Royalty-Free Music for News Pieces
About Sandeep Junnarkar
Sandeep Junnarkar is an associate professor at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. Follow Sandeep on Twitter. I often find that adding a little music to my news videos or audio pieces makes the pieces stronger. The music helps set a tone and create an appropriate mood.
Before Kant Desai began producing most of the music for Lives in Focus, I relied mostly on Incompetech.com for royalty free music. I highly recommend the site. It allows you to search for music based on music styles–like rap, rock, classical, instrumental, etc. More importantly, it allows you to search by “feel.” Perhaps your piece need music that conveys a sense of “darkness” or “action” or “brightness.”
The only thing the composer asks is that you give him credit for the piece or pieces. You can even make an optional $5 per piece donation.
If you do decide to use music, please keep these things in mind:
1. Fade the music in so your reader doesn’t jump out of their seat.
2. Lower the volume on the music when people are talking.
3. Make sure the music is appropriate for the topic, i.e., no carnival music for a story about a drive-by shooting.