Ask Drone Girl: where can I find music for my drone videos?

Next up in our “Ask Drone Girl” series is about drone video music. If you have a question for Drone Girl, contact her here.

Do you have any website to refer me to for music free of copyrights to use for aerial video editing? Thank you.

-Jean Philippe

If you are posting your videos for the public (not just a family home video), then you need to either get the rights from the musician to use that music, or you need to use rights-free music. Any video posted to social networks like Facebook and YouTube also require you to either get permission from the artist to use their music or use rights-free music.

Getting permission from the artists might not be the easiest task, as you’d likely have to reach out directly to the artist, record label, or licensing agency.

So given that, it’s often easier to simply use royalty-free or creative commons music, as these are pre-approved for use without permission.

The best websites to download royalty free music

My favorite source of rights-free music is Free Music Archive. If the work is under a Creative Commons license, you may use the work as long as you abide by the license conditions, which are outlined below and in more detail on the Creative Commons website.

Another great website to consider is Videvo, which offers royalty free music that you can download for free, whether used in personal or commercial productions (it also offers free stock videos and motion graphics). Their stipulation is that for video clips that carry the Creative Commons 3.0 license, they must be attributed to the original author.

For my own Drone Girl videos, my video producer, Hamilton Nguyen, says he uses music from BenSound. They have great, simple background tracks.

Readers, where do YOU find music for your videos? Leave your tips in the comments below.

Happy flying, and happy video editing!