Youtube Music App for PC Archives

Imagine this: you spend endless hours recording a video, editing it, searching for the perfect songs, creating a website to showcase your work, and sharing it across social media. All that, only for it to be muted or deleted due to copyright infringement. This is the worst nightmare for many video creators, especially beginners in the field who are not aware of how music licensing works or simply can’t afford to pay for said licenses.

Songs are such a crucial part of any multimedia content, yet finding free background music for videos is far from a simple task. Not only do you need to find a legal place from which to download high quality tunes, but you’ll also have to make sure you’re entitled to use these files on your work. Luckily, there is a wide range of options available online for all uses, if only you know where to look for them.

Ready to start creating jaw-dropping videos? Here are the ten best sites to find free music for videos:

1. ccMixter

2. Incompetech

3. YouTube Audio Library

4. Free Music Archive

5. Jamendo

6. Musopen

7. SoundCloud

8. Bensound

9. ccTrax

10. AudioNautix

How to license music for videos

Before we deepdive into each of the best platforms to download free music for videos from, let’s take a quick look at the legal side of using these free music clips for your work.

Technically, you could use any song ever written on your videos by simply adding the right file to your free video editing software of preference. In reality, however, this only works if you’re planning to keep said videos for yourself - that is, not using them for commercial products or sharing them with other people.

Using copyright-protected music without permission is against the law and can lead to different punishments, from muted videos to civil court. Because of this, it’s important to make sure you fully understand the permissions of the files you download. In case of doubt, don’t be afraid to reach out to the artist and let them know how you’re planning on using their music.

When looking for royalty-free music for videos, you’ll see that most of it is offered under a Creative Commons license. While this license gives you permission to download and share the content, there are different degrees of freedom within it. The five most popular types of creative commons licenses are the following:

• CC0: Unrestricted. Publish, share, modify, and commercialize the work without restrictions.

• CC BY: Attribution. Unrestricted license as long as you credit the author.

• CC BY-SA: Attribution-Share-Alike. Derivative works can only be distributed under the same license.

• CC-BY-ND: Attribution-No-Derivatives. Derivative works and remixes not allowed.

• CC BY-NC: Attribution-Non-Commercial. Cannot be used for commercial purposes.

Other common license types you might come across in your search for free video music are “royalty free” and “public domain”:

• Royalty free licenses are those which give the right of using a work without paying fees each time.

• Public domain is the most open form of licensing, as works can be used for free for any purpose.

01. ccMixter

Type of license: CC BY and CC BY-NC

Born as a Creative Commons project, ccMixter is a collaboration platform for musicians that promotes derivative works. Singers upload original vocals, musicians share their samples, and DJs mix the two together into fascinating songs.

On its dig.ccMixter subdomain you’ll be able to find tens of thousands of free music for videos, which can be browsed by genre, instrument, style, and more. You can either use the search bar function or the valuable “tag search” page, which offers a long list of different categories that will help you narrow down your search.

02. Incompetech

Type of license: CC BY

Incompetech might not boast the broadest free video music offering, but it’s still widely considered one of the best royalty-free music sources. The platform is the work of American composer Kevin MacLeod, who has composed thousands of sound effects and songs for free use.

The site is very user friendly, allowing visitors to search for the perfect background music for videos based on genre, topic, feel, length, mood, popularity, and more.

03. YouTube Audio Library

Type of license: Royalty Free and CC BY

Chances are you’re planning to create a YouTube channel for your videos and later share them on your video website and other social platforms. If that’s the case, why not get your free video music directly from YouTube?

The YouTube Audio Library allows you to filter a long list of free music clips by genre, instrument, mood, duration, and license type. In addition to free music clips, the YouTube Audio Library also offers a huge selection of free sound effects for your videos.

04. Free Music Archive

Type of license: All CC types and Public Domain

Commonly known as FMA, Free Music Archive works with radio stations, artists, and industry enthusiasts to offer one of the largest available selections of free music for videos. Users can search by song title, clip duration or type of license, as well as browse the more than a dozen genres and hundreds of subgenres available.

While the vast majority of the songs are licensed under Creative Commons, some of them are only available for personal download and listening. Make sure to double check before you start working on your project.

05. Jamendo

Type of license: All CC types

Jamendo’s homepage offers two main platforms: Music and Licensing. Jamendo Music is a streaming platform where all songs are licensed under a Creative Commons, while Jamendo Licensing offers royalty-free music for commercial. Even though the latter has a nice button that reads “music for videos,” you should head over to the former if you want to browse and download free music for videos.

The downside of Jamendo Music is that most free music clips cannot be used for commercial purposes. While there are some that do, the site does not allow for license type search and therefore you’ll need to open each song you’re interested in in order to access this information.

06. Musopen

Type of license: Public Domain and all CC types

Musopen is a non-profit chasing the dream of “setting music free” by offering free music for video editing, educational materials, and sheet music. The vast majority of the files available are orchestral pieces, either registered as public domain or under a Creative Commons license.

On the site, you’ll be able to download free music clips from historical figures like Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert, as well as renowned pieces such as Carmen, The Valkyrie, and The Barber of Seville. You can filter the library by composer, orchestra, period, mood, length, and more.

07. SoundCloud

Type of license: All CC types

As one of the most popular musician networks, SoundCloud boosts a library of more than 125 million songs. While the default licensing type is “All rights reserved,” many users choose to protect their work under a Creative Commons license.

To see only free music clips licensed under CC, simply search for the type of song you’re looking for and then change the default “To listen to” filter setting for the intent of your project. Afterwards, you’ll be able to narrow your results through a list of tags.

08. Bensound

Type of license: CC BY-ND

Bensound offers thousands of royalty free music for videos, websites, animations, and more. The platform can be browsed by genre, popularity, uploading date or tags. Although it once contained only the work of composer Benjamin Tissot, ,owner of the site Bensound, now includes the works of other musicians’ as well.

The vast majority of clips on the platform are offered under an attribution no-derivatives CC license. This means you can use them as free background music for videos as long as you credit the site and don’t remix the tracks or use them to create new songs.

09. ccTrax

Type of license: All CC types

ccTrax contains a wide variety of royalty free music for videos licensed under Creative Commons. The site’s library includes thousands of albums and individual songs on a broad range of musical genres, from dub and techno to modern classical and rock.

One of the main advantages of this site over others is that you’ll be able to quickly search for free music for videos based on their license type, rather than having to look into the details of each clip. You can narrow down your search by choosing from a set list of genres and tags, as well as labels and artist names.

10. AudioNautix

Type of license: CC BY

Composer Jason Shaw created AudioNautix to share his own free music clips with the world. He uses his passion for music to help others create their own projects without getting in trouble with copyright infringement.

All you need to do to use his free music for video editing is give credit to the composer, be it Jason or a guest composer. The platform’s music library can be browsed by genre, tempo, and keywords. Furthermore, you’ll be able to select diverse moods to ensure that the results are as close to your vision as possible.

By Judit Ruiz Ricart

Editor of the Wix Photography Blog

#videotips#videomusic#videography

The drone of constant coughing, talking, loud sneezing, squeaking chairs, erratic typing, and various noises from an office can be a lot to handle sometimes. Sure, you could pop on some headphones and listen to music, but music, for a lot of people, can be just as distracting. (It’s also a pain to continually find something to listen to.) Instead, these apps provide a wide array of other sounds to help you stay calm and focus on the task at hand.

Noizio

Noizio is a straightforward and simple sound machine at heart. The app features a bunch of different sounds listed out which you can enable or disable as needed. You can set the volume for each selected sound. Once you fine-tune a great mix you can save it as a preset for future use.

For example, say you want to you want to mimic summer nights in the Midwest, you can make a soundscape featuring farm animals, wind, and light rain. Noizio keeps adding new sounds such as vinyl cracks, keyboard typing, subway, ghosty, and a bunch more to create unique mixes.

Tide

Tide is designed to keep you moving and productive, even if that means being asleep. It has two different modes, one for focus, to help with work or school, and another for sleep. On the sleep side, Tide can help you go to sleep at night with its soothing sounds, or, you can set a short timer to knock out a quick power-nap. While its sound library isn’t as deep as others, it’s set up to add more in the future.

Nosili

Nosili is probably the simplest app of the bunch with a dozen big pictures and volume controls under each. It functions similarly to Noizio, but does include an all-important fan sound, which a lot of people seem to enjoy.

Coffitivity

Like it sounds, Coffitivity is trying to combine coffee (or coffee shop sounds) and productivity, as lots of people say they work better in the hustle and bustle of a crowded coffee shop. Coffitivity is recreating that– no matter where you are.

Thunderspace, Windy, Sunny

Instead of one sound app, Taptanium (an app creator) made a bunch of separate apps focused on specific sounds.

Taptanium is like that friend who gets into a hobby innocently enough, but, four weeks later, is up at three in the morning, bidding on eBay Beanie Babies, in need of their next rare collectible fix. Not only did Taptanium put out a bunch of sound apps, but, it began to incorporate stories and give the sounds their own personalities–the female Windy, for example.

Thunderspace is a crazy-good thunder and rain machine app. It’s stereoscopic, so, with headphones on, you feel like the sound is all around you. All the apps are well done; even if you don’t get into the whole story aspect of the app.

Google Play Music is a discontinued^[1]music and podcaststreaming service and online music locker operated by Google, part of its Google Play line of services. The service was announced on May 10, 2011; after a six-month, invitation-only beta period, it was publicly launched on November 16, 2011. In the second half of 2020, Google is shutting it down, with YouTube Music as its replacement.

Users with standard accounts used to upload and listen to up to 50,000 songs from their personal libraries at no cost. A paid Google Play Music subscription entitles users to on-demand streaming of any song in the Google Play Music catalog, as well as access to YouTube Music Premium. Users in several territories also have access to YouTube Premium. Users can purchase additional tracks for their library through the music store section of Google Play. In addition to offering music streaming for Internet-connected devices, the Google Play Music mobile apps allow music to be stored and listened to offline.

Features[edit]

Standard accounts[edit]

Google Play Music offers all users storage of up to 50,000 files for free.^[2][3] Users can listen to songs through the service's web player and mobile apps.^[4] The service scans the user's collection and matches the files to tracks in Google's catalog, which can then be streamed or downloaded in up to 320 kbit/s quality.^[5][6] Any files that are not matched are uploaded to Google's servers for streaming or re-download. Songs purchased through the Google Play Store do not count against the 50,000-song upload limit.^[7]

Supported file formats for upload include: MP3, AAC, WMA, FLAC, Ogg, or ALAC. Non-MP3 uploads will be converted to MP3. Files can be up to 300 MB after conversion.^[8]

Songs can be downloaded on the mobile apps for offline playback, and on computers through the Music Manager app.^[9]

Standard users located in the United States, Canada, and India can also listen to curated radio stations, supported by video and banner advertisements. Stations are based on "an activity, your mood, or your favorite popular music".^[10] Up to six songs per hour can be skipped when listening to curated radio.^[4]

Premium accounts[edit]

With a paid subscription to Google Play Music,^[11] users receive access to on-demand streaming of 40 million songs^[12] and offline music playback on the mobile apps, with no advertisements during listening and no limit on the number of track skips.^[4] A one-time 30-day free trial for a subscription to Google Play Music is offered for new users.^[13] Paid subscribers also receive access to YouTube Premium (including YouTube Music) in eligible countries.^[14]

Platforms[edit]

On computers, music can be listened to from a dedicated Google Play Music section of the Google Play website.^[15]

On smartphones and tablets, music can be listened to through the Google Play Music mobile app for the Android^[16] and iOS operating systems.^[17] Up to five smartphones can be used to access the library in Google Play Music, and up to ten devices total. Listening is limited to one device at a time.^[18]

Samsung Galaxy S8[edit]

In April 2017, reports surfaced that the default music player on the then-new Samsung Galaxy S8 would be Google Play Music, continuing a trend that started with the S7 in 2016. However, for the S8, Samsung partnered with Google to incorporate additional exclusive features into the app, including the ability to upload up to 100,000 tracks, an increase from the 50,000 tracks users are normally allowed to upload. Google also stated that it would develop other "special features in Google Play Music just for Samsung customers".^[19][20] In June, Google Play Music on the S8 was updated to exclusively feature "New Release Radio", a daily, personalized playlist of new music releases.^[21][22] In July, the playlist was made available to all users,^[23][24] with Google noting in a press release that the exclusivity on Samsung devices was part of an "early access program" for testing and feedback purposes.^[25]

History[edit]

Introduction (2010–2011)[edit]

Google first hinted at releasing a cloud media player during their 2010 Google I/O developer conference, when Google's then-Senior Vice President of Social Vic Gundotra showed a "Music" section of the then-called Android Market during a presentation.^[26] A music service was officially announced at the following year's I/O conference on May 10, 2011, under the name "Music Beta". Initially, it was only available by invitation to residents of the United States, and had limited functionality; the service featured a no-cost "music locker" for storage of up to 20,000 songs, but no music store was present during the beta period, as Google was not yet able to reach licensing deals with major record labels.^[27][28]

After a six-month beta period, Google publicly launched the service in the US on November 16, 2011, as "Google Music" with its "These Go to Eleven" announcement event. The event introduced several features of the service, including a music store integrated into the then-named Android Market, music sharing via the Google+ social network, "Artist Hub" pages for musicians to self-publish music, and song purchasing reflected on T-Mobile phone bills.^[29][30][31] At launch, Google had partnerships with three major labels – Universal Music Group, EMI, and Sony Music Entertainment – along with other, smaller labels, although no agreement had been reached with Warner Music Group; in total, 13 million tracks were covered by these deals, 8 million of which were available for purchase on the launch date.^[32] To promote the launch, several artists released free songs and exclusive albums through the store; The Rolling Stones debuted the live recording Brussels Affair (Live 1973), and Pearl Jam released a live concert recorded in Toronto as 9.11.2011 Toronto, Canada.^[33]

Slow growth (2012–2017)[edit]

In January 2012, a feature was added to Google Music that allows users to download 320kbit/s MP3 copies of any file in their library, with a two-download limit per track via the web, or unlimited downloads via the Music Manager app.^[34]

According to a February 2012 report from CNET, Google executives were displeased with Google Music's adoption rate and revenues in its first three months.^[35]

In March 2012, the company rebranded the Android Market and its digital content services as "Google Play"; the music service was renamed "Google Play Music".^[36][37]

Google announced in October 2012 that they had signed deals with Warner Music Group that would bring "their full music catalog" to the service.^[38]

At the Google I/O developer conference in May 2013, Google announced that Google Play Music would be expanded to include a paid on-demand music streaming service called "All Access", allowing users to stream any song in the Google Play catalog. It debuted immediately in the United States for $9.99 per month ($7.99 per month if the users signed up before June 30). The service allows users to combine the All Access catalog with their own library of songs.^[39][40]

Google Play Music was one of the first four apps compatible with Google's Chromecast digital media player that launched in July 2013.^[41]

In October 2014, a new "Listen Now" feature was introduced, providing contextual and curated recommendations and playlists. The feature was adapted from technology by Songza, which Google acquired earlier in the year.^[42]

On November 12, 2014, Google subsidiary YouTube announced "Music Key", a new premium service succeeding All Access that included the Google Play Music streaming service, along with advertising-free access to streaming music videos on YouTube. Additionally, aspects of the two platforms were integrated; Google Play Music recommendations and YouTube music videos are available across both services.^[43][44] The service was re-launched in a revised form as YouTube Red (now YouTube Premium) on October 28, 2015, expanding its scope to offer ad-free access to all YouTube videos, as opposed to just music videos, as well as premium content produced in collaboration with notable YouTube producers and personalities.^[45]

In December 2015, Google started offering a Google Play Music family plan, that allows unlimited access for up to six family members for US$14.99/month.^[46][47][48] The family plan is currently only available in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States.^[49]

In April 2016, Google announced that Google Podcasts would be coming to Google Play Music.^[50][51][52] Its first original podcast series, "City Soundtracks", was announced in March 2017, and would "feature interviews with various musicians about how their hometowns influenced their work, including the people and the moments that had an impact".^[53][54][55]

In November 2016, Google introduced the Google Home smart speaker system, with built-in support for Google Play Music.^[56]

Sunsetting (2018–2020)[edit]

In May 2018, YouTube announced a new version of the YouTube Music service, including a web-based desktop player and redesigned mobile app, more dynamic recommendations based on various factors, and use of Google artificial intelligence technology to search songs based on lyrics and descriptions. YouTube Music was provided to Google Play Music users as part of the YouTube Premium offering.^[57]

In June 2018, Google announced that YouTube Red would be replaced by YouTube Premium along with YouTube Music.^[58] As a result, users subscribed to Google Play Music in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico are now given access to YouTube Premium—which includes YouTube Music Premium. Users outside of those four countries are still required to pay the regular YouTube Premium price to access Premium features, but are given free access to YouTube Music Premium.^[59]

In June 2018 Google announced plans to shut down Play Music and offer subscribers to migrate to YouTube Music.^[14] Since May 2020, users are able to move their music collections, personal taste preferences and playlists to YouTube Music.^[60]

In August 2020, Google announced a detailed shutdown timeline starting in late August and ending with complete data deletion in December. Since late August the Music Manager no longer supports uploading or downloading music. Pre-orders and purchases are still available, despite upcoming discontinuation of this service. Since September, Google Play Music is no longer available in New Zealand and South Africa. In October, music streaming will not be available globally, and the Google Play Music app and website will shut down. In December all user music collections will be deleted.^[61]

Geographic availability[edit]

Global availability of Google Play Music

Standard accounts on Google Play Music are available in 63 countries. The full list includes: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.^[62]

Premium subscriptions are available in the same countries as Standard accounts.^[62]

Availability of music was introduced in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain in October 2012,^[63] Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Russia, and Switzerland in September 2013,^[64] Mexico in October 2013,^[65] Germany in December 2013,^[66] Greece, Norway, Sweden, and Slovakia in March 2014,^[67] Canada,^[68] Poland and Denmark in May 2014,^[69] Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, and Ukraine in July 2014,^[70] Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, El Salvador, and Venezuela in August 2014,^[71] Brazil and Uruguay in September 2014,^[72] 13 new countries in November 2014,^[73] Brazil in November 2014,^[74] Argentina in June 2015,^[75] Japan in September 2015,^[76] South Africa and Serbia in December 2015,^[77] and India in September 2016, where only purchasing of music was offered.^[78] The All Access subscription service launched in India in April 2017.^[79][80]

Reception[edit]

In 2013, Entertainment Weekly compared a number of music services and gave Google Play Music All Access a "B+" score, writing, "The addition of uploading to augment the huge streaming archive fills in some huge gaps."^[81]

References[edit]