If you’re tired of copyright strikes for lo-fi music in your videos – You’re in the right place. Learn how using licensed lo-fi music helps content creators build a consistent audience mood, enhance focus content, and avoid Content ID conflicts.

Why lo-fi is your best creative partner

Music is essential for all content creators, from vloggers to podcasters to live streamers, to set the tone. The best choice for background due to its ability to enhance, rather than distract from your content, is lo-fi.

The content creators advantage

• Mood consistency: Due to lo-fi music being an inherently stable sound, it will reliably evoke feelings of focus, calm or nostalgia. This predictability of sound creates a comforting atmosphere for your returning audience.
• Low distraction: Pop and rock music tend to have a bunch of dynamic shifts in them, using lo-fi music is designed not to shift dynamically too much, so it won’t overpower your voiceover dialogue or on-screen action. Views now can focus on the message, not the music.
• Genre universality: It pairs well with almost any type of video content that requires a backdrop:
  • Study/work vlogs: The perfect backdrop for any content that helps you to focus, think “Lofi Girl” style content.
  • Creative montages: Perfect for showing time-lapses of art, design, or building projects.
  • Stream background: Ideal for long gaming sessions of coding streams that require non-intrusive music.

The creator’s biggest headache: Copyright & Content ID

The last thing any content creator wants is the risk of a copyright strike or Content ID claim that demonetises their video or gets it removed entirely. Using music from major labels or unverified sources is a constant liability.

How lo-fi solves the copyright problem

Licensing Lo-Fi music from a verified source, such as RouteNote Licensing, gives your the following benefits:

1. Cleared rights: You have express and explicit permission to use the music in your content. Composers will have already ensured that all sampled content (if any) has already been cleared for use, and that the composition is 100% original.
2. Claim resolution: In the rare event a claim occurs (perhaps due to a database error), you have the correct licensing paperwork and IDs to prove you have all required rights, and get the claim reversed, protecting your revenue. RouteNote Licensing will also add your channel to our whitelist, ensuring that any content you use from our library doesn’t claim against your content.
3. Monetisation security: The security provided by using properly licensed music means the money generated by your video ads will go directly to you, rather than being redirected to an unknown third party.

The creator’s checklist: How to find and use lo-fi music legitimately

Half of the battle is finding the right track. The other half is knowing the terms within which you can use the track. This is massively important for long-term channel security.

Identify your licensing needs

Here are some important questions you might want to ask yourself before you choose a track or a music library:

• Is this for a commercial project? This includes branded videos, promotional or sponsored content, or ads for your own products. If the answer is yes, you will require a commercial license.
• Is the music “Royalty-Free” or “Rights Managed”? Royalty-free can mean that you get unlimited use for a single upfront fee. Rights managed may mean that your fees are calculated based on your usage of the music. (e.g territory or duration).
• Does the license cover Content ID? Some providers will straight up prohibit you from registering the resulting video with content, and some will provide you with a direct clearance guarantee.

Know where to look

Always use reputable sources focused on copyright-cleared music. If you rip audio from a popular ‘royalty-free’ music playlist on YouTube, you’re opening yourself up to a world of hurt.

• Dedicated music libraries: Platforms like RouteNote Licensing have all the lo-fi and chill categories that you need, and all the rights are pre-cleared for use in your videos.
• Creator-focused artists: Some independent lo-fi producers do explicitly sell their tracks with simple sync licenses, but this can be an expensive, unaffordable option for a lot of content creators.

Tagging for audience mood

Mood, mood, mood! When you post your content, ensure your music choice reinforces the mood you’re aiming to create. The video description and tags will help to attract viewers who are looking to experience that specific atmosphere:

Your Video Mood	Descriptive Tags to Use
Focus/Study	#StudyMusic, #WorkFlow, #Concentration
Vlog/Lifestyle	#VlogMusic, #AestheticVibes, #ChillVibes
Nostalgia/Review	#ThrowbackVibes, #RetroAesthetic, #PensiveMood

The long-term audience strategy

Using licensed lo-fi music is more than just avoiding legal trouble—it’s a powerful audience-building strategy.

• Consistent sonic branding: Choosing a consistent style of lo-fi music in you videos (e.g. jazzy or dreamy), you will create a predictable sonic identity for your channel that viewers will get to know and instantly recognise your brand just by the style of music that’s playing.
• Boosting viewer retention: If your background music is flowing smoothly, not interrupting the viewer’s mental state, they will be much more likely to stay engaged with the video until the end, improving your channel’s key metric: Watch Time.

So, we’ve learned that from moving away from risky, uncleared music to using strategically licensed lo-fi, not only are you securing your channel’s future in terms of copyright, but you’re also providing background music that is non-interruptive, and if used correctly, should improve your watch time!

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Stop risking your channel’s revenue and momentum on a flawed system.

RouteNote Licensing guarantees that the music you license is protected from Content ID claims, allowing you to focus on what you do best: creating great content.

Click Here to Start Your Claim-Safe Journey Today!