribution required, or free with attribution. This is the safest possible source — if a YouTube Audio Library track triggers a claim, you can easily dispute it with proof of the track's origin.
One of the most popular subscription services among YouTubers. Epidemic Sound's catalogue of over 40,000 tracks is fully cleared for YouTube use, including monetised videos. Their YouTube-specific plan handles all licensing automatically, ensuring you won't receive Content ID claims on their music.
Artlist offers a curated catalogue of high-quality music with broad licensing coverage. Their annual subscription includes commercial use rights for YouTube videos.
Uppbeat offers a free tier (with some limitations) and a premium subscription. Their music is specifically produced and cleared for YouTube creators.
Pixabay offers a growing catalogue of free music tracks with no attribution required. Quality varies, but there are excellent tracks available at no cost.
The Free Music Archive hosts Creative Commons licensed music across all genres. Filter by licence type to find tracks that are suitable for commercial YouTube use.
For independent artists (not signed to major labels), you can sometimes obtain permission directly by reaching out via social media or email. However, even with the artist's permission, if their music has been distributed through a service like DistroKid, TuneCore, or CD Baby, it may have been registered with Content ID automatically. The artist may not be able to prevent the distributor's Content ID system from claiming your video, even if they personally want to grant you permission.
No. Purchasing a song on iTunes, Spotify, or any streaming service gives you a personal listening licence only. It does not grant you the right to use the song in video content you publish publicly.
Classical compositions written by composers who died more than 70 years ago (in most countries) are in the public domain. However, specific recordings of those compositions may still be protected by the master recording copyright. A modern recording of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is copyright-protected, even though the composition itself is not.
Only dispute if you have a legitimate licence or if the match is incorrect. If you used the music without permission and the claim is correct, disputing without grounds can escalate to a formal DMCA takedown strike, which is much more serious than a simple Content ID claim.
CopyrightCheck.Online — Free copyright tools and resources for YouTube creators.