Insights
Don’t get caught using copyrighted music – check out the best platforms for audio content
Audiences have a voracious appetite for video and, to keep up with demand, charities are producing them like never before.
But, if using video as part of your content strategy, you need to make sure you don’t infringe any original music you use as part of it. For audio content, charities can use royalty and copyright-free downloads to avoid potential legal issues.
There are many ways to do this; below we showcase the best platforms for all your audio and sound effect needs.
The website is easy to use, with categories marked by type. The tracks are created and uploaded by a single artist, Benjamin Tissot. Sound is available for corporate and social media content, so you can use this site across different purposes.
There are download options for licensing, including one-off and ongoing subscriptions.
The fine print: You’ll need to credit Bensound in your production if you use the free license.
Epidemic Sound is best for charities looking to produce content on a regular basis. The professional music service offers charities a lot of choice with over 35,000 sound tracks and 90,000 effects.
Audio is categorised by mood, music genre, length, tempo and more – much like Spotify. New subscribers benefit from a free 30-day trial, and individual subscriptions start from £8 per month.
The fine print: The subscription covers all royalty and licensing costs.
For charities with YouTube accounts, the Studio section includes a limited library. Choose from a selection of free sound tracks and effects. Content producers can browse by mood, genre, artist or track length.
The licensing for most of the tracks is free, and there’s no need to attribute YouTube. For charities starting out or those producing few videos, the library works well – but for creators involved with bigger projects, the selection may be too limited.
The fine print: Make sure you abide by YouTube’s terms and conditions of use, since they also govern the audio files.
The Freesound platform’s look and feel is akin to a retro chat thread. Music is posted online by forum users and shared.
Charities can sample audio tracks by key word search. The benefit of this platform are the download packs – there are collections of sounds relating to the same topic.
The fine print: Users beware. With sharing platforms, you’ll find free music but make sure to verify the licensing.
FreeSFX offers over 4,500 sound file tracks and effects for charities to use in most contexts. Files are organised by topic, so you can either use the search function or browse the key words list.
The benefit here is that the platform has audio files for video backgrounds, isolated sounds, effects, and audio sound replacements.
The fine print: Sounds are free to use, but producers will need to credit the site.
StoryBlocks is another subscription based sound cache. The platform is more than just a download site, since it offers an entire media creation kit. Video and audio content can be created directly from the platform, which includes ready-to-use templates.
The advantage here is that not only are sound and video elements available, but graphics too. The subscription covers the cost of audio, video, and graphic licensing.
The fine print: Subscription prices depend on what functionality is chosen. For charities looking to create quality content, go with 4K & HD footage.
To create professional quality sound, SoundStripe offers newly released tracks, effects, and video frames. For video, the quality ranges from 1080p to 4K so creators can design content that fits audiences.
For audio, the platform has a universe of playlists so you don’t have to rummage for similar sounding files. Find music by keywords, moods, genre, vocals, beats per minute, and more. The subscription covers all your licensing costs.
The fine print: Choose a subscription or one-time payment for a single download.
Offering more than audio and video, Pond5 includes 3-D models for digital content. The platform is a one-stop-shop, covering music, sound effects, and background noises. The benefit here is its pricing.
Charities on a shoestring budget can choose from buying a single item, a credit pack, to a full subscription. Music starts at £5 a track.
The fine print: The subscription covers all royalties and licensing in perpetuity, worldwide.
Covering the basics, Videvo offers footage, moving graphics, templates, music and sound effects. For those looking to minimise costs, there are free sound tracks to download in most categories.
The fine print: Only the ‘Pro’ subscription comes with royalty-free licensed music.
Nothing complicated on this platform, since it offers music and tracks only. Search by any keyword or filter. BeatPick offers a pay-per-use license or full subscription, making it affordable for any type of project.
If you’re after a particular artist or song, BeatPick can also help negotiate rights to use it.
The fine print: Read the terms carefully when you customise your pricing package.
Join us on the 14th of May for our Q&A session. It will provide a whistlestop tour of Microsoft Copilot’s key capabilities, how they can help charities, and answer all your burning questions around Microsoft’s AI service.