Creative Commons music for videos: what each licence lets you do

Search for “no copyright music” and you will find thousands of tracks that promise to be free. Most of them are not free of copyright at all. They are copyrighted songs that the artist has chosen to share under a licence, and that licence comes with rules. Follow the rules and you are fine. Break them and your video can be muted, claimed or taken down, even if you never earned a rupee from it. This guide explains the licences you will meet most often and how to use them properly.

First, what “Creative Commons” actually means

Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit that publishes a small set of standard licences. An artist picks one and attaches it to their work. Instead of every musician writing their own legal terms, everyone uses the same well-known ones, so you can tell at a glance what is allowed. The artist still owns the copyright. The licence is simply a public permission slip.

Every CC licence is built from four building blocks. BY means you must credit the creator. SA (ShareAlike) means anything you make with it must be shared under the same licence. NC (NonCommercial) means you cannot use it for commercial purposes. ND (NoDerivatives) means you cannot change it and share the changed version. The six licences are combinations of these: CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-SA, CC BY-ND and CC BY-NC-ND.

The licences, one by one

• CC BY: the friendliest licence for creators. You can use the track in any video, including monetized ones, edit it, loop it or cut it, as long as you give proper credit.
• CC BY-SA: same as CC BY, but your video would also have to be shared under CC BY-SA. Most creators do not want to licence their whole video that way, so use these tracks with care.
• CC BY-NC: you can use it only for non-commercial work. A monetized video, a sponsored video or an advert for your business is commercial. If you plan to earn from a video, skip NC music.
• CC BY-ND: you may use the track only as it is. Trimming it, remixing it or laying it under speech can count as a derivative, which is not allowed. In practice it is a poor fit for background music.
• CC BY-NC-SA and CC BY-NC-ND: combine the limits above. Treat them as off-limits for any channel that earns money.
• CC0: not really a licence. The creator has given up their rights as far as the law allows. You can use CC0 music for anything without credit, though crediting is still a kind gesture.

How to credit a track properly

Creative Commons suggests a simple checklist often shortened to TASL: Title, Author, Source and Licence. Put all four in your video description, and on screen too if you can. A good credit looks like this:

• “Song Title” by Artist Name
• Source: a link to the page where you found the track
• Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• If you changed the track (cut it, slowed it, added effects), say so: “Edited from the original.”

Keep the licence version. CC BY 3.0 and CC BY 4.0 are both fine for videos, but the link should point to the version the artist chose. If the song was a remix that used other people’s parts, credit the people the source page lists too.

Common mistakes that get videos claimed

• Trusting a video titled “No Copyright Music” on a big platform. Re-uploaders often strip the original licence or upload music they have no right to share. Always go back to the artist’s own page or a trusted library.
• Using NC music in a monetized or sponsored video, then being surprised by a claim.
• Writing only “Music: YouTube” or “Music by artist” with no licence. That does not meet the BY condition.
• Assuming a licence never changes. A licence you received cannot be taken back for the copy you got, but artists sometimes move later releases to paid libraries. Save a screenshot of the licence page on the day you download.
• Registering CC music with a content-ID system. You do not own it, and claiming other people’s videos with it is a quick way to lose your account.

Where to find properly licensed music

Good starting points are libraries that show the licence clearly on every track, such as ccMixter, the Free Music Archive and Incompetech (Kevin MacLeod’s catalogue, licensed CC BY). Platform audio libraries, such as YouTube’s, are another option, but those tracks are often licensed only for use on that one platform. Read the terms before using them elsewhere.

A quick decision guide

• Will the video earn money, now or later? Use CC0 or CC BY only.
• Will you edit the music (trim, loop, lower the volume under speech)? Avoid ND.
• Do you want to keep normal rights over your own video? Avoid SA.
• Can you find the original source page and the exact licence? If not, do not use the track.

The bottom line

Creative Commons music is one of the best gifts the internet gives small creators, but it is a deal, not a free-for-all. Pick CC BY or CC0 for anything you might monetize, credit the title, artist, source and licence every time, and keep a record of where each track came from. Ten seconds of care in the description saves you from a muted video months later.