Beethoven’s Fifth. Fur Elise. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Happy Birthday. These are all songs that you can use whenever you want in your videos because they’re in the free public domain. Perhaps you’ve heard of this magical place, the public domain. It’s a place where music is free for all, and you can use it to your heart’s content, without fear of reprisal or the dreaded YouTube copyright claim.
But what is free public domain music, really? The answer can be tricky, but never fear, we’ll start with the basics.
It’s probably obvious to you that the public domain isn’t an actual place. “Public domain” is a term that refers to creative works that aren’t protected by copyright laws. There are three scenarios that can make this happen:
You do have other options, though. You can browse any number of stock music sites or royalty-free music sites, and your results may vary. Or, you can turn to Lickd. Lickd lets you search from over 1 million tracks and counting, as well as over 100,000 royalty-free music tracks, to help you find the best stock music for YouTube videos. All Lickd tracks are pre-cleared, with fees negotiated to be affordable. You’ll be able to immediately download tracks, use them in your videos, and you won’t have issues with YouTube copyright claims. It’s so much easier than spending your days scouring the web for free public domain music. Try it today and see what you think!
The public domain
- The writers specifically put their work into the public domain
- The rights the artist had to the music expire
- There were never any copyrights