A Guide to Selecting Background Music for Nonprofit Videos 🎵🎶

Background music is a potent instrument that can enhance the impact of narrative in nonprofit videos, where the objective is to attract viewers, evoke emotions, and promote positive change. A nonprofit video can be transformed by skillfully selected music, which brings the story to life, fosters a stronger bond with the audience, and motivates action. Finding the ideal background music for nonprofit movies needs careful consideration of the organization's objective, target audience, and desired emotional response; it goes beyond simply choosing a catchy tune.

The process of selecting requires serious attention to several different aspects. To begin, the music should be in line with the goals of the nonprofit as well as the subject matter of the video. This will ensure that the music enhances the overall message and produces a consistent atmosphere. A video on protecting the environment could benefit from adding melodies that are relaxing and inspired by nature. Second, the tempo and rhythm should correspond to the pacing and flow of the video, ensuring a smooth transition between the visuals and the music.

Here are some examples where we at Leon! Animations have successfully incorporated music in our videos.

#ThePolicy

The director of a think tank and advertising legend Maurice Saatchi explains his revolutionary tax scheme in this video, which aims to "liberate" small firms from huge taxes. We selected Louis Armstrong's timeless rendition of the well-known Biblical song "Go Down Moses," which includes the chorus, "Let My People Go!" as background music to symbolise this "liberation/free" message. The music was essential to enliven and provide meaning to the film.

Newcastle NE1 2023

We recently made the above video for a nonprofit in the north of England that supports businesses in Newcastle city centre. Using no voiceover and focusing only on text, we had to make sure that the background music was doing the job of the narrator in driving the video and adding life to it. The client chose a stomping drum track called This is Drums that reflected NE1's energetic, "get things done" work ethic and its dramatic effect on Newcastle in general. We obtained this track through Envato Elements.

Mental Health and Psychosocial Support for Returnees in West & Central Africa

Finding more subdued background music that complements the narration's tone is particularly crucial for nonprofits who frequently request a voiceover to narrate their message. We produced the following film with renowned voice actor Josef-Israel to highlight the difficulties faced by migrants who are returning to Central and West Africa (he also is the voice for Lego and Santander, among many others). We chose the ominous, dark backing music "Flashback" from AudioJungle. Josef's beautifully impassioned narrative complemented it nicely. Josef's performance on this project even earned him a nomination for Best Character Performance at the renowned UK One Voice Awards.

How to Choose the Right Background Music for Videos

But with millions of tracks available on the internet, how does one select the appropriate music for the background? Beginners need help answering this question since they need help identifying the right music track. As a result, they tend to choose a random one that they consider "ideal" for their videos. Unfortunately, the popularity of those videos is likely to dwindle due to this.

·       Identify the purpose of your video.

·       Understand your audience

·       Pick the right tone for your video.

·       Harmonise the video's aesthetic with the music in the backdrop.

·       Listen to a variety of songs before deciding on one in particular.

Why is licensing important?

However, choosing the perfect track is only half the battle; the other part, which is just as crucial, is understanding fundamental music licensing to ensure you legally use the songs and sound effects. It would be pointless to obtain a song "for free" if you would then have to pay a lawyer to defend you against allegations of copyright violation.

Imagine the following: You have invested a significant amount of money into producing a video, only to find out that you cannot show it to your audience due to legal restrictions around copyright. Quite disappointing.

You must recognise the fact that different websites provide a variety of licenses to choose from. Platforms like YouTube can identify the usage of music that is safeguarded by intellectual property rights in videos.

You are only permitted to download a song that strikes your fancy and then incorporate it into your videos if you are okay with having your videos prohibited or, even worse, being sued by the copyright owner.

Therefore, how can one steer clear of such unwelcome circumstances? We are happy to answer your question.

3 Basic Types of Music Licenses

Various music licenses are available to fit various budgets and uses. It is crucial to understand licenses so that you can quickly (and firmly) pick which one makes the most sense for a project. This is important not just to avoid any legal concerns but also to avoid any other complications. For instance, if you needed a certain top 10 hit, you could get it through a Creative Commons license; however, you would not get it for free under the public domain because the government owns it.

1. Public Domain

Content in the public domain is not subject to copyright protection, and as a result, it can be downloaded and used for any purpose freely, including commercial ones. These downloads come with "no strings attached," meaning you are free to remix, share, and use them several times without worrying about any lawsuits or financial issues.

2. Royalty-Free

When you use someone else's work, you must make a payment known as a royalty. Therefore, if you use royalty-free background music, you will not be required to make recurrent payments for the songs (this is often handled by the organisation hosting the music). You will, however, be required to make an up-front payment, after which you will be free to use the music for as long as you see fit. Both personal and commercial use is permitted for music that does not require a license fee. However, websites like YouTube might still create copyright issues after purchasing music. To get around this, give a direct link to the website's licence terms and conditions and a direct link to the song you bought. With that information, winning a dispute on YouTube about who owns the rights to a video would be easier.

Inserted above is an example of a license grantedfor the song Summer Wind by Artlist.

3. Creative Commons

The nonprofit organisation known as Creative Commons provides users with the ability to obtain free copyright licenses that are standardised. In return, creators are given credit for their work, which can be distributed and utilised without cost. It's a win for both sides!

Best Sources to Download Free Background Music for Videos

Envato Elements

Envato Elements is a website that operates on a membership model. It is a digital archive that contains more than a million digital assets, such as video and music, that may be used as background music for videos, photographs, and templates for graphic design. Members are granted access to the entirety of the library and can download an infinite number of files for a recurring subscription of $16.50 per month.

AudioJungle

Envato Market is the company that provides the service known as AudioJungle. The team behind AudioJungle claims on their website that they provide royalty-free audio tracks of the highest possible quality. And the fact is that most of the tracks are excellent, encompassing a wide variety of musical styles and sound effects. You can even sell your music here if you produce it yourself. Note that only some of the music on AudioJungle is free.

Bensound

When you go to Bensound, you'll notice that they have a category for Royalty Free Music. When you click it, a list of music tracks that do not require royalties will appear almost immediately. Bensound lets users download and utilise songs in various internet media, such as videos, websites, and animations. However, you must provide credit and include a link to this page. If you require high-quality music but want to avoid crediting the source, you may also get a license for Bensound Pro. This option is available to you.

Free Music Archive

On the Free Music Archive website, you can search for music according to the sort of Creative Commons license, public domain, commercial use, or remix/video license it is distributed under. In addition, this website features over 1,500 recordings that cover various genres, including folk, blues, novelty, and classical music. Free Music Archive also features a sizable MP3 library that can be downloaded to Apple and Google mobile devices.

Artlist

Artlist is a music licensing platform that operates on a subscription model and provides high-quality music. After paying for a subscription, you can access the whole song library and download unlimited songs. There are three different subscription plans available on Artlist. The sound effects and music in the catalogue can all be used without paying a license fee. If you cancel your subscription, you won't have access to download any new music after that point. On the other hand, anything you downloaded in the past belongs to you, and you are free to utilise it in any of the projects you work on.

Conclusion

In conclusion, choosing background music for nonprofit videos is a big part of making them interesting and powerful. The right music can add to the emotional impact of the content, get people more involved, and get the message and mission of the nonprofit across.