Free Music for YouTube Videos: Where to Find It and Use It Legally
You can legally use free music in a YouTube video whenever the track carries a licence that explicitly allows it — a Creative Commons licence, a public-domain dedication, or direct written permission from the artist. Free to download and free to use in a video are two different things, and confusing them is how channels collect copyright claims.
This guide covers the licence types you will actually meet, which of them survive monetisation, how to write the credit line in your description, and why Content ID can still flag a video you had full permission to upload.
Where can you find free music that is legal to use in videos?
Start with sources that publish the licence next to the download button. The main ones are the YouTube Audio Library inside YouTube Studio, the Free Music Archive, Jamendo, Incompetech, and Musopen for classical recordings. If a site or channel just says 'free music' with no licence named anywhere, treat it as unusable until you find the actual terms.
The YouTube Audio Library is the simplest option. Open YouTube Studio, click Audio Library in the left menu, and filter by genre, mood or duration. Tracks marked with an attribution symbol require a credit line; everything else can be used without one, including in monetised videos. Because the library is built into the platform, claims on these tracks are rare and easy to resolve.
On the other sites, read the licence on the individual track page, not the homepage. Two artists on the same site can release under completely different terms.
What do the Creative Commons licence types allow?
Creative Commons is a set of ready-made licences built from four conditions. Attribution (BY) means you must credit the creator. Share-alike (SA) means adapted versions must carry the same licence. Non-commercial (NC) means no commercial use. No-derivatives (ND) means you cannot share altered versions.
Those conditions combine into the licences you will see on track pages:
Licences carry a version number — 4.0 is current, older tracks often show 3.0. For video use the practical terms are the same. What matters is which conditions are attached.
- CC0 — a public-domain dedication. Use it, edit it, monetise it, no credit required.
- CC BY — use and edit freely, including commercially, as long as you credit the artist.
- CC BY-SA — like CC BY, but anything you adapt must be shared under the same licence.
- CC BY-NC — free to use with credit, but only in non-commercial projects.
- CC BY-ND — free to use with credit, but you cannot share edited versions.
- CC BY-NC-SA and CC BY-NC-ND — the same restrictions stacked together.
Which licences survive a monetised video?
A monetised video is commercial use in almost every reading of the licences, so the NC condition rules a track out. That removes CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-SA and CC BY-NC-ND for any video you run ads on — or plan to run ads on later.
CC0 and CC BY are the safe choices. CC BY-SA usually works, but read the share-alike clause first: some licensors argue that a video built around an SA track must itself be shared under CC BY-SA. If you do not want your own footage under a Creative Commons licence, avoid SA tracks.
CC BY-ND is the trap. Trimming a track to fit, fading the ends, or looping it can count as a derivative, and some rights holders treat syncing music to video as one too. Unless the artist tells you directly that your use is fine, leave ND tracks alone.
If you cannot tell whether a licence allows your use, the answer is to pick a different track, not to guess.
How do you write attribution in a YouTube description?
A credit line needs five things, and it belongs in the first lines of the description, not buried at the bottom or left in a pinned comment:
A complete line looks like this: Music: Track Title by Artist Name — source: Free Music Archive — licence: CC BY 4.0 — edited: trimmed to 90 seconds
If you changed the track in any way — cut it, faded it, slowed it down — say so. Creative Commons licences require you to indicate changes, and 'edited: trimmed for length' is enough. Where the source page shows a link to the licence text, copy that link into the description as well. It takes one line and closes most arguments before they start.
- The track title, in quotes, spelled the way the source spells it
- The artist name — the name the licence attaches to
- The source: the site or collection you downloaded from
- The licence name and version, for example CC BY 4.0
- Any changes you made, such as trimming or fading
Why does Content ID claim music you had permission to use?
Content ID is an automated matcher. It compares your video's audio against a database of reference files and flags matches. It cannot read licences, and it has no way to know you downloaded the track legally or credited the artist.
Claims on legal music happen for three common reasons. The artist or their distributor registered the track with Content ID to catch people who use it without following the licence terms. A company uploaded music it does not actually own — this hits Creative Commons tracks and classical recordings regularly, because a specific recorded performance can be claimed even when the composition is public domain. Or the track contains a sample that matches something else in the database.
A claim is not a strike, and your video stays up. If you hold a licence, dispute it:
If you would rather not dispute, the same Actions menu offers Trim out segment, Replace song and Mute song. Replacing the audio with an Audio Library track ends the claim going forward.
- Open YouTube Studio and go to Content.
- Find the video and check the Restrictions column for a copyright claim.
- Hover over the claim and click See details.
- Open the Actions menu and choose Dispute.
- Select the option saying you have a licence or permission to use the content.
- Paste your evidence: the licence name and version, the artist's name, where you downloaded the track, and the attribution line from your description.
- Submit and wait. If the claimant does not respond within YouTube's stated deadline, the claim is released.
Only dispute when you actually hold the licence — a false dispute can escalate into a takedown request and a real strike.
How do you keep proof of your licences?
Save proof at the moment you download. Claims can arrive years later, after the source page has changed or disappeared. For every track, keep a folder with the original audio file, a screenshot of the licence shown on the track page, a copy of the licence text, and the date you downloaded it.
Edit a copy, never the original. If you need to shorten the track or fade the ends, run it through the MP3 cutter and keep the untouched file beside it — that original is your evidence in a dispute.
Name the folder after the video and drop a text file inside with the exact attribution line you used. When a claim arrives, everything the dispute form asks for is already in one place.
Frequently asked questions
If I credit the artist, can I use any song I want?
No. Credit is a condition of some licences, not a substitute for one. A commercial track does not become usable because you named the artist in the description — the rights holder can still claim the video or have it taken down. You need a licence that grants the use first, and then you add credit if that licence asks for it.
Are channels that upload 'no copyright music' safe to download from?
Sometimes, but the label means nothing by itself — almost all of that music is still copyrighted, and the uploader is simply promising free use. Check whether the channel states a real licence or written terms and whether it actually owns the tracks. Some of these channels re-upload other people's Creative Commons music without the right to pass it on.
Does a Content ID claim remove my video or give me a copyright strike?
No. A claim normally means the claimant runs ads on the video or blocks it in certain countries, but the video stays published and your channel is not penalised. Strikes come from formal takedown requests, which are a separate process — and strikes are what actually threaten a channel.
Can I use CC BY-NC music on a channel that is not monetised yet?
A non-monetised hobby upload generally fits the non-commercial condition, so NC music is usually acceptable there. The catch is the future: if you switch monetisation on later, every NC track in your back catalogue becomes a problem at once. If earning from the channel is the plan, stick to CC BY or CC0 from the start.
Do I have to credit CC0 or public domain music?
No. CC0 carries no conditions, so credit is optional. It is still worth adding, because a credit line naming the source makes Content ID disputes faster and answers the 'what song is this' comments before they appear.
What happens to my ad revenue while a Content ID dispute is open?
YouTube sets the revenue from the disputed period aside instead of paying it to either side. When the dispute closes, the held money goes to whoever prevailed. If you held a valid licence and the claim is released, that revenue comes to you.