How to find pre-cleared and royalty-free video assets for your music videos

By Disc Makers' Author Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan
Video is one of the most powerful ways to get your music noticed. Amp it up by using pre-cleared and royalty-free video footage, SFX, eye-catching graphic overlays, and transitions.
Video is one of the most powerful ways to promote your music and grow your audience. No matter what type of video you create — traditional music videos, vlogs, behind-the-scenes videos, still photo music videos, mashups, live videos — one of the ways to keep them engaging and fresh is to use additional footage, special effects, graphic text overlays, transitions, and other assets.
While many video makers (and young YouTubers) simply grab video clips and imagery from sources all over the Internet without any thought to who owns the copyright, as a musician working to make money with music, you should avoid this. You don’t want to run the risk of copyright infringement, takedown notices, and lawsuits, especially if your video blows up.
Fortunately, there’s an easy solution: choose only pre-cleared and royalty-free video assets during production. This means that the material is free to distribute, although it may cost you money to get the rights to incorporate it into your videos. We’ve collected a set of resources below, and while some are fee-based, we’ve also included many no-cost royalty-free sources as well.
Two notes before diving in: first, read the terms and conditions of any service carefully so you can be sure the assets you’ve selected are royalty-free and can be used for commercial purposes, and know whether you need to give attribution so you can give proper credit to the source. Second, to make a video, you need video-editing software. You might have free software that came with your laptop or mobile device, such as iMovie, but if you’re producing videos consistently, more advanced programs like Premiere, After Effects, Vegas, or Avid may be a better bet. And, if you’re looking for free video editing tools, the free and open-source OpenShot video editor is worth checking out, or try out HitFilm Express, which is the free version of HitFilm Pro.
Once you know what you’re looking for and have the tools to use them check out these services and sites to improve your videos.
1. Video assets services (fee-based)
There are many fee-based companies offering video assets to use within your music videos. For example, explore services such as VideoBlocks, ProductionCrate, Footagecrate, and PremiumBeat.
These services all have many assets to meet your needs for backgrounds, video clip footage (cityscapes, landscapes, aerials, etc.), special effects (flashes, explosions, bursts, etc.), text and graphic overlays (“lower thirds”), transitions (swipes, designs, crossfades), and more. In addition, photo licensing sites like iStockPhoto (video and images) and Getty Images (video and images) can provide clips, backgrounds, and still images to use as well.
Similar to the video asset services, these stock-image sites require a fee to purchase the right to initially use and incorporate the material but are otherwise royalty-free for distribution. Note that PremiumBeat offers some freebies to get you started.
2. Creative Commons sources
Creative Commons (CC) licenses allow creators a standard way to grant permission to use their work to others. Creative Commons licenses vary, but many are royalty-free, allow for commercial use, and allow for modification/adaptation. All Creative Commons licenses require you to attribute the creator of the work you’re incorporating within your video, so if you use a CC video or image, you’ll need to credit the owner to let others know where the video or image you used came from.
The single most useful search engine with almost endless amounts of material is the Creative Commons Search site which aggregates sites across the Internet to help you search for CC royalty-free material. You can also adjust the search tool so it only shows you videos or images that are available under the license you want to use.
If your goal is to make money with music, then we recommend you search for images or videos that allow use for commercial purposes (you’re a music business after all!) and modification and adaptation (so you can change or edit them if needed before incorporating into your video). That said, when you find a video or image you like, read the CC license carefully since some of the licenses require you to put the finished work under the same license, which you may not wish to do. Also note that just because someone slapped a CC license on their work doesn’t mean that they were careful to avoid using someone else’s copyrighted material inside it. It makes sense to spend a little extra time to verify their material before you use it in your own work.
3. Public domain sources
Public domain video recordings and images are free to use and distribute since the copyright is no longer owned by any one person. You can search sites like Public Domain Movies (which has the original Night of The Living Dead), C-SPAN, NASA, US Government videos, National Archives and Records Administration, and the Internet Moving Image Archive.
The Internet Moving Image Archive alone provides access to over 1,200 advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur films made from 1927 to today. Note that not all video footage at Archive.org or C-SPAN is in the public domain. In fact, some are available through Creative Commons licenses, but again, be sure to read the CC license carefully before using any clip.
4. Other Free Sources
Some video asset services provide royalty-free clips that are free to use. Two such sites are StockFootageForFree and Videvo (both request attribution when using their assets and to help spread the word on social media). If you need free images, try out sites like Unsplash or Pexels.
Simply exploring these sites and search engines can give you creative ideas for new videos while providing you with the raw materials to make it a reality. And if you’re creating something from your own footage, the SFX, backgrounds, images, and overlays can bring your production up a level. With a little bit of creativity, you can create more engaging and shareable videos.

Authors of the critically-acclaimed modern classic, The Indie Band Survival Guide, Billboard Magazine called Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan “the ideal mentors for aspiring indie musicians who want to navigate an ever-changing music industry.” Their latest book, Making Money With Music (Macmillan) and free Making Money With Music Newsletter, help all musicians — from startups to pros — build a sustainable music business so you can make money in today’s tech-driven music environment.

Related Posts
Creative advice for your next music videos
Produce music videos that get attention
Eight music video ideas to help grow your YouTube channel
YouTube Cards and End Screens make your videos more effective
Build a superfan base one video at a time
This Disc Makers post How to find pre-cleared and royalty-free video assets for your music videos appeared first and was stolen from OUR Blog Disc Makers Blog.

No related posts.