Auditory Anchors: Scouting 10 Prime Songs for Podcast Starts
Adding music and sound effects is a great way to polish your podcast episodes—especially the podcast intro with a piece of fantastic music. In this article, we will guide you on how to choose music and where to find your best music for podcast intros.
Part 1. What Kind of Music Can You Use for the Podcast Intro?
Various types of music can be used for podcast intros, including creative common music, royalty-free music, and public domain music. So, whether you’re looking to use vocals or special music as an intro for your podcast show, it’s crucial you understand these different types of music, as it’ll save you from violating copyright laws that could compromise your podcast show’s reputation online.
Creative Common Music (Free to use)
Creative Common Music is music tracks where the artist gives users 100% freedom to use it without permission. It’s a type of music with no copyright. But you might be required to provide credit to the artist. So please read the terms and conditions attached to any creative common music before using it.
Royalty-Free Music (Paid)
Royalty-Free Music is the opposite of Creative Common Music. To use such music, you need to have a subscription on the website or make a one-time payment to have 100% right to use it in your podcast intro. In addition, such music is usually subjected to copyright. So, using it without permission will risk your podcast show’s reputation.
Public Domain Music (Free to use)
Public Domain Music is music with an expired copyright license published in a public domain where you can use them for free without permission or giving credit. For example, in the United States, music works published in 1926 or earlier are Public Domain Music.
Part 2. 10 Places To Get Music for Your Podcast Intros
A professional-sounding podcast starts with intro music and uses songs to move the story forward. Now you have a brief understanding of the kind of music you can use for a podcast intro, let’s dive into the list of the top 10 places to get music for your podcast intro.
Many users are unaware that YouTube also has one of the biggest collections of royalty-free music that you can download and use for creative or artistic purposes. YouTube Audio Library allows you to search for royalty-free music by mood, track name, artist, or genre. So, regardless of the topic or theme of your podcast, you will find something suitable in its vast library.
Plus, you do not need any registrations or have to answer long questionnaires to access royalty-free music for podcast intros from the YouTube library. Instead, you can use the existing YouTube account to search, download, and use the music available on the platform.
Pros and Cons of YouTube Audio Library
Pros
You can find music representing different themes, genres, moods, cultures, and so on.
You can listen to the music on YouTube Audio Library or YouTube, SoundCloud, Apple Music, or Spotify.
You do not have to open an account or sign up.
YouTube Audio Library has one of the biggest collections of royalty-free music.
Cons
You must support the artists via likes, shares, and subscriptions to download and use their music.
Ratings and User Reviews of YouTube Audio Library for Android
G2 Rating: 7/ 5 (1 million+ user reviews)
Trustpilot: 3/ 5 (726K user reviews)
TrustRadius: 4.7/ 5 (400K+ user reviews)
User Review: “YouTube Audio Library has always satisfied all my music needs. The best thing: you do not need to pay even a dime to use professional-sounding music.”
Another free platform, Dig CCmixter, is a community-supported platform that accepts music from musicians and allows users to download them for free. You do not have to tag the musician who created and uploaded the track to the Dig CCmixter library. An open internet utility, Dig CCmixter, does not even ask you to register on the site.
You can use tags to look for specific music genres and get a short list of types of music you need for your podcast. However, the Dig CCmixter site is unsecured; it isn’t a big concern, but most browsers (depending on your Settings) won’t allow you to access the site.
Still, if you can access the Dig CCmixter site, you will have one of the largest collections of royalty-free music that you can use to create podcast intros and outros.
Pros and Cons of Dig CCmixter:
Pros
You can use music for free as long as you give credit.
Broad music collection.
Cons
The search functionality could be better.
The website’s interface looks outdated.
Ratings and User Reviews of Dig CCmixter for Android:
G2 Rating: 7/ 5 (1 million+ user reviews)
Trustpilot: 3/ 5 (726K user reviews)
TrustRadius: 4.7/ 5 (400K+ user reviews)
User Review: “YouTube Audio Library has always satisfied all my music needs. The best thing: you do not need to pay even a dime to use professional-sounding music.”
Free Music Archive, as the name indicates, is another site that presents free music for podcast intros and outro’s from independent creators and musicians worldwide.
You can find a piece of suitable music for podcast intros that will intrigue your users, from rock, jazz, reggae, or electronic. Another essential thing about Free Music Archive is that it gives you access to premium music service providers.
So in case you have the budget in the future, you can even access premium sites and find sophisticated tunes for your podcast created by professionals without having to find such places. Its interface is simple, and even technophobes can navigate the site seamlessly.
Pros and Cons of Free Music Archive
Pros
The straightforward and navigable user interface on any device, including Android and iPhone.
Free Music Archive allows you to search for music using tags, top downloads, artists, genres, featured mixes, and more.
Instrumental, Rock, Soul-RnB, Pop, Electronic, Classical, Hip-hop, Folk, Jazz, Country, and more genres.
It allows you to search even premium music content for podcasts.
Cons
Registration is a must before downloading music from the site.
Some creators demand you to tag them when you use their music in your podcast.
Ratings and User Reviews of Free Music Archive for Android
G2 Rating: 3.6/5 (400 user reviews)
**User Review: “**Free Music Archive makes life easier by giving me access to different types of music I need for my content.”
StochMusic has a simple concept, and it sells you music royalty in exchange for a subscription. For as little as US$ 16.69/mo, you can download as many soundtracks as you want for podcast intros. There is another subscription plan which also gives you access to unlimited sound effects besides soundtracks. Soundtracks are suitable for podcast creators looking to add podcast intros.
At the same time, the second plan will be helpful to creators that create story-based podcasts where sound effects add drama to voice and intrigue your users. StockMusic charges money for the music and sound effects because, unlike YouTube Audio Library and Free Music Archive, StockMusic includes music only from professionals. So, the music you get in return for your money is subpar and sounds professional.
Pros and Cons of StockMusic
Pros
Filter by genre, mood, instruments, duration, and more to search for soundtracks and audio effects.
Get a license for the music that you purchase on StockMusic and monetize. You can also sell the music to other parties. Transfer the license to someone else via the platform.
Clean and simple user interface. The site is mobile-responsive, which works well even on mobile devices.
Cons
Before downloading music from the site, you must register and subscribe to a plan.
Ratings and User Reviews of Free Music Archive for Android:
G2 Rating: 3.6/5 (400 user reviews)
**User Review: “**Free Music Archive makes life easier by giving me access to different types of music I need for my content.”
Sound Bible is another famous site that offers free clips in two audio formats: .wav and .mp3. And while thousands of free sound clips are available on the website, there are no tags or filters to search for the desired music. So, you must manually scroll through the website and locate the selected music without wasting time.
Besides music for podcast intro, you will also find royalty-free sound effects on the Sound Bible website. Coming to the website’s navigation, you can easily open, skip, and fast-forward sounds. Moreover, you can find all the music tracks on the YouTube Channel Sound Bible.
Pros and Cons of Sound Bible:
Pros
All songs are available on both the website and YouTube channel of Sound Bible.
All songs on the Sound Bible website are entirely free.
You do not have to sign up to listen to or download music.
Even though it is a free website, there are no annoying ads or banners.
Cons
There are no filters to search for music by genre, mood, and other filters.
Ratings and User Reviews of Sound Bible for Android:
G2 Rating: 3.6/5 (400 user reviews)
User Review: I love how the music is categorized. I can choose music based on a mood, which truly is incredible.