Royalty-free instrumental music

Instrumental music is any track built entirely from instruments, with no vocals or lyrics. It relies on melody, rhythm, and arrangement alone to carry a mood or story, which is why it's used so widely as background music: it sets a tone without competing with dialogue, voiceover, or on-screen text.

Instrumental music spans nearly every genre, since the only real requirement is the absence of vocals. Within Epidemic Sound's catalog, genres built specifically around solo, vocal-free performances include Solo Piano and Solo Guitar. Broader genres like Classical, Cinematic, and Acoustic also include a wide range of instrumental tracks, though those genres aren't exclusively instrumental since many of their tracks do include vocals. Common moods layered across instrumental tracks include relaxing, calming, happy, and inspirational, covering everything from quiet background listening to more upbeat, energetic pieces.

No. Instrumental music can be copyrighted just like any other music. The absence of vocals doesn't remove legal protection, so downloading or using an instrumental track without a license carries the same copyright risk as using one with lyrics. To use instrumental music safely in monetized or public content, you need a valid license, such as an Epidemic Sound subscription, not just a track that happens to have no vocals.

You can find and download royalty-free instrumental music through Epidemic Sound, a subscription-based music licensing platform with more than 55,000 tracks. It isn't a free MP3 download site: after a free trial, ongoing access to the catalog requires a paid subscription rather than a one-time free file. Getting started takes four steps:

1. Start a free trial
2. Choose a subscription plan
3. Connect (safelist) your social media channels
4. Download and use any instrumental track in the catalog

Tracks you publish while your subscription is active stay cleared for use, even after you cancel later.

Yes. An Epidemic Sound subscription clears every instrumental track in the catalog for use on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms, including monetized content. Automatic copyright-claim protection depends on safelisting, connecting your channels or accounts to your subscription so each platform's copyright-detection system recognizes the track as cleared. Without safelisting, the license is still valid, but a claim can still appear until it's manually resolved.

Epidemic Sound offers a free trial, after which access to the full catalog, including every instrumental track, runs on a paid subscription rather than a per-track fee. Plans are tiered by use case, from a Creator plan for individual creators up to Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans for freelancers, agencies, and larger companies, each with different platform and monetization coverage.

Check our pricing page to read more about our different plans and current costs.