What is No Copyright Music?
In today's world. with all the different forms of content that are enhanced through the use of music, no copyright music has become an extremely valuable resource! With the increased need for songs, many creators often find themselves in the tough, expensive situation of needing a track, but not having the ability, or funds to find the right sort of music. Fortunately, this form of usually royalty free music has become very easy to come by these days, and it has even become extremely affordable! In this article, we're going to talk about what it is and how to find it!
What is No Copyright Music
No copyright music can mean a few different things. Each has its own benefits, while some forms also have various limitations. We'll talk about each one and walk you through what they are.
Expired Copyright
In some cases, it means that the copyright for a song has now expired. This happens when the song was published, released in 1926 as per the older laws, or 70 years after the death of an artist as per the new laws starting after Jan 1978. Of course, this doesn't have the same time limit as recordings of a song. The actual recordings of music have a 100-year protection. That means that as of this year in 2025, anything music recording published in 1924 is now available for use, copyright free. These sorts of songs are referred to as music that's in the public domain. Before using recordings however regardless of how old they are, you should always do a little research and make sure.
While this form is great for the use of older songs and older recordings, this form of public domain music has a limitation. It takes 100 years for its publishing date to become public domain making all of it fairly old. Now these styles of music work well for certain themes in content, like documentaries about things from time periods around the 1920s and before. You can also find uses for them in more modernly themed content. However, it's age can be a major limitation for content that isn't themed around early 20th century and before.
Declared to be No Copyright Music by The Copyright Holder
There is also the music that has been created relatively recently but has clearly and specifically been put into the public domain by the artist and rights holder. This means that the original creator of the music has officially, and preferably with well recorded or written proof, has decided to announce that it is public domain music. While this is relatively uncommon, it does happen. It is a good idea however to do plenty of research and make sure that the artists would be ok with their music being used since it's in they have declared it to be in the public domain.
This is done by artists who have chosen to share some of their music with the world, and it's a very generous thing to do! However, it's a good idea to make sure that they really meant for it to be completely useable. Sometimes there can be some misunderstanding that can end with the track not being useable after all. If you're able, the safest way to handle this uncertainty, is to contact the artist and make sure you can use it for the project that you'd like to.
Licensed Music
The next way that music gains a no copyright issue, is through licensing. This means that while the creator still has a copyright over it, the terms of the license takes care of it so that for someone who has the license for it, it becomes no copyright music. Essentially, these songs, or tracks have no copyright issues because they are licensed by their creators or rights holders, and the license is generally bought by the person or party that intends on using the track.
Licensed music can sometimes be a bit complicated due to all the terms within the license, but there are websites that also resolve this issue by using simple and easy to understand license terms. Our site for example is a licensed music dealer. Sites like ours keep the license terms simple and easy to understand, and often times the licenses like the ones in our online store have now time limits or expiration, and no limit for the number of times used. Some of the benefits that occur when sites have no expiration in their license terms include:
- One-time payments
- Not having to remove music from your content
- No need to take down and reupload successful content
The Importance of Researching No Copyright Music
While there isn't much need to do a lot of research on what you can do with licensed music because the terms are generally straight forward and clearly displayed, using the other two forms of it, public domain music, should be done with enough research to make sure that you're in the clear. It's easy research thankfully, and nothing to stress about. It's important just to make sure that you won't have to take content down due to copyright strikes. This can be a major nuisance when the content has been successful on YouTube and social media platforms, as well as for businesses.
If you'd like to take a look at some no copyright music, we have it available here, including free downloads that come with the full pro license. You can find it by following this link: No Copyright Music that’s Royalty Free and Affordable! - Stock Music Central