Where To Find Royalty-Free Music for Streamers

We all love music, and we all love putting music in our streams and videos. It’s a great way to improve the experience of your content for your viewers.

A lot of the time, when it comes to making videos on a YouTube channel and streaming on Twitch, you’re going to need some royalty-free music to stay in line with the guidelines of whatever platform you’re putting out content on.

So today, we’re going to talk about royalty-free music, what it is, why you need to have it, and where you can get it. Keep reading for tips on how to make money playing video games while working some amazing background music into the mix.

What Is Royalty-Free Music?

In 1998, the US government passed a law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, also called the DMCA, which changed the game when it comes to using music for your content.

This law does a few things, but most significantly, it makes it so that you cannot use a song without the consent of the artist. It also states that you will have to pay ongoing royalties to the artist based on how much money you make using that song.

Royalty-free music is music that you can use without paying royalties to the artist who created that music. You simply pay for it one time and don’t have to worry about recurring payments to the artist. Instead, you can just put it in OBS or Streamlabs and use it to your heart’s content.

Is It the Same as Copyright-Free Music?

Copyright-free music and royalty-free music are not the same thing, although many people incorrectly conflate the two. Copyright-free music is when the music in question is in the public domain.

This means that the copyright for it has expired or was waived. There won’t be any copyright claims, and you no longer need permission to use it in your for-profit content.

Why Should You Use Royalty-Free Music?

You might get to this point in the article and think to yourself, “Okay, but what’s the big deal? How does royalty-free music apply to me?” Well, if you want to stay in YouTube and Twitch’s good graces, this music is incredibly important.

When you’re live-streaming, whether you’re on Twitch, YouTube, or some other platform, you can’t just turn on streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music and let the tunes roll while you game. If you’re going to use music in an environment where you’re making money, you need to have permission from the artists to use their music, even if it’s just on SoundCloud.

These platforms will crack down on the improper use of music. At the end of the day, it’s considered copyright infringement and is illegal.

What Happens if You Don’t Use the Right Music?

The process is a little bit different depending on the platform you stream on. On Twitch, if you get caught using copyrighted music, then you’ll probably get a warning.

If you do it more, you’ll get a few more warnings before you’ll be banned from Twitch entirely. This is no joke! And on YouTube, the process is similar — but they will likely demonetize you before you get outright banned.

On top of losing streaming income and even your entire platform, you might get into some legal trouble as well. Artists can take legal repercussions against content creators for using music without paying royalties, which can be an incredible hassle and financial burden. And remember, many of these artists are represented by a record label and have some pretty big-time lawyers at their disposal.

Oftentimes, the artist doesn’t even have to take legal action against Twitch streamers. They can file a DMCA strike with YouTube or Twitch. If approved, this can remove your content or even your Twitch channel from the platform.

All of these platforms take copyright law very seriously and will take action against you if you don’t follow the rules.

Where Can You Get Royalty-Free Music?

Luckily for you, we live in a day and age where getting royalty-free music is easier than ever. Gone are the days when you have to personally reach out to every artist whose music you want to use. With the various services out there today, you can find high-quality music for your videos and Twitch streams with ease.

So, where can you find it? Of course, you can go the old-fashioned way and reach out to the artist to get permission. But again, most of the time, you’ll be contacting a label, and they would be pretty unlikely to let you use the music without royalties.

Instead, most creators are turning to royalty-free music libraries for the music on their streams and in their videos. Artists can submit their music to these libraries or playlists and grant all of the “library members” permission to use the music royalty-free. All you have to do is find the song you want in the library, pay the library, and you’ve got safe music to use.

There are a few different types of libraries you can access, depending on what works best for you.

Free Music Libraries

These are exactly what they sound like. They’re music libraries that give you free access to use songs royalty-free. It seems like a pretty sweet deal, and that’s because it is. You can use this music with no strings attached.

You do get what you pay for, though. Free music libraries only offer fairly niche music that likely isn’t going to be well-known. But there are some practical uses for this type of library. For instance, you could browse their free song selection for an intro to your videos or streams.

Pixabay is one company that does free, copyright-free images and music. Free Music Archive also has a good library of royalty-free EDM and hip-hop, and Silverman Sound Studios has great filtering capabilities that will let you surf for the genre and music that fits your content best.

Subscription Music Libraries

If you’re struggling to find that exact perfect track for your project, sometimes the free versions simply aren’t enough. Enter subscription libraries, which are exactly what they sound like. You pay a subscription fee in order to have access to their curated music library.

Soundstripe is a popular option that has a great interface, making it easy to use. They can help you find the exact perfect genre and song, too. Whether you need a chillhop music overlay to give a calm vibe to your gaming session or heavy electronic music to make your clips feel intense, they can help you find what you need for only $19 a month.

Epidemic Sound is another great option with an absolutely massive library, so you can be sure to find something you’ll connect with and enjoy.

Pay-Per-Track Music Libraries

Next, there’s the pay-per-track model. This is great for people who only have a small need for royalty-free music. You simply pay the library for the DMCA-free music you get, and they distribute the money to the artist appropriately.

AudioJungle is a popular option that specializes in urban music and only costs a few dollars per track. It’s a fantastic option for avoiding copyright strikes across all streaming platforms.

Then there are PremiumBeat and Pond5, which both offer flexible payment options. With these options, you can either get a subscription or pay for each song, depending on what you want.

The Bottom Line

Whether you’re looking for Lo Fi music, edgy synthwave stuff, or something else entirely, music libraries are great resources for finding the music that you need for your stream. With these incredible tools, you can easily create incredible content with great music — plus, you’ll help support artists along the way.

For more information about streaming on Twitch and YouTube, check out our blog. And once your stream broadcasts, repurpose that content and create shorts for other social media platforms automatically with Powder AI.

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