Epidemic Sound Review (2025): Worth it or Not?

Website	epidemicsound.com
Music	50,000
Sound Effects	200,000
Licensing	Royalty-free
Price	$15-49/month
Free Trial	Yes (7-Days)
Alternatives	Artlist & Soundstripe
Pros	✔ Unlimited music and SFX downloads ✔ Affordable subscription plans ✔ Easy to use sections and filters ✔ Stem files available ✔ Free trial
Cons	✘ You can’t buy Music and SFX separately ✘ Library is not as big as others

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

4.5 out of 5

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Epidemic Sound is a royalty-free music site that offers high-quality tracks and sound effects for a monthly subscription.

In this review, I’ll test out Epidemic Sound by looking at stock music quality, pricing, and website features.

Get 50% off all subscriptions. This gives you access to their full library, which includes over 50,000 royalty-free tracks and 200,000 premium sound effects! 🙌

What is Epidemic Sound?

Epidemic Sound was launched in 2009 in Stockholm, Sweden, by Peer Åström, David Stenmarck, Oscar Höglund, and Jan Zachrisson. The company specializes in hand-picked royalty-free music and sound effects for freelancers.

They use a subscription-based model which boasts a massive library of over 50,000 music tracks and 200,000 sound effects. This allows you to create rich-sounding, high-impact videos.

Also, while Epidemic Sound holds the rights to all the music in its library, it gives half of the streaming revenue straight to the composers. I think that’s pretty responsible.

Who is Epidemic Sound for?

Anyone working in the creative industry can benefit from using Epidemic Sound. Think of influencers, podcasters, YouTubers, filmmakers, and pretty much anyone who needs copyright-free music.

Firstly, using music in your videos is not as simple as you might think. Basically, you need to make sure you own the original rights or at least have a license to use any music track.

If you’re caught using a commercial track in your edit, you can end up in big trouble. For example, if you receive three strikes on YouTube, they will close your channel and remove your content.

So, it’s definitely worth looking into royalty-free music sites like Epidemic Sound, as it allows you to carry on making videos and not have to stress about copyright laws.

Sound interesting? Let’s dig deeper into what this website offers and how it works…

How Does It Work?

You can access the Epidemic Sound website via a desktop browser, but you can also search, listen, and download your chosen tracks to a mobile device. To sign up, follow these 6 simple steps:

1. Click on the link above
2. Click on the “Start free trial” button
3. Select personal or commercial subscription
4. Create an account and connect your channels
5. Add payment details (you won’t be charged for the first month)
6. That’s it!

Also, if you’re a user of Adobe Premiere Pro, you can access Epidemic Sound’s tracks directly through their built-in library. Pretty handy, right?

Features

Once you start using Epidemic Sound, you will instantly notice how simple and intuitive its interface is. Here are a few of our favorite features.

Sections

Just by clicking on Music, you will be able to filter the catalog according to Genres, Featured, Moods, and Albums.

Filters

Another interesting feature offered by this platform is the ability to filter the library to find specific tracks. You can search for certain types of sound effects and music using mood, place, tempo, length, energy, and more.

Stem Files

Do you like a track but want to get rid of a certain instrument or make it more unique?

Epidemic Sound also allows you to download STEM files, which means you can really unleash your creativity. All of their tracks come in four different stems (drums, bass, instrument, and melody). This means you can either download a full track or each stem separately by clicking the download arrow to the right of the track.

Let’s say, for example, that you download a track that only features one element that you want or need to use. The STEM function lets you remove all the other elements so that you end up with exactly the piece of music that you want.

Cleared Royalty-Free Music

All music is cleared and ready to go. This includes use on social media, monetization, and clearance for all client productions.

Connecting your social media channels to the Epidemic Sound app is another great way to use their service. This allows you to stream your content live on platforms like Facebook and YouTube.

Doing this is actually quite simple. First of all, pick one social media platform for each subscription that you own. Then click the Subscription button on your Account page and select the one you want to connect to (Instagram, Facebook, etc). Save your changes, and it’s all done.

Audio

Sometimes, people underestimate the importance of good audio. However, a bad track can really affect your edit and ruin the video for your audience.

Luckily for you, Epidemic Sound takes audio pretty seriously; all tracks are available in crystal clear, lossless 24-bit 48kHz WAV.

SFX

Looking for amazing sound effects to add to your video? then check out the Sound Effects section.

Epidemic Sound has recently added a sound effects library with over 200,000 effects and counting. Think waves on a beach, rain, taxi horns, birds chirping – they have it all!

So, if you want to grab your viewer’s attention and make your videos more engaging, then sound effects are the way to go.

Pricing

Epidemic Sound keeps pricing nice and simple with only 3 subscription plans. Obviously, the one you choose depends on what type of creator you are and where you’re posting content.

Still a bit confused? No worries. Here is a table to help compare all of the features.

Is Epidemic Sound Worth it or Not?

In short, yes. Their library is of a very high standard, and despite not being as big as others, it’s constantly growing. Subscriptions are affordable, and all plans come with unlimited downloads for music and sfx, as well as access to stem files. They are definitely one of the best providers of royalty-free music out there at the moment.

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