Where to get background music for your videos without license fees
Short answer: Royalty-free music services like Epidemic Sound or YouTube's free Audio Library both work, but each has a catch: paid services cost a recurring fee and free libraries have a thinner catalog. ElevenLabs' Eleven Music generates a track from a text description instead, and its commercial-use rules are more specific than most "cleared for commercial use" claims suggest: Starter and above ($6/month) covers most digital and non-digital commercial use, but film, TV, radio and most game soundtracks specifically need an Enterprise plan, and the Free plan requires crediting ElevenLabs if you use the music commercially at all.
You need music under a video that won't get it muted, flagged or pulled for a licensing claim down the line.
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Wrong-license music is a real problem, not a theoretical one: platforms mute or strip audio on videos using music they can't verify the rights for, and that usually happens after you've already published and promoted the thing. Getting the license right upfront is worth the extra ten minutes, especially since tracking down an alternative and re-editing a video after the fact costs you far more time than checking the license would have.
Your options
- Paid royalty-free libraries (Epidemic Sound and similar). Large, professionally produced catalogs, clear licensing, for a recurring subscription fee.
- Free libraries (YouTube Audio Library and similar). No cost, but a thinner catalog and licensing terms that vary track by track, so check each one.
- ElevenLabs Eleven Music. Generate a track from a text description rather than searching a catalog for something close enough. Try ElevenLabs Eleven Music for a track built to match your video specifically.
The commercial-use rules most articles get wrong
I checked ElevenLabs' current Music Terms directly rather than repeating the vague "cleared for nearly all uses" line that circulates elsewhere, since the actual terms are more specific than that:
- Starter ($6/month) and above covers most commercial use, both digital and non-digital, including advertising and general business video, except film, TV, radio and most Studio Games, which are restricted to Enterprise.
- Free plan allows commercial use too, but requires attribution. You need to denote that the track is Eleven Music when you distribute it. Paid plans require no attribution at all.
- Streaming platform distribution specifically requires Creator tier ($22/month) or above, not just Starter, if you plan to release the track on a music streaming service rather than just using it as background audio in a video.
- You own the output. As between you and ElevenLabs, you retain rights to what you generate, though you're responsible for making sure it doesn't infringe someone else's existing work.
For a standard business or marketing video on your website or social channels, Starter covers you. The moment you're talking about an actual TV commercial for a local business, radio spot, or film project, that's the specific case where you need to look at Enterprise, not just a bigger self-serve plan.
Writing a prompt that actually matches your video
In Eleven Music, a vague mood word like "upbeat" or "corporate" produces something generic. A more useful prompt names the genre, the tempo feel, the instrumentation and the specific role the music plays: "upbeat corporate pop, driving but not aggressive, light percussion and synth, builds slightly toward the end, no vocals." That level of detail gives the generator far more to work with than a single adjective, and it's closer to how you'd brief a composer than how you'd search a stock library's genre tags.
A few more worked examples: for a calm, trustworthy explainer video, "warm acoustic guitar, slow tempo, minimal percussion, reassuring and unhurried, instrumental only" reads very differently to the generator than "calm music," and produces something closer to what you actually picture. For a product launch teaser, "cinematic build, starts sparse, adds layers and energy toward a climax at the end, modern electronic elements, no vocals" signals the structural arc you want, not just a static mood, which matters since a track that builds is a genuinely different creative brief than one that stays at one energy level throughout.
If the first generation isn't quite right, it's usually faster to add one more specific constraint to the prompt and regenerate than to try to find a track that's closer by browsing a library instead.
What it costs beyond the plan price
Verified on ElevenLabs' current docs: Eleven Music costs roughly 900 credits per minute generated. Free gives 10,000 credits a month, enough for roughly 11 minutes, though commercial use on Free needs the attribution noted above. Starter's 30,000 credits covers about 33 minutes a month with full commercial rights for most uses and no attribution required. A wider look at what the tool makes is in ElevenLabs sound effects and music.
Comparing the three options side by side
| Option | Cost | Catalog | Licensing clarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid libraries (Epidemic Sound and similar) | Recurring subscription, typically $10-20/month | Large, professionally produced, consistent quality | Clear, that's the service's whole business |
| Free libraries (YouTube Audio Library) | Free | Thinner, more generic | Varies track by track, worth checking each one |
| ElevenLabs Eleven Music | From $6/month (Starter), pay by generation credits | Unlimited, generated to your exact brief | Specific and tiered: Starter covers most use, Enterprise for film/TV/radio, Creator+ for streaming distribution |
The right pick depends on how specific your need is and how much the licensing nuance matters for your situation. A paid library is the safest, most hands-off choice if budget allows and you don't need anything custom. Generation wins when you need something that matches your video exactly and don't want to spend time searching, as long as you've actually checked which tier covers your intended use.
What I'd actually tell you
For a straightforward marketing video, product demo or social clip, generating music gets you something that fits your specific video's pacing and mood in minutes, which a library search often can't match as precisely. Where I'd pump the brakes: if the video's going anywhere near broadcast, TV, radio, a film festival submission, check the Enterprise requirement before you build a whole production around a track you can't actually use for that purpose. Sound effects and ambient sound are covered in where to get sound effects and ambient sound.
A newer option worth knowing about
Per ElevenLabs' own changelog, a Video to Music API shipped on October 19, 2026, aimed at generating a soundtrack automatically from a video itself rather than from a text description. It's new enough that I couldn't confirm its exact availability (dashboard versus API-only) or any plan gating beyond the changelog entry itself, so treat this as something to ask ElevenLabs about directly if matching a soundtrack to your footage automatically, rather than describing the mood in words, sounds like less work for your situation.
The practical difference between the two approaches is worth understanding even before this feature is fully documented: text-to-music gives you precise creative control (you describe exactly the genre, tempo and mood you want) but requires you to already know what you want. Video-to-music infers a soundtrack from the footage's actual pacing and content, which can save the step of translating what you see into words, but hands over more of the creative decision to the system. For a video with a clear, deliberate pace you've already edited carefully, text-to-music with a specific prompt is likely to give you more control over the final result; for a quick draft where you want something serviceable fast, letting the system infer from the footage directly could be the faster path once it's more established.
Matching music to your video's actual structure
A generated track built section by section (an intro, a build, a steady middle, an outro) is more useful than one flat loop when your video has its own structure, a cold open, a main pitch, a call to action at the end. Describe that structure in your prompt directly: "starts minimal for the first ten seconds, builds energy through the middle section, settles down slightly for a closing call-to-action." Matching the music's internal arc to your video's actual edit, rather than picking one generic mood and letting it run flat the whole way through, is one of the more noticeable differences between a video that feels professionally scored and one that just has music playing under it.
When to skip this
If you specifically need the track for TV, radio, film or most game soundtracks, or if you want to distribute the piece on streaming platforms as a standalone release, check the relevant plan requirement (Enterprise for the former, Creator or above for the latter) before you generate and commit to a track, since the commercial terms gate those specific uses more tightly than general online video use. For a short branded sting rather than a background bed, see how to get a jingle for your business.
How I'd approach this
If you're producing video content regularly and want a consistent, on-brand music style across everything without a composer on retainer, generating a small library of tracks once and reusing them across your content is usually enough, and I can help build the workflow around that if you're doing it at volume. That typically means a handful of core tracks at different energy levels, calm, neutral, upbeat, each one tested and confirmed to work across your common video lengths, rather than generating something new from scratch for every single piece of content. Get in touch if that's useful to you.
Questions people ask
Can I use AI-generated music in a business video without paying a license fee?
Yes, on Starter ($6/month) and above, Eleven Music's commercial license covers most digital and non-digital business use including advertising, with no attribution required. It just doesn't cover film, TV, radio or most game soundtracks, which need Enterprise.
Does the Free plan allow commercial use?
Yes, but it requires attribution, meaning you need to denote the track as Eleven Music when you distribute it. Paid plans remove that requirement entirely.
Can I put AI-generated music on Spotify or another streaming service?
That specifically requires Creator tier ($22/month) or above, not just Starter. Using the music as background audio in a video is a different use case covered at the Starter level.
How long can a generated song be?
From 3 seconds up to 10 minutes, built section by section, with vocals or fully instrumental.
Who owns the music I generate?
You do. ElevenLabs' terms state you retain rights to your generated output, as between you and ElevenLabs, though you're responsible for ensuring it doesn't infringe on someone else's existing work.
What if my video is going to be broadcast on TV or radio?
Check the Enterprise plan specifically before you commit to a track. Film, TV, radio and most game soundtrack use is excluded from the standard commercial license on Starter through Business plans.
How detailed should my music prompt be?
Name the genre, tempo feel, instrumentation and the track's structural arc (steady, building, calm throughout), not just a single mood word. "Upbeat corporate pop, driving but not aggressive, light percussion, builds toward the end" produces something closer to what you picture than just "upbeat."
Should I generate a new track for every video or reuse a small library?
For regular content production, build a small library of a few tracks at different energy levels once, test them across your common video lengths, and reuse them, rather than generating something new from scratch every time. It's faster and keeps your content sounding consistent.