If you produce YouTube videos professionally or just as a hobby, and you want to release good quality content, there is one thing you’ll have to come across at one point. We’re talking about background music and sound effects.

Even if you’ve made an impressive video, with excellent editing and lighting, it will still look (and sound) amateurish if you don’t add some audio. But how can you do that without infringing the strict copyright rules and regulations and risk a hefty fine?

You can achieve your result in two different ways:

• Composing and recording your own, original music
• Using online services providing royalty-free music

Let’s assume that, if you know how to write music, you probably already have software for recording, and it will be reasonably easy to come up with some beautiful background music.

But what if notes, instruments, and pentagrams are complete strangers to you? You can’t just upload a song belonging to another artist; that’s against the copyright laws and you could be in trouble if someone reports your video.

The solution lies in online platforms, such as snapmuse.com, a website where you can find songs or instrumental music that you’ll be able to use in your productions. How do these platforms work? When you sign up, you can pay a small monthly fee or a per-song fee. The amount you pay is shared between the artist and the platform. Basically, you are paying in advance for the right to use that music for commercial purposes.

These platforms have a rich catalog of music, categorized by genre. You can choose from thousands of original songs. By using these services, you’ll be totally safe, and you will be able to publish fantastic music on your YouTube channel to complement your best video content!