Are you a budding aerial cinematographer looking to cut together a killer demo reel with the best music for drone videos? Or, better yet, are you a solo operator or small company operating a small fleet of aerial camera drones looking to launch your business model to the next level with your drone video deliverables?
Regardless of where you’re at with your drone videography journey, we do know one thing about why you’re here. You’re looking for good music for drone videos, and wondering if, and how to use copyrighted music for your drone footage. And, chances are, you’re probably at least a little bit confused about how you should go about finding, licensing, and using copyrighted music in the first place.
So, hang tight as we give your drone videography knowledge a significant boost. Let’s go over how to use copyrighted music for your drone videos, as well as explore how copyrighted music works in general.
We’ll also provide some high-quality royalty free drone music that’s safe to use across all social platforms and for all of your marketing needs. These tracks are perfect for elevating your music for drone shots and making your videos feel cinematic.
It is fully copyright-protected, easy to license, and fully covered to use across all social platforms and for all of your marketing needs.
Why add music to drone video footage
Now, before we lower you back down below the clouds and into the nitty-gritty of what type of music would be best to use for your drone videos, let’s go over some basics about why you want to use music in your drone videos in the first place.
The simple answer is that music is awesome, and it makes everything better. Whether you’re working on narrative shorts or features, documentaries, corporate videos, television commercials, or short-form vertical video content for social media, adding music to your videos will always make your content more engaging, cinematic, and watchable.
Perhaps more so than any other type of video, drone videos need music to truly capture your viewer’s awe the way you’d like them to. Drones by themselves are great for audio. You don’t want videos full of wind noises and whirring propellers.
What you want is cinematic music that conveys the insane and wonderful feeling of flight. Drone videos are beautiful and a great way to showcase landscapes and space, yet without cinematic music, they can feel flat, dull, and boring.
Understanding the types of music copyrights
Moving on to how to use music for your drone videos, let’s quickly explain some of the different types of music copyrights and how they work.
To begin, we recommend reading this article on the types of music rights and royalties. This piece explains the differences between master, common, and music publishing rights in song ownership.
The crux of the concept is that all songs have natural copyrights associated with them. If these copyrights are not properly licensed and compensated, any content violating them can be muted, taken down, or result in accounts or channels being banned.
To learn more about these potential repercussions, here’s another helpful guide that covers all the details about how music copyrights work.
Using copyrighted music in drone videos
If you’re exploring how to add music to drone video projects safely, your best bet to avoid copyright issues or takedowns is to consult a professional. Utilize proven music licensing resources, such as Soundstripe, to access high-quality, royalty free music that has been pre-cleared for all your marketing purposes. This ensures it’s safe to share across all your social channels and platforms.
Soundstripe offers fully licensed and cleared music for subscribers to use in their videos and content. Whether you’re just learning how to add music to a drone video or building an expert edit from scratch, Soundstripe makes it simple. The artists have been compensated, and as a subscriber, you can use any song or sound effect in our libraries without paying additional royalties or fees—hence the “royalty free” term.
Royalty free music can be an excellent option for your drone videos simply because it’s easy to find and use. Soundstripe’s music is composed and recorded by Grammy-winning artists who know how to make great music for all types of films and video content.
The best royalty free drone music
To give you a taste of what we’re talking about, here are our top royalty free music selections for your drone videos.
- Description: A low-energy, underscore song best described as hopeful and inspiring. Synth and guitar are the primary instruments in this track.
- BPM: 90
- Key: A Major
- Listen and license here
2. Majestic Skies by Strength To Last
- Description: A medium-energy, electronic song best described as chill and happy. Ambient tones and drums are the primary instruments in this track.
- BPM: 90
- Key: Bb/A# Major
- Listen and license here
3. A Quiet Place by Gold Coast
- Description: A low-energy, ambient song that is best described as inspiring. Ambient tones and strings are the primary instruments in this track.
- BPM: 92
- Key: F Major
- Listen and license here
- Description: A medium-energy, electronic song best described as chill and fun. Bass and drums are the primary instruments in this track.
- BPM: 88
- Key: F Minor
- Listen and license here
- Description: A low-energy, electronic song best described as reflective and hopeful. Synth and ambient tones are the primary instruments in this track.
- BPM: 121
- Key: B Major
- Listen and license here
- Description: A high-energy, electronic song best described as chill and fun. Bass and synth bass are the primary instruments in this track.
- BPM: 128
- Key: A Minor
- Listen and license here
- Description: A high-energy rock song best described as angry and reflective. Ambient tones and bass are the primary instruments in this track.
- BPM: 130
- Key: C Minor
- Listen and license here
8. Space Child by Cast Of Characters
- Description: A low-energy, hip-hop song best described as chill and quirky. Drums and electronic drums are the primary instruments in this track.
- BPM: 92
- Key: A Minor
- Listen and license here
9. Wild and Free by Andrew Jordan
- Description: A high-energy, electronic song best described as fun and inspiring. Drums and samples are the primary instruments in this track.
- BPM: 160
- Key: A Minor
- Listen and license here
- Description: A high-energy, electronic song best described as angry and suspenseful. Ambient tones and bass are the primary instruments in this track.
- BPM: 100
- Key: F Major
- Listen and license here
These are just some top picks, which can further be explored in our complete guide on the best royalty free music for drone videos. You can further explore more tracks on our Soundstripe app, too.
More tips for how to add music to drone video footage
The tracks above, along with the extra info on how music licensing works and why royalty free music is your best bet for working with copyrighted music in your drone videos, will hopefully give you everything you need to get started on your diverse drone projects.
If you’re still concerned about adding music to your cinematic drone shots, here are some additional tips and tricks to get the most out of your aerial cinematography.
- Look for songs that start quietly and slowly and build as they go.
- Pick songs (or song stems) that match the length of your shot.
- Classical music and classical instruments provide a cinematic quality.
- Consider multiple tracks for different aerial shots, and don’t be afraid to mix them up.
- Understand your videos and your audience, and pick tracks that would resonate with the themes of your videos overall.
- Consider adding sound effects for drone footage to further draw your viewers into the experience
- If you are relatively new to drone videography, learning how to fly a drone like a pro will help to level up your footage.
To wrap things up, check out this additional article on some drone flying tips and, if you really want to level up your skills, get out there and start flying.
