How to select a YouTube audio library?
The audio part of a video is crucial. It will give power to a story, convey emotions and grab the viewer’s attention. Getting the best sound is thus a real issue for any content-maker on the internet, especially on YouTube. But how do you choose your audio library? How to get the audio that suits my YouTube video? Here are some elements on how to select a YouTube audio library.
Why you should be careful?
Getting your video blocked because of a copyright claim or even getting your channel shutdown is the worst that can happen to a YouTuber. Since YouTube introduced Content ID in 2007, that fingerprint system didn’t stop to evolve and become more efficient in detecting the use of copyrighted music. In certain cases , even if the owner of the content allows the video to stay on YouTube, you’ll lose the entirety of the generated revenues. That’s why you should be very careful when using sounds on YouTube. If you aspire to be a successful YouTuber and to earn the monetary reward of that success, finding a reliable audio library is essential.
Where to find sound-effects?
In the world of YouTube videos, sound-effects are now unavoidable. They add dynamism, engagement and impact to your video, and they’re now used by all major YouTubers. It could be the sound of a crowd, a rainfall, a police siren or a simple mouse-click sound, you hear them everywhere without even notice.
Where to find them? The most popular sound-effects library is the collection of sounds given by default with the editing software “iMovie”. It includes the hackneyed yet often efficient sound-effects you hear in every Vlog. But also hundreds of ambient sounds, and a really great variety of sounds-effects. It’s a really good start to find what you need.
The other natural alternative is the YouTube Audio Library which also provides a lot of sound-effects, for free on the YouTube Video Editor.
If you’re really looking for other places to find what you are looking for, you can go on platforms such as Freesound which owns supposedly 400 000 sounds. So it is an endless source available to anyone. The BBC also provides a large library of sound-effects. Finally, some online paying libraries can be interesting such as Audiomicro.
Where to find music?
Adding an impactful music to your creation is also essential. But where to find it? Because once again, using music for which you don’t own any rights is not an option. You have several choices available. You can look for a royalty free music library. Basically, it sells music for a single fee, that you can then use as you want and make as much revenue as you can with it without paying extra fees. Copyright free music can be even more economical option. You can learn more about that in that previous article. The third option is to go to more traditional music libraries like BAM Music that will offer you license so you can use a music just as you desire, according to the terms of the license. Some music library like Soundstripe or YouTube Audio Library offer both sound-effects and music licenses.
