Music for a corporate video: royalty free, library or custom? What changes for licensing and ads

There are three routes to music for a corporate video: royalty free music by subscription, library music (production music) and custom music. They differ in cost, exclusivity and what the licence covers, especially once the video becomes a paid campaign. The conditions below are those in force in September 2026; the collecting society examples refer to Italy (SIAE), but the principle is the same in most countries.

Royalty free by subscription

Epidemic Sound, Artlist and similar services: a subscription gives access to a catalogue of tens of thousands of tracks, usable without paying anything more for each publication. Royalty free does not mean free: it means no royalties are paid per use, because the licence is included in the subscription.

It is the most common choice for corporate videos, social content and branded content: contained cost, large and up-to-date catalogues, fast turnaround. The limit is exclusivity: the same track can turn up in other companies' videos.

Three points to check in the licence:

• The plan. Personal plans cover the subscriber's own channels. Client work and paid ads require professional or business plans: on Epidemic Sound, for example, advertising campaigns are covered by the Pro and Enterprise plans. TV, cinema and digital out-of-home usually go through business plans or custom licences.
• The publication date. A video published while the subscription is active stays covered after cancellation. A new video, published afterwards, does not.
• The channels. The channel where the video goes out must be linked to the service account (safelisting on Epidemic Sound, Clearlist on Artlist), otherwise YouTube's and Meta's recognition systems may flag the track.

Library music (production music)

Catalogues of music written for picture, run by music publishers. The track is licensed for the single project, at a rate that depends on the use: web, TV, events, campaign length, territory. Unlike Epidemic Sound or Artlist, which license all the rights in their catalogues directly, library tracks are usually registered with a collective management organisation, in Italy SIAE.

Custom music

Music written for that video, to the edit. It makes sense for artistic work and for brands that want an exclusive sound that does not appear anywhere else. The cost is higher: beyond the idea and the composition, depending on the genre it may take session players, arrangers, a recording session. The agreement should state who holds the rights, for which uses and for how long.

SIAE: what it covers and what it does not

SIAE, the Italian collecting society, grants licences for the public performance and communication to the public of its repertoire. It does not grant the synchronisation right, that is, pairing a piece of music with picture: SIAE's licence conditions for videos expressly exclude it and refer to the rights holders, meaning publishers and record labels. In practice:

• with a protected track (a library track or a commercial song) you need the publisher's sync licence and, if the original recording is used, the record label's master licence. Paying SIAE alone is not enough;
• songs in the Instagram and TikTok music libraries are available in the app, but that does not authorise their use in a corporate video or a paid ad;
• with royalty free music by subscription, the service's licence applies;
• for TV broadcast and live events (trade fairs, conventions) the broadcaster or the organiser comes into play, with their own agreements with SIAE: the conditions should be checked with them, or with an advisor, before release.

Paid ads and Content ID

YouTube (Content ID) and Meta (Rights Manager) match the audio of videos against catalogues registered by rights holders. If a track is recognised, the video receives a claim and, depending on what the rights holder has chosen, the revenue goes to them, or the video is blocked or muted. With subscription music the claim is released by showing the licence, but once a campaign is running that is time lost. Before launch it is worth checking:

1. that the plan covers paid ads and client work;
2. that the client's channel or account is linked to the licence;
3. that the track's licence is saved together with the project files.

Music and sound design

Music carries the mood of the video and should be treated as complementary to the sound design and the dialogue: room for the voice, frequencies that do not overlap, moments where the music gives way to the sounds. The order depends on the project: sometimes the music drives the edit and the sound design is built around it, sometimes the other way round. Either way, the music has to be edited to picture, with cuts, endings and restarts lined up with the scene changes.

How to choose

• Corporate video, social, branded content: royalty free, with the plan that fits the use. Well chosen, stock music can match the picture very closely: the music in JW Anderson x Diadora, FITT and Ponte 1948 is stock music.
• Brands that want a sound of their own, artistic work: custom music, as for Maserati MC20.
• Library music: when a specific catalogue is needed or the production asks for it, with licence and distribution checked track by track.

With stock music, what you pay for is the search and the editing to picture, which are part of audio post-production. With custom music, the idea, the composition and any musicians are added. Every request is assessed on the project: write to me with the video and the intended use.

Sources

SIAE, "Condizioni di licenza per l'utilizzazione del repertorio SIAE nei video" (siae.it) · Epidemic Sound, "Pricing & Licensing", "Business music licensing" and "What is safelisting" (epidemicsound.com) · Epidemic Sound Help Center, "What happens after I cancel my subscription?" (help.epidemicsound.com) · Artlist, "Artlist License" and Help Center, "Client projects and coverage" (artlist.io) · YouTube Help, "How Content ID works" (support.google.com) · Meta, Rights Manager (facebook.com) · Soundrights, "Puoi usare una canzone di Instagram o TikTok in un video aziendale?" (soundrights.it).