SoundCloud is one of the world’s largest audio libraries and music platforms. With over 10 million creators and 12 hours of content uploaded every minute, it’s a diverse creator community that offers a vast range of music styles for any project. This library is a video maker’s dream, but only if you can navigate the site and successfully source royalty-free music downloads from SoundCloud.
Finding the perfect piece of music for your production can be challenging for video editors, and having your film professionally scored may even be as expensive as the entire project was to produce! This often makes this option unviable, especially for low- to no-budget creators. Luckily, SoundCloud is a gold mine of undiscovered and free-to-use music, with artists that want their tracks heard. Today, Motion Array will walk you through how to find royalty-free music on SoundCloud.
Summary
Part 1: What is SoundCloud?
SoundCloud is a Berlin-based company that launched in 2008 with the aim of creating a community of music artists and giving them a place to share, listen, review, and collaborate.
The idea for the platform wasn’t original, as YouTube had launched a full 3 years earlier. However, while YouTube caters more to filmmakers and vloggers, music artists needed a way to share their content without including visuals. SoundCloud’s music library filled that gap and has become essential to the industry. Today, many creators just like you find royalty-free music on SoundCloud to use in their projects.
Part 2: What is royalty-free in music?
Before we show you how to find royalty-free music on SoundCloud, let’s look at what royalty-free means and its impact on your production.
Every piece of music produced has copyrights attached to it that defend the creator’s right to be acknowledged (and often paid) for their work. If someone wants to use the track, they may have to pay royalties depending on their chosen license. It’s a little like the terms of use for stock videos.
‘Royalties’ describes the fee that’s charged for each instance the track is aired or streamed. You don’t need to be a math buff to work out that this can get incredibly costly, especially if you have complex audio post-production to do.‘Royalty-free’ means there’ll be no royalties (ongoing fees) for using the track. Sometimes you’ll still need to pay for royalty-free tracks, but this would be a once-off fee for use in a particular project. After that, you can use it worry-free. In this guide, Motion Array will show you how to source music under Creative Commons licensing, which you’ll learn more about later.
Part 3: How to source royalty-free music from SoundCloud
SoundCloud has a familiar feel and is pretty simple to navigate. You can sign up for a free account, which will allow you to favorite tracks and make collections to revisit later.
Step 1: Start a search on SoundCloud
1. Search for the type of music you want on the SoundCloud homepage. You can use genre-based terms such as ‘dance music,’ or emotive terms such as ‘happy dance music.’
2. When musicians upload their tracks to SoundCloud, they tag them with keywords like a YouTube video. Royalty-free music downloads on SoundCloud have their own tag, too.
Step 2: Filter your search results
Now, let’s find your royalty-free music on SoundCloud:
1. On the left side, you’ll find a navigation panel. Select Tracks.
2. On the left under Filter Results, select To use commercially to access the usage menu.
3. Here you’ll need to choose 1 of 4 options based on how you want to use the track:
- If you wish to remix the track, add lyrics, or change it in any way, select To modify commercially.
- Most filmmakers will use the original track. In this case, select To use commercially.
4. You can also play around with the other filters, such as Any length, Added any time, and keyword tags.
Step 3: Download the right track for your project
SoundCloud will now show you all the results licensed to be used commercially with no royalties. To download SoundCloud music royalty-free, follow these steps:
- Select the track from the list to open its page.
- Click the Like button to ensure the track is saved to your library — this will be useful later.
- When you’ve chosen the song you like, just click Download. The track will be saved to your computer for use in your editing.
Pro Tip: Before you download any song, make sure the Creative Commons tag is visible in the description!
For many filmmakers, there’ll be a long gap between choosing music tracks and publishing a finished piece — possibly even months. It’s essential to save the track to your library on SoundCloud so you can find it later, check the licensing, and — if need be — get proof of it.
Part 4: What is Creative Commons licensing?
Artists publish their tracks for royalty-free use because they want them to be used and heard by new audiences. But what’s the point of people hearing your music if you don’t get recognition for it? Creative Commons licensing is the answer, as it ensures the owner of the music will get the credit they deserve.
The Creative Commons license has 6 variants, each of which uses 1 or more of the 4 primary conditions below. It’s important to understand how these licenses work before you use your royalty-free music download from SoundCloud.
Attribution
Sometimes an artist will ask (in the description) for the type of credit they want in exchange for using a track. For the most part, however, you can choose. You can add the name of the artist and track to the end credits of your film, or you can add them in the description on YouTube.
The point of the credit is to ensure viewers can find the original artist, so make sure the credit is clear.
ShareAlike
Under the ShareAlike license, the track owner allows you to share and modify the track as you wish. In this instance, you must also allow your version of the work to be shared under this same license term. It’s a fair trade-off for using the SoundCloud music royalty-free.
Non-commercial
Some tracks will have non-commercial conditions to the license. You can use the track for free if you’re not making money from the end product. This should be used carefully because the restrictions include YouTube monetization. If you want to monetize your content, this license type will prevent you from doing so (no matter how little of the track is used).
No derivatives
With this license, you’re allowed to use the track, but need approval from the creator to change it in any way. This condition includes some technical elements you might consider in the edit, such as removing a verse or looping a chorus. Under no derivatives licensing, you can’t change the track at all.
Occasionally, the creator might impose other limitations, such as ‘fair representation.’ This means you can’t use their work disrespectfully or otherwise harmfully, so always check the track description for further instruction from the creator.
Scoring your projects can be a hassle, but it’s a step you shouldn’t skip. Fortunately, the number of creators offering downloads is growing daily. Video makers now have more tools and a better chance of finding the perfect track. Whether you’re searching for background music, an opening track, or a song used to transition from scene to scene, you’ll find plenty of options for royalty-free music downloads on SoundCloud. Don’t forget that Motion Array also offers royalty-free music downloads, so be sure to check them out.
