Music for a radio ad: what the licences of Artlist, Epidemic Sound and the other libraries cover

A radio ad needs a music licence that covers radio. Many royalty free subscriptions are designed for online video and exclude radio, or keep it for business plans and custom contracts. Shortening or re-editing the track changes nothing. The conditions below are those published by the services in October 2026.

For music in a corporate video, with the differences between royalty free, library music and custom music, there is a dedicated guide. This one is only about radio.

Radio is a separate use

Music licences are split by medium: web and social, online advertising, TV, radio, cinema, billboards. Radio falls under broadcast, which almost always costs more and is limited by territory.

There is also a second, less visible limit: several subscription licences cover music paired with a video. A radio ad is audio only. Artlist's licence, for example, lists radio among the uses of music that fall outside the standard licence.

A typical case: a track found on Artlist arrives as the reference for a radio ad. The track works, but the licence does not cover radio. The solution is an equivalent track on a service that does include radio, with the right licence.

"If I cut it, I don't need a licence": not true

A recorded track carries two separate rights:

• the right in the composition, belonging to the author and their publisher;
• the right in the recording (the master), belonging to the record producer, that is, whoever made and released the recording.

Italian copyright law (Law 633/1941) reserves to the author the right to adapt the work, which includes any form of modification and transformation (art. 18), and to the producer the right to authorise the reproduction of the recording "in whole or in part" (art. 72). Copyright laws in other countries follow the same logic. Cutting, shortening, looping or re-editing a track is still a use of the track, and it needs a licence.

Other beliefs that go around:

• "Under a certain number of seconds it's free." The law sets no free duration. The exception for quotation (art. 70) applies to criticism, discussion and teaching, not to advertising.
• "If I make something similar, it's not the same track." A copied melody is still an adaptation, or a plagiarism, of the original track.
• "Crediting the author is enough." A credit does not replace a licence.
• "Royalty free means free." It means the licence is paid once, or through the subscription, and not every time the ad airs.
• "I have a subscription, so I can use it anywhere." The subscription covers the uses written in the licence, and radio is often not one of them.
• "It's Creative Commons, so it can be used." It depends on the version: NC licences exclude commercial use, and an ad is commercial; ND licences forbid modifications, and a track re-edited under a voice is likely to be one. That leaves CC BY and CC BY-SA, which ask for the author to be credited in a way suited to the medium: in a 30-second radio ad that is hard, and the licence needs checking track by track.

Service by service

Service	Radio	Which licence	Notes
Artlist	No, in the standard plans	Max Business or an Enterprise agreement for broadcast	The music licence is tied to video projects: for an audio-only ad, ask Artlist for written confirmation
Epidemic Sound	No, in the Business plan	Enterprise, custom	The Business plan explicitly excludes radio, billboards and live broadcasts
PremiumBeat	Yes	Premium (one country) or Business (up to five countries)	Single-track licence; the Standard licence does not cover radio
AudioJungle	Yes	Music Broadcast (up to 1 or 10 million listeners) or Broadcast & Film (unlimited)	Single-track licence, valid for one end product
Envato Elements	No	None in the subscription	Envato points to the AudioJungle broadcast licences
Soundstripe	No, in the Business plan	Enterprise or a single broadcast-level licence	Asks for the cue sheet within 30 days of the first airing
Pond5	Yes	Standard licence	All media, worldwide, in perpetuity; editorial-only content excluded
Motion Array	To be checked	Standard or business licence	Support says radio is covered but refers broadcasters to a business licence: better get written confirmation
Uppbeat	No, in the plans	Custom licence, or Music Vine	The Business plan does not cover broadcast advertising
YouTube Audio Library	In practice, no	Only CC BY tracks, with attribution	The library is made for YouTube videos

Production music publishers (library music) license radio track by track, at a rate that depends on territory and campaign length.

Prices change often: the links lead to each service's official page.

What to check before choosing the track

Whoever works on the audio chooses the track already knowing where the ad will go. The information needed:

1. where the ad goes: radio, TV, web, paid social, point of sale;
2. the territory: PremiumBeat's Premium licence, for example, is valid for one country only;
3. the length of the campaign, when the licence limits it;
4. how many versions and cuts (30", 15", cut-downs): some licences are valid for a single end product;
5. who the licence is issued to.

The client's references remain useful to understand the character of the music. The final track is chosen from a catalogue that covers radio.

Who buys the licence

The licence can be bought by whoever does the audio, who invoices it together with the work, or directly by the agency or the client. In the first case, track and licence are chosen together and the coverage is right from the start. In the second, the licence holder is the party airing the ad from day one. Either way, the licence is delivered with the final files and kept for the whole campaign.

The alternatives

• Library music with a broadcast licence: the fastest route. The work lies in finding the track and editing it to the timing of the ad.
• A famous song: you need the publisher's licence for the composition and the label's licence for the recording. Time and costs are on another scale, and the answer may be no.
• Custom music: more demanding in cost and time, because it may need a composer, musicians and a recording session.

SIAE and radio

Radio stations already pay SIAE (the Italian collecting society), and the organisations representing record producers, for the tracks they broadcast. Most countries have equivalent bodies. This covers airing the repertoire, not placing a track inside an ad: that is authorised by the rights holders, or by the library licence. Before airing, it is worth asking the sales house which documents it wants along with the file.

For a radio ad with the right music and the licence in order, get in touch with the script, the length and where it will air.

Sources

• Italian Law no. 633 of 22 April 1941, arts. 18, 70 and 72 (normattiva.it)
• Artlist Help Center, "Understanding Artlist's license" and "Artlist's Music and SFX plans explained" (help.artlist.io)
• Epidemic Sound, "Business plan" (epidemicsound.com)
• PremiumBeat Help, "How am I allowed to use the music I license from PremiumBeat?" (premiumbeat.com)
• AudioJungle, "Music licenses" (audiojungle.net)
• Envato Elements Help, "License Terms" (help.elements.envato.com)
• Soundstripe, "Terms and Conditions of Use" and "What does each Soundstripe subscription plan cover?" (soundstripe.com)
• Pond5 Help, "All about our licenses" (pond5.com)
• Motion Array Help, "Can I use Motion Array assets for commercial use?" (help.motionarray.com)
• Uppbeat, "Commercial licenses" (uppbeat.io)
• Creative Commons, "Frequently Asked Questions" (creativecommons.org)
• SIAE, "Condizioni di licenza per l'utilizzazione del repertorio SIAE nei video" (siae.it)