is fnf music copyrighted?

Today, it is impossible to imagine a world without background music.

From physical businesses such as hairdressers, gyms, or restaurants to media such as radio, television, or the Internet.

All of them have a musical background to enhance the user experience, increase clientele and, ultimately, increase sales.

However, before using background music in any project, the first thing you should do is to know in depth a term of critical importance: copyright.

With this definition in mind, we might venture to think that all musical works are copyrighted, however, this is not entirely true.

It would be more accurate to say that the vast majority of the songs you listen to are protected by copyright.

However, there are 3 particular cases in which music is not protected by copyright.

We’ll tell you more about them later, as well as the methods you have to identify which songs are copyrighted, and which are not.

But before that, let us warn you about something important:

To avoid uncomfortable surprises in this regard, you should opt for one of these two options:

The first option involves going through long administrative processes, negotiations with artists and record labels, as well as the payment of large sums of money.

The second option is quick, simple, affordable, and ensures that you are using 100% copyright-free music.

At this point, the decision seems easy.

However, you should know that not all copyright-free music is the same.

As we mentioned before, there are 3 different groups with royalty-free music.

Knowing them and their differences is essential before using any song in your projects.

In summary, these 3 specific cases would be the following:

Below you will be able to see each of them in detail.

It is often said that public domain music is music that encompasses all works that are not protected by copyright and, therefore, can be used without the author’s permission free of charge.

However, songs in the public domain must have certain characteristics:

We will explain below how to identify songs that are under these rules.

Creative Commons licensed music is often categorized as free copyright-free music.

The reason for this is simple: downloading this type of music is free.

However, in order to use it correctly in certain projects, you must first know the meaning of the 6 types of Creative Commons licenses that exist.

In our guide about what music copyright-free is, we explain what each one is and why you should know before downloading and using music under these licenses in your projects.

If the music under Creative Commons licenses was labeled as free royalty-free music, this type of music would be labeled as royalty-free but paid music.

Nevertheless, despite not being free, it offers several advantages over the previous two options:

In summary,

If you are interested in where to find this type of royalty-free music, here are the best online platforms for you to download.

We will tell you a bit more about these platforms later in case you want to know more about them.

Well, at this point you already know the 3 options to get copyright-free music.

Now let’s see how to find out which songs are copyrighted.

First of all, there are several methods to know reliably if a song is copyrighted or not. Below we will explain, step by step, each of them.

In the Public Domain Music section, you can find all the music tracks under this denomination. If you have doubts about whether the song you want to use belongs to the public domain, this website offers you several ways to clear your doubts.

You can search for it by the first letter of its title or by using its search engine.

It is worth mentioning that if you find the song you want to use in PDinfo, it will not be copyrighted, and therefore you will be able to use it 100% freely.

YouTube, beyond being the most visited online platform in the world -just behind Google- or being the number 1 video website globally, is also a great tool to indirectly verify the copyright of a song.

Why?

And as a company, they are committed to complying with the legality when it comes to music copyrights.

In fact, they have created their own algorithm to identify any illegal use of music – the so-called Content ID.

YouTube’s Content ID not only checks the copyrights of songs that have been officially published on the platform but also extends to music much older than YouTube itself.

Now, how can you know which music is copyrighted and which is not on YouTube?

We show it to you below.

Whenever you search for a video on YouTube and it contains copyrighted music, one way to recognize it is to go to the video description.

By default, the platform adds a few lines of information about the music track(s) heard in the video.

Something similar to this:

Therefore, if you search for a song on YouTube, and similar information appears in the description, there is no doubt: that song is copyrighted.

Another way to detect if a song is copyrighted is by adding it to a video that is uploaded to the platform.

In order of avoiding strikes from YouTube, the recommendation here is to upload it in private or hidden.

It is also recommended that you upload the song with a background image or a video that does not take up much space.

This way, you will not have to render the original video over and over again with each song you want to know its legal status, and therefore, you will save a lot of time.

Once you upload the video privately with the associated song, half of the work is done.

The other half will be taken care of by the Content ID algorithm, which will quickly identify if the song is copyrighted:

Apart from the above, there are other ways to find out if a song is copyrighted.

Previously we introduced you to the 4 best royalty free music websites.

Now it’s time to find out a little more about each of them.

Although there are also other platforms where you can get royalty-free music, we would first like to highlight a novelty that we have introduced in Legis Music:

We consider it vitally important that our customers can access royalty-free music easily and cheaply.

Therefore, these plans have been designed so that you only have to pay once to get them, allowing you to enjoy unlimited songs for life and have the peace of mind of not having to worry about copyright claims in the future.

Thus, you can choose the plan that best suits your needs:

As you can see, if there is one thing that makes our licenses stand out, it is the opportunity to enjoy them forever and paying only once.

Below is a table with the three plans and their respective prices.

Epidemic Sound is one of the leaders in the copyright-free music sector, with more than 13 years of experience.

It offers its users a music library with more than 100,000 exclusive music tracks of the highest quality, distributed into songs and sound effects.

Among its most notable tools are the ‘EAR’ option to find similar songs in terms of voice, vibes…; ‘Stems’ with which you can delete any instrument from a music track, and ‘Find Similar’, with which you can find songs similar to those you have previously liked.

Epidemic Sound offers you three types of subscription plans, adapted to whatever your musical needs may be:

Whatever your case may be, Epidemic Sound promises to offer you the best royalty-free music you can find on the Internet.

Find out now by accessing the platform for free for 30 days.

Envato Elements is possibly the largest marketplace for creative goods globally.

And the fact is that, since its creation in 2016, it has managed to make up the stratospheric figure of 60 million digital assets, an amount that continues to grow week after week.

To name a few of them, on Envato Elements you can find:

And if we look only at the music, you will have at your disposal more than 120,000 music tracks, all of them copyright-free.

If you want to use their large music library for your commercial projects, you can do so by subscribing to the platform for just €14.50 / month.

However, you can access Envato Elements completely free of charge and even listen to all the songs at no cost, by clicking on the button below.

Artlist is a royalty-free music platform that aims to simplify and reduce the cost of acquiring music licenses for practically any use case.

Its refined interface and curated music library make this platform one of the most chosen by clients such as Google, Mercedes, or Coca-Cola, among others.

Artlist offers you three types of plans:

All of them offer you unlimited downloads and unlimited project usage, even after your subscription expires.

Browse the web, pre-listen to their songs for free, and discover all that Artlist hides inside.

And if you think it’s the music solution you were looking for, you can enjoy an additional 2 months free by subscribing to the platform via the button below.

Audiio is the platform with the most revolutionary music offer in the market, and soon you will understand why.

It is worth mentioning that, despite having been on the market for less time than other similar companies, it has managed to convince with its music clients such as Netflix, Adidas, or Nike, among others.

And not only for its large music library or for the quality of its music tracks, created by the best indie artists in the world, but also for its innovative proposal.

They also offer you the Audiio Pro license ($199 / year), with which you will have access to both music tracks and sound effects, but only for one year.

We recommend you to visit the website and take a look at all the royalty-free music that Audiio offers you.

In case you like the service and want to count on this platform as your music ally, you can get a 70% discount on the first year subscription when paying for the Audiio Pro licence by clicking on the button below.

When it comes to using music in any kind of project or business, you should not only take care of aspects such as the music genre, its speed, or its volume.

You also need to take into account the well-known copyright.

To avoid these setbacks and have the peace of mind you are looking for regarding music, you need to know if the music you want to use in your projects is protected by copyright.

If you have come this far, you already know the easiest steps to find out:

However, instead of going through all these steps, you can also opt for the easiest option: use music that you already know is not copyrighted.

Throughout the article, we have shared with you 3 categories of copyright-free music: public domain music, Creative Commons music, and royalty-free music.

Of the 3 options, the first two have some drawbacks that make them not very compatible with commercial projects.

But royalty-free music licenses offer a real solution to get the background music you were looking for.

Legis Music, Epidemic Sound, Envato Elements, Artlist y Audiio are the best platforms where you can find this type of music. All of them are proven companies in the stock music industry, chosen by thousands of customers and prestigious brands. Not only do they offer you huge libraries of top-quality music for your projects, but they do it in an economical and 100% legal way.