Copyright-free music for YouTube Shorts

The wrong song can cost a Short its revenue, mute it or block it in some countries. Here is how music rights work on YouTube and where to find tracks you can use safely.

Why music gets claimed

YouTube scans every upload with Content ID, which compares your audio against a library of songs submitted by labels, publishers and musicians. When it finds a match, the rights holder chooses what happens:

Monetize: ads run on your video, but the revenue goes to them.
Track: nothing changes, they just see the stats.
Block: the video is muted or unavailable, sometimes only in some countries.

A claim is not a copyright strike. Strikes come from formal takedown requests and count against your channel; three in 90 days can end it. Claims are more common, but they still mean your Short earns nothing for you.

“Royalty-free” is not “copyright-free”

These terms get mixed up constantly:

Copyright-free or public domain music has no owner. Recordings old enough for this are rare, and a modern recording of an old piece can still be protected.
Royalty-free music is owned by someone, but you can use it without paying per view, usually under a licence with conditions.
Creative Commons music is free to use under the licence shown, which often requires credit in the description and may forbid commercial use.

Read the licence every time. “Free” on a download page does not mean free on a monetized channel.

Where to find safe music

YouTube Audio Library

Free, built into YouTube Studio under Audio Library, and safe for monetized videos. Some tracks need a credit line in the description, which the library tells you. The downside: thousands of channels use the same songs, so your Shorts can sound like everyone else’s.

The Shorts sound library

When you make a Short in the YouTube app you can add popular songs from its built-in sound picker. These are licensed for Shorts made in the app, but Shorts using some commercial music may earn less or nothing, and the songs aren’t available when you upload a finished file from a computer or a tool.

Paid libraries

Services like Epidemic Sound, Artlist and Musicbed licence large catalogues for a monthly fee and clear claims on your channel. Good quality, but you need an active subscription and must whitelist your channel; cancel and older videos can be claimed.

Original generated music

Music made fresh for each video has no prior owner, so it can’t match anything in Content ID. TurtleReels composes an original soundtrack for every Short in one of four moods (calm, dreamy, cosmic and upbeat) and scores it to the animation, so no two videos share a track.

Your own music

If you make music, or have licensed tracks you are allowed to use, you can upload them. On Pro and higher TurtleReels plans you can add your own tracks and they are used in your Shorts instead of the generated music.

If you get a claim anyway

Open YouTube Studio, go to Content and check the Restrictions column.
If you have a licence, dispute the claim and explain it. Paid libraries usually clear claims for you.
If you don’t, use Replace song or Mute song in the editor, or remove the video and re-upload it with safe music.

A simple rule

Only use music you can prove you are allowed to use on a monetized channel. Keep a note of the source and licence for every track. When in doubt, use original or Audio Library music.

More on running a channel: how to start a faceless Shorts channel and how to automate your uploads.

Make your first Short free