Royalty Free Music for Podcasts
Music is a key element when it comes to creating content that will captivate people and send a message. This is why it is so important to understand the role music plays and how to use it to your advantage to monetize your Podcasts. Read below to learn all the tips and tricks!
Sound effects
Intros & Outros
The importance of music in Podcasts
As the podcast industry keeps growing every day, so does the quality of the content and the efforts put behind it. One of the main elements of a podcast is music, and it's easy to understand why, podcasts are audio-only format, meaning the listeners can't see the appearance and facial expressions, or graphics. This forces content creators to rely on a full audio experience, and there is no tool like music to evoke feelings and engage the audience.
Choosing the right music for your podcast can add depth and nuance to the content, helping the listeners connect more with it, while also making transitions and important moments clear. Another power music has is setting the tone and the mood you want your audience to be in, whether it's happy, inspirational, serious, scary, or sweet, the right background music will reinforce it.
The right soundtrack will boost the entertainment value of your podcast and create brand recognition.
But just like we see in movies or TV shows, the key is to find the right music. Otherwise, your content can be seriously harmed by it. So we will give some tips and advice on how and where to find the best music for your podcast.
The music itself will not be the main character of your project. The role music has is to enhance and support your dialogues, which is where you want people to put focus. So first it is important to distinguish the different types of music your project might need, and how to choose each one.
1. Intros
This is the first place where you should add music to your content. Intros are the moment where the podcast starts, usually 15 to 30 seconds long, where adding music acts as a theme song. And in this brief moment, the main goal is to hook the listener and create interest. Just like a movie's first scene, or a book's first paragraph, the intro is where you want to catch the listener's attention and set the stage for what is coming next.
Another powerful effect of intro music is to create brand recognition and connect deeper with the audience. Using the same intro music on every episode of your podcast will make the listeners familiar with it, being able to recognize your content in seconds, and develop a preference simply by being so exposed to it. So having a characteristic sound can take you a long way and make the audience enjoy your content even more!
Here you can browse through our collection of intros
2. Background music
The key to using background music is to keep it in the background. Sounds repetitive right? But there is nothing more important than to understand that these tracks are there to add value and feelings to the content, but not to take the highlight. Background music sets the tone and mood and guides the listener through what they should be feeling at each moment, so it should be aligned with the general message you want to convey. It is best to avoid loud music, big bands, or powerful noises in the background so that the content can always stand out.
3. Segment divider
Music clips can bring attention to the key moments as you go from the beginning, middle and final parts. It gives the audience the idea that a transition is coming up, like a change of scene in a movie or a blank page in a book. Usually, podcasts have more than one interview, story, or topic per episode, and music can help make each part clear. So using segment dividing music will not only help the audience understand better what's happening and reinforce your content but also build anticipation and suspense.
4. Outro music
This is the music you should play in the last seconds of the show to close it all up. It can have the same effect as intro music, showing the audience the episode has ended. Some people like to use the same music for intros and outros, but our advice would be to choose a different sound, to emphasize a clear distinction and close up the show. This is especially useful for the audience who likes to listen to one episode after the other. And in the same way as intro music, using the same one for each episode can bring consistency, and familiarity and create a brand.
As we all know, using copyrighted music can be pretty complicated and expensive. There are many rules to follow to get the right to use someone else's music, and if this is not done right it can end in copyright claims, lawsuits, or getting your podcast taken down. With a HookSounds subscription, you get access to all our music, with no copyright claims, no PRO payments, or hidden fees.
Also, using well-known artists' music will not give you a distinctive and characteristic sound to build your brand. Here in HookSounds, we create all our music and sound effects thinking about each type of project, and we have a wide collection of tracks made especially for Podcasts. This will give you original, exclusive, and high-quality music to make your project stand out.
Recently we have launched our latest service: customized tracks. If you still feel you haven't found what you are looking for, or have a clear idea in mind of what your content needs, you can just ask for it and we will create it for you!