If you are creating your own video or other media project, you cannot just grab any music from the Internet. If you’re flying a jet fighter over America’s skies and filming it, you can’t use Kenny Loggins’ song “Danger Zone” and hope to get away with it. There is a nasty little copyright problem.
Therefore, people who create their own media projects and need any sound are always looking for music that they can use legally. YouTube has decided to simplify this task by providing a YouTube audio library with free sound clips that you can use in your video projects. The clips are provided by ordinary musicians eager to present their work to the world.
YouTube Audio Library – A goldmine of royalty-free music
You are probably wondering where is this YouTube music library. Well, this is in the area of ??YouTube known as YouTube Studio To get there, click on this link or go to the menu in the upper right corner of the YouTube page.
In both cases, you will need to sign in with your Google account details. Once you enter YouTube Studio, scroll through the menu on the left until you reach the Audio Library. Click on it to open it.
The YouTube audio library is divided into two sections – Free Music and Special Effects. YouTube periodically updates both sections with new content. So if you don’t see what you like, try again another time.
Each entry in the library is an MP3 file that you can download and then drag and drop into the media creation tool of your choice (like iMovie for Mac owners). But first you need to find the one you want.
You can narrow and simplify your search using the search function or filters. If you have a very good idea of ??what you are looking for, filters are for you. It categorizes music by genre, mood, instrument, duration, and attribution. You can use all five filters at the same time to really get to interesting things.
Genre and mood
Knowing what kind of music you want is half the battle. Want something deep, dark and moody? Something exciting? Or something light, fun and positive? If you know for sure, then use the filters “Genre” and “Mood”.
Tool
Here you can filter by instrument. Maybe you want some light piano music? Or does someone play the guitar? Or go crazy with pipes?
Duration
This is important because ideally you want something that matches the length of your media project. The last thing you need is a 12 minute audio clip for a 5 minute project. You need to either edit the music with something like Audacity, or turn the music off when it’s good.
Use this filter to get the correct duration.
Attribution
From a legal point of view, this is important as far as copyright and Creative Commons are concerned. Just because you get this music “for free†doesn’t mean that every artist who has contributed to YouTube’s music library doesn’t want something in return.
Some people don’t need attribution at all, as they may be doing it just for fun. But there are others – professional musicians – who need recognition and gratitude for their work.
Thus, the attribution filter is designed to filter out who wants recognition and who doesn’t. For those who do, just include their name in the end credits of your project and / or in the YouTube video description.
Select the person you want
Once you’ve set up your filters and made a list of possible candidates, it’s time to listen to them and decide which one will be the lucky winner for your naked wrestling video in the mud.
You will see a small black arrow on the left side of each clip. This is the Play button so you can preview the music.
Click on the one you want to listen to and it will start playing. You will also see if attribution is required. In this case, it is not necessary.
However, in other cases, attribution is required and you will be told what needs to be done.
When you find the one you want to use, go to the far right corner of the clip and click the download icon. The music file will be downloaded directly to your computer.
It should be noted, however, that these clips from the YouTube audio library are only offered for non-commercial videos to be hosted on YouTube. If you intend to shoot commercial commercial videos on or off YouTube, you should buy a professional music work license instead. AudioJungle is one such possible site.
Have you ever used the YouTube audio library for your projects? What do you think of the proposed music? Let us know in the comments below.
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