Lots of classical music and songs from the 20s, 30s, and 40s are now in the public domain.

70 years after death is usually the benchmark. Public Domain Musicįollowing the death of the original copyright holder, music goes out of copyright and into the public domain after a certain number of years. So make sure you read any specified terms carefully before using a track. It's usually pretty clear labelled though. Some licenses permit commercial use, whilst others don't. Most music under a Creative Commons license allows you to use a piece of music for free and without permission, as long you credit the producer. Broadly speaking, there are 3 kinds of music you’re allowed to use in podcasts: Creative Commons Music Best Free Sources of Podcast Musicīefore we look at each source in more detail, it’s important to understand some legal stuff first (don’t worry, we’ll keep it brief). We’ve also outlined each one in more detail below. If you’d like to dive straight in here are the sources that made the list.

In this post, we’ll take you on a tour of the best free and paid sources to find royalty free music for podcasts. So with most songs off limits, where can you find music for your podcast?

In short, this means no Beyoncé, no Jay-Z, and no to every other artist or band you’ve ever heard of. They can catch you out even if you’ve only used seconds of a track. Automated copyright infringement detection systems are getting more sophisticated by the day. And if that happens, you’ll need to start over again from scratch. Using copyrighted music without permission can get your show kicked off platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Unfortunately, you can’t use any song you want in your podcast.

Uncopyrighted music