How to check if music is free

How to know if music isn’t copyright-free

If the music you are using doesn’t say it’s copyright-free, assume it is copyrighted. All royalty-free and copyright-free music will be marked as safe to use with no copyright infringements.

Take a look at these two ways to find out if your music is copyright-free.

Check the video description on YouTube

The easiest way to know if a song on YouTube is copyrighted is to look in the video’s description box. YouTube music downloads usually share the audio and artist’s details, which helps you check if it is free to use or not in the description. 

Upload your YouTube video as private or unlisted

You can also upload your video as a private or unlisted YouTube video. YouTube’s content ID will let you know if there are copyright and licensing restrictions. If the audio is copyrighted, you’ll receive an on-screen alert.

How do I get permission to use copyrighted music? 

Step 1. Find the copyright owner

To get permission to use a copyrighted song, you’ll need to find the artist or owner of the song and contact them. Most of the time you contact famous musicians directly, but you can contact their music publishers instead. We recommend contacting any of the below music licensing companies for the USA, Australia, and UK content creators: 

• SESAC, ASCAP, and BMI (United States users)

• APRA AMCOS (Australian users) 

• PRS (United Kingdom users) offer music licenses for trending songs

Step 2. Discuss a permission agreement

Once you have found and contacted the owner of your audio track, negotiate a permission agreement. The non-copyright permission agreement should include the following: 

• Information about yourself and your YouTube channel 

• Media usage (TV or YouTube)

• Song title

• Duration of the song 

• How long you want to play the music for

• Number of expected views 

• Purpose of the license (commercial or non-profit)

Step 3. Obtain a written permission agreement

Avoid verbal agreements with music owners as they are less effective than written agreements. If the permission agreement isn’t physical, misunderstandings can lead to future disputes. To use a copyrighted song, make sure to obtain a written authorization agreement before adding the music to your video.
Source: https://clipchamp.com/en/blog/permission-song-youtube/#how-to-know-if-music-isn%E2%80%99t-copyright-free