Audiobook production has gained significant traction with platforms like Audible that allows virtually anyone to produce and monetize audio book recordings.

A common question we hear from our clients regarding audiobooks is whether or not to include background music.

While music can definitely add to the narrative and help your audiobook stand our in a crowded market, some of our clients expressed valid concerns, such as copyright issues, licensing costs, and potential distracting effect of background music.

In this blog post, we will take a deeper look into these concerns and provide you with the insight needed to make a well-informed decision.

Keep reading!

Let’s start by looking at some of the most common concerns linked to using background music in audiobooks:

3 typical concerns with using music in audiobooks

We took a look at our client inquiries log and it turned out copyright was the number 1 concern.

1. Copyright and Licensing

Using copyrighted music in an audio book requires obtaining proper licenses or permissions to comply with copyright laws.

If you choose to use music without permission this may result in legal issues and removal of your audiobook from distribution.

One of the primary concerns relates to the complexity of copyright law and not knowing what licenses are required and where to get them.

Here’s a snippet of an email from one of our past clients expressing this very concern:

“I’ve listened to some of the sound effects available on your website. I’ve found some great ones that I think would fit quite well with my upcoming audiobook, however, one of the people with whom I’m working on the project has strong reservations regarding using sound effects due to any potential licensing issues which may arise in the future. I’ve shown them your website and licensing, and also let them know that you confirmed that the sound effects are permitted to be used in commercial projects, but they’re still very reluctant (I think they’ve had some bad prior experiences with licensing issues via Splice and AudioJungle etc in the past).”

So this tells us, many of audio book creators feel that researching and understanding the licensing requirements would take too much effort.

After all, when it comes to licensing music there are sync licenses, master licenses, public performance licenses. This does look confusing!

We want to make licensing easy for you!

With that in mind, we have added the special clause to our licensing agreement that grants our clients explicit rights for using music and sounds in commercial / for sale audiobooks.

2. Extra Production cost

Another typical concern is the added cost of licensing, specifically related to incurring future royalty payments.

Generally, licensing fees can range from a few dozens to several thousand dollars per song, depending on the factors like duration of use, the scope of distribution, and the type of music.

Here’s a typical message expressing concern about potential licensing costs:

“I have published a book through Amazon. I am about to launch the audio book through Audible. i would like to soften the introduction with about 30 seconds of music in the background but i wasn’t sure about the costs as I wanted to protect myself from inadvertently running up a large bill.”

Once again, we want to make licensing simple and affordable.

All our music licensing options come with the same lifetime royalty free license that covers worldwide distribution and does not involve any future royalty payments. Pay once, use forever!

3. Potential distracting effect of music

We don’t get many questions related to this specific topic, however, it is being actively discussed online among both the ACX (Amazon / Audible publishing platform) publishers and the listeners.

There are indeed some very strong opinions out there:

Though, others do appreciate hearing background music:

That brings us to the most important question, does your audiobook need music and where it needs to appear?

how to use music in audiobooks so it adds value rather than annoys your listeners

Ultimately, this is up to you to decide whether your audiobook needs background music.

However, keep in mind that audio books space gets crowded and it will get even harder to monetize your books unless you find a way to stand out of the crowd.

We’ve gone through plenty of Reddit and Quora discussions and rounded up what people think.

Generally, we see 5 cases when people do appreciate having music or sounds in audiobooks:

1. Use a short music intro at the beginning of your audiobook.

2. Optionally add subtle background music or sound effect at the beginning or end of chapters.

3. Use relevant sound effects when appropriate (when it adds to the story).

4. Use background music during the opening and closing credits.

5. Use background music throughout the book if it adds to the message. For example, a guided meditation book can benefit from a relaxing music soundtrack. A bedtime story audiobook can sound much better with soft a lullaby in the background.

Listen to more examples of music for audiobooks.

Hope this helps!

Questions? Comments?

Let us know what you think by posting a comment!

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