Using commercial music as the background for your YouTube video without permission might violate U.S. copyright law. The music rights holder could issue a copyright claim on your video, resulting in the video being taken down or the audio stripped from it. The good news is that there are options to help you stay legal with your YouTube music playlist. You aren’t limited to the music on the screen. You can search by title, genre, mood, instrument, duration, and attribution. As you might expect, clicking on the Sound effects tab opens a selection of free sound effects you can use in your videos.

Finding Copyrighted Commercial Music to Add to Your Videos

The YouTube Commercial Music Policies section contains many current and popular songs that users have shown an interest in using. They usually come with some restrictions. The restriction may be that the song is blocked in certain countries or that the owner may place ads on your video to monetize the use of the music. The list also includes songs that you are not allowed to use. To view the copyrighted commercial music list, click Have different music in your video? Check its copyright policies in the bar at the top of the Audio Library screen to open the Music Policies screen.

YouTube Restriction Types

Each song in the Music Policies list is accompanied by the restrictions that the music owner has set for its use on YouTube. In most cases, they apply to the original song and also to any cover of that song by anyone else. They include:

A comment on where the original music or covers can be used. This may be Viewable worldwide, Viewable everywhere except 2 countries, Not viewable in 74 countries, and other similar entries. You don’t want to choose a song that isn’t usable in the U.S. because your video would be blocked here. If you see a notice that the music is blocked in a group of countries, tap on the entry to open the list of countries and see which ones won’t be able to view your video. You will typically see a note that Ads can appear. This means that the music owner can place ads on your video in exchange for your use of the owner’s music. If you don’t like the idea of the music owner monetizing your video, you may need to select from the free songs in the Audio Library because most of the copyrighted music has this disclaimer.You may see This song is not available for use in your YouTube video along with a warning that your video may be blocked if you use it. Don’t use it.

For example, at the time of publication, Gangnam Style is not allowed in videos, Uptown Funk is blocked in over 200 countries, and they don’t all mention that “ads can appear.”