With record labels passing out DMCA strikes becoming a regular occurrence, you need to be cautious about what you play on on a go-live so to avoid getting demonetized or banned from the platform.
Facebook Music Guidelines
Facebook, as with other streaming platforms, is taking copyrighted playing music on streaming more seriously. While it has always been illegal, many people have long seen it as a grey area. With DMCA takedowns so prevalent now and streamers being banned from websites, it is better to stay on the safe side and use royalty-free music.
Facebook Sound Collection
Facebook has introduced Sound Collection to its content creators. This is a collection of royalty-free music creators can use in their streams without the fear of getting a DMCA strike. They have included a wide range of music genres that can cater to all types of streaming content.
This sound collection makes it easier for Facebook streamers to create content on the platform. Moreover, this is a free feature for all content creators. Do keep in mind that there may still be restricted songs. If you can’t find any type of music or sound in this collection, you can turn to third-party websites that offer royalty-free music.
Best DMCA Free Music for Facebook Live Streams
While you can source a few songs around the internet to create your own playlists, it is handy to use one source to find most of your tunes. Here are our top 3 picks on where you can find royalty-free music:
1. Epidemic Sound – Quality Music for Facebook
Epidemic Sound offers over 30,000 tracks of royalty-free music in several genres. Using their program, you can download each part of a track separately if you wish, making it easy for you to create your own unique playlists or use a portion of a song for a YouTube compilation or highlight reel.
Their affordable personal plan covers music for Facebook as well as several other platforms. The company offers a free 30-day trial that will allow you to see firsthand what the platform offers.
Epidemic Sound owns all of its music and adds new tracks on a weekly basis. The platform works directly with each artist and composer on a long-term basis (though they don’t require the artist to remain exclusive). As Epidemic owns the music, you won’t have to worry about copyright strikes or takedowns.
They will make claims on accounts that upload videos without an active subscription but won’t make past claims on accounts that previously uploaded content while having a subscription. You can easily link your channel to Epidemic to make it that much easier for no claims to be made.
2. Comma Music – Award-Winning Music for Facebook
Not only does Comma Music allow you to search through thousands of tracks by genre and style, but they are also the only royalty-free music library to offer a student plan. You can easily create playlists that you can use on Facebook and other sites while streaming or creating traditional content.
Their music has been cleared for monetized content, so you don’t have to worry about them coming after you with a DMCA strike. They work with top composers so that you can get next-level music that you and your community will enjoy video after video. In fact, their music has been used in many well-known brands’ commercials or events.
They have several subscription plans available depending on what your goals for the music include as well as where you are in life. Occasionally they will provide an additional discount if you agree to subscribe for a year or more.
3. Artlist – Copyright-Free Music for Facebook
With an Artlist membership, you can rest easy that you can download unlimited music for your stream. Trusted by many major companies, you can use music from Artlist on several different platforms, including Facebook Gaming and the social sites you use to grow your brand.
Artlist has three different plans that will allow you to get unlimited music that you can use while you have a membership. Artlist will never copyright claim any content you make while you are subscribed to their platform. They also upload new music on a daily basis, allowing you to always have something fresh to listen to or use on your channel.
With their Music and SFX plan, you can download unlimited music and sound effects.
4. Jingle Punks Music on Streamlabs Prime
One of the many benefits of Streamlabs Prime (their premium plan) is access to Jingle Punks Music and their library of over 100,000 songs in over 100 categories. The music sounds professional and clearly mimics the genre of your choice. You have the option of using their pre-made playlists or creating your own.
As this app is created with streamers in mind, there are a couple of great features. The first is that you can set up customized notifications for your steam when the song changes. You can also set up the music so that your audience hears it, but you don’t. This is helpful when you are gaming and you must pay attention to in-game sounds or Discord.
5. Pretzel Rocks
Pretzel Rocks is another popular platform that provides DMCA-safe music for your broadcasts. It is free to use but requires mandatory chat attribution unless you get the premium plan. The plan costs $4.99 per month and gives you a Discord role and access to support. 70% of the fees go to the musicians who recorded the songs.
6. Stream Beats by Harris Heller
Harris Heller of Alpha Gaming has released over 6 hours of music that he allows streamers to use for free on their channels. A streamer himself, he understands the difficulty in finding good music that you can use without the risk of DMCA strikes.
7. Incompetech
Incompetech provides a large variety of music that you can download and arrange to play on your stream. You can use the songs for free with attribution. To avoid attribution, you must pay $20 per track. Paid licenses allow you to use the song in any project you like for life.
8. Monstercat
You can broadcast Monstercat’s music on your live stream for $5 per month. If you don’t plan to monetize your channel, you can use it for free. The service is available for Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook Gaming streamers. To listen to their music, visit their channel.
9. SoundStripe
SoundStripe has two premium plans to let you access their weekly-updated music library. The first is $11.25 per month and includes unlimited music licenses and playlists. The second is $21 per month. It gives you the same features as the first, plus over 30,000 sound effects that you can use during your stream. Additionally, it offers pre-released music and over a thousand songs with stems.
Can You Play Copyrighted Music on Facebook Gaming?
Unless you have written permission from the owner of the music, you cannot play copyrighted music on Facebook Gaming or any other platform. It is actually illegal.
While streamers could get away with it for a long time, the music industry has become more aggressive in pressing charges in the last year, and platforms like Facebook Gaming are taking extra measures to protect themselves.
While playing music in the background of your streams is important, you need to find royalty-free music that you can play without worrying that you will lose your channel in the end. Hopefully, this post has helped you find a few options on where you can find music to keep your audience entertained.
How to Use Copyrighted Music on Facebook Legally
If you really want to use copyrighted music on Facebook, you will need to go through legal avenues. Find out who owns the rights to the music and contact them to work out terms for how you can use it on your stream. This can potentially be very expensive, depending on the music you want to use.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Did Facebook Partially Mute My Video?
Facebook will partially mute a video if copyrighted content is played on the video. For instance, if a streamer is listening to popular music on their channel, it will often be muted due to music in the background. This is because they do not own the right to play music for an audience.
What Music Does Facebook Allow?
Facebook will allow you to play royalty-free music on your stream. You cannot play the music that is copyrighted and owned by another company. Purchasing a song or using Spotify doesn’t give you the right to play it in front of an audience or use it in a video.
Where Can I Get Free Background Music?
You can find free background music for your stream on several YouTube channels where the owner has created their own music and given permission for others to use it. Understand that they can change their minds at any time and Copyright the music.
Can I use YouTube Free Music on Facebook?
If the music on YouTube is copyrighted, you cannot use it on your Facebook stream. You can only use royalty-free music on Facebook Gaming. If the music is royalty-free, you will be able to use it on your stream without worry.
Conclusion
Whether you download music to create unique playlists for your stream or you need a whole collection of your favorite genre of music, it is important to ensure you are using royalty-free tracks on your channel to avoid copyright infringement.
We recommend using a platform that allows you to have unlimited downloads of both music and sound effects so that your Facebook videos can be second to none.
Chris
Chris is a digital marketer with a strong background in small business and influencer branding. He applies his knowledge of content and promotional strategies to design actionable advice for new and intermediate streamers. When he’s not busy crunching analytics, he can be found in the salt pits of League of Legends.