Epidemic Sound offers a vast catalog of royalty-free audio tracks and effects that are perfect for various video content. Whether you plan to use it on Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, corporate videos, or marketing content, Epidemic Sound offers you music you can use globally because of its direct licensing model, where it purchases copyrights directly from composers.
When browsing the Epidemic Sound library, you’ll find over 50,000 songs and even more high-quality sound effects in different styles. As long as you have an active subscription, there’s no limit to the number of tracks you can use. With such a vast catalog, you will be able to find the right track that matches the mood and theme you’re looking for. You can even download full-stem versions of the song and then edit the sound of separate instruments in post-processing.
With Epidemic Sound, you can easily find a track and use it to monetize your content, as the licensing model allows adding the tracks for all social media and online purposes. You can download Epidemic Sound on iOS and Android devices, use it on the web, or integrate it into DAWs like Ableton Live and Logic Pro.
Why should I download Epidemic Sound?
While other music licensing platforms usually have complex rules and legal limits, Epidemic Sound simplifies the whole process with a direct licensing model and easy setup. Once you create an account for Epidemic Sound, all you have to do is provide URLs for up to 3 social media profiles, personal or business, and then the tool will be able to provide copyrights to the platform to prevent automatic takedown of the content you post.
Epidemic Sound has a robust search engine where you can quickly define the tempo, key, or vocals you’re looking for and preview 15s of the track in the search results. Once you pick the right audio, the download includes four separate stems for post-processing and a so-called “ducking” mix that will automatically lower the track volume when other sounds are in your video, like a person talking.
You can use Epidemic Sound to create and share custom playlists of tracks, and even people without an account can preview the watermarked versions of the sounds. The platform also offers an in-browser tool that automatically adjusts the track to 24, 30, or 60 fps frame rates so that the music stays on track without using complex DAW software.
If you’re making a series of episodes and would like the sounds to be coherent, there’s a special category called “Featured Themes” where you can browse through different mood packs like lo-fi study, Scandinavian electronica, cinematic tension, and they will keep the same style over time.
Apart from songs and tracks, Epidemic Sound offers over 90,000 audio effects like a mouse click or a snow crunch, that you can search for with multiple filters. The platform will also show you the best loop points for each effect. Epidemic Sound is also a great choice if you’re working on a game and need specific sounds, since the service offers special packages for Unity and Unreal.
If you’re subscribed to the business plan, you can also use tracks from Epidemic Sound in paid advertisements or on OTT platforms (like Netflix, Hulu, etc.) without additional fees. All in all, Epidemic Sound makes it easy to find and use music for any purpose, adheres to various copyright regulations in a straight-forward way, and offers dedicated mobile apps for iOS and Android that support offline editing. Apart from mobile devices, you can also use Epidemic Sound on the web or integrate with DAWs, DaVinci Resolve, or Adobe Creative Cloud.
Is Epidemic Sound free?
While you can test Epidemic Sound for free for 30 days when you set up an account, ultimately, it’s a paid service that offers various subscription tiers, depending on your needs.
The Creator subscription is best for personal purposes when you just want to use the tracks on your own social media, podcast, or website, and it allows you to monetize one channel per month.
If you need Epidemic Sound for commercial purposes, the best option is to choose the Pro subscription. With this subscription, you can monetize up to 3 channels per platform, get a license for paid ads and business use, and even unlock instant voiceovers.
Epidemic Sound also offers an Enterprise tier if you’re looking for tracks or effects for movies, TV, or offline events.
What operating systems are compatible with Epidemic Sound?
As a browser-based tool, you can use Epidemic Sound on all operating systems through Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari. There are also dedicated mobile apps for iOS and Android, which can be used to download or select music on the go.
What are the alternatives to Epidemic Sound?
PremiumBeat is a music licensing platform from Shutterstock that offers over 10,000 tracks at a flat rate per song, depending on the purpose of the audio file—whether it will be used on social media, TV, movies, etc. You can also choose a subscription tier with recurring payments. The basic download has short clips and loops; if you need access to individual stems, that costs extra.
SoundCloud is a platform for creators where they upload their music or tracks, and you can then listen to them as you would on a streaming service; the quality depends on whether you’re a free or paid user. If you want to use the music from SoundCloud on social media or in other ways, you can join the SoundCloud for Creators program and negotiate the terms. You can use SoundCloud on the web or through its mobile apps.
Free Music Archive (FMA) is a website that lists over 10,000 tracks shared under Creative Commons or public-domain licenses. You can download them directly from the website without any account or limits, but how you use a given audio file depends on the specific license terms for that track. Some of them prohibit commercial use at all, and others require mention, so you need to pay special attention to the licensees.
