Epic royalty-free music

Epic Royalty-Free Music What Is “Epic Music”?

A lot of creatives are asking themselves, “Just what is epic music?’’. While the style may encompass a handful of moods and moments, there are a few definitive characteristics that make it easy to recognize. Epic music is music that is meant to invoke deep feelings of inspiration, intense emotions and often increased excitement.

Picture, if you will, a tumultuous final moment at the end of a cinematic epic. This moment could be glory and triumph, despair and mourning or some other intense emotional stimulation. During these scenes, our heart rate might increase and we might feel sensations on the back of our neck or even get goosebumps. It’s in these moments that epic music works perfectly.

While there are a variety of explanations around the defining characteristics of epic music, our favorite description was found on a local musician’s forum. In the forum, a person suggested that the style of epic music can be determined by a few prominent traits.

Harmonic Behaviours - This concept pertains to the harmonic intervals used in the music style and how their behavior affects the emotional state. Epic music generally has a common set of harmonic choices and patterns.

Instrumental Composition - Composers of this style of music often try to arrange parts where melodic instruments are pushed to their peak. This melodic technique creates a natural lift to any cinematic mood.

Emotive Climax - Epic music is very dynamic and sometimes feels like a story in itself where there are ups and downs and climaxes. These compositional choices are used to reflect the human experience.

A Common Theme - There are so many movies with an instantly identifiable lick or melody and these pieces of music can often turn a great movie into an instant classic. Epic music often incorporates a common motif, riff or tone throughout a narrative to maintain continuity.

A Consistent Tone - Master creators understand the value of consistency and apply this practice to their musical choices when selecting audio. An effective visual is generally further enhanced when it is accompanied by an appropriate tone or feel throughout its entirety.

Using Epic Music In Different Types of Videos

By now you’ve probably gathered that epic cinematic music won’t work for just any type of project. The style is created to invoke intense feelings within the human spirit. Of course, everyone has a different idea of what moments in life are epic and it’s your job as storytellers to pick the right ones to properly capture and share with your audiences.

One of the sharpest rises in the use of epic music is the travel video industry. Whether you’re an influencer, a documentary maker or a budding filmmaker looking to put together a film about your latest adventure, epic music can really enhance the emotional impact of the scene cuts. Certain filmmakers prefer edits with a more modern electronic sound, while others like to make use of more organic and traditional instruments like orchestras or percussions. Either way, the intention of creating a sonic saga remains the same.

Likewise, sports videos have benefited from the use of epic music, which is easily understandable. There are few moments that are more inspiring than watching someone achieve their dream and defy their limitations. Epic music can seriously drive these types of scenes straight to the viewers' heart.

The world of cinema has probably gained the most from the use of epic music and nobody has been a greater flagbearer for this genre than Hans Zimmer. The famous composer and producer has gained immense respect and admiration for his work on films like Inception, Interstellar, The Dark Knight and many more. After experiencing just a few minutes of his work, you can understand the dynamic gravitas and weight that carefully curated music adds to an epic cinematic masterpiece. Composers like Zimmer exist everywhere and it would be so handy to be able to source free epic music like this for commercial use.

Finding Royalty-Free Epic Music

While it’s helpful to know and understand the epic music genre, it’s equally as crucial to grasp how to apply it to your film projects, including the back-end and nasty paperwork involved. More often than not filmmakers encounter obstacles and dead-ends with their music due to licensing and royalty issues. Much like a movie, painting or any other artwork, music requires some form of compensation and recognition for the time and effort that goes into its creation. If anyone understands this concept it’s filmmakers and other types of creatives.

Using a specific producer’s or artist’s work involves purchasing the license for that song. Depending on the song or artist you’re working with, these licenses can sometimes add up to impractically high figures. And while a song may be written or performed by one particular person, there are usually a few people that contribute to its final production. Imagine that the great piece of epic stock music you wish to use for your film is a fresh, well-baked cake. Everyone that contributed to the cake (from the ingredients and tools used for baking, to the recipe and finishing touches) rightfully deserves a cut of the final product.

Licensing a song entails documenting every contributor to the finished song and then determining their respective splits from any royalties earned from the use of the song on your film. This concept can sometimes reduce the overall profit-share, especially if a song is worked on by a large team of musicians and producers. Another tricky factor to consider is that these splits also increase alongside any growth that your project experiences. Again, the bigger the cake, the greater the size of the slice you cut.

The above-listed considerations can make it tedious to fluidly realize your film ambitions and these situations can often leave creators feeling demotivated or left with minimal options for reliable royalty-free epic background music. However, there is hope for filmmakers and other creatives everywhere, in the form of Mubert’s epic music generator.

With Mubert, there’s a near limitless selection of premium quality royalty-free epic music. Whether you need some moving orchestral sounds for a climactic battle scene or are looking for some royalty-free epic trailer music, we’ve got you covered.

Our collaborations with some of the world’s finest musicians allow us to connect you directly to a reliable stream of top-tier royalty-free epic music. With Mubert, you’ll always have incredible-sounding music to complement your latest film creations.