Music licensing alternatives, compared
Most music platforms sell a subscription: pay monthly, download what you like, and your right to use it lives with the plan. Melody sells sync licences per track — released indie music, cleared for commercial use, paid for once and yours in perpetuity for that creative, from $5.
Neither model is universally better. If you publish content several times a week, a subscription is almost certainly cheaper per use. If you run a handful of campaigns a year and want music that sounds like a record rather than a library cue, paying per track wins on both cost and craft. These pages set out the differences plainly so you can tell which one you are.
Epidemic Sound
Comparing Epidemic Sound with Melody for brand and ad music: subscription vs per-track licences, catalogue origin, artist pay and what each covers.
Read the comparison →Artlist
Artlist vs Melody for advertising music: annual subscription against per-track sync licences, catalogue origin, artist payouts and licence permanence.
Read the comparison →Soundstripe
Soundstripe vs Melody: unlimited-download subscription against per-track sync licences, released indie catalogue, artist payouts and licence terms.
Read the comparison →What Melody does differently
- Released music, not production music. Every track was put out by an independent artist or label as their own work, then cleared for sync.
- Both rights in one transaction. Master and publishing are cleared together, with a PDF licence certificate issued instantly.
- 75% goes to the rights-holder. Published, per licence, and visible in the artist's dashboard.
- The licence does not expire. One creative concept, all cutdowns, global, perpetual — with no plan to keep alive.
Judge it by the catalogue
Comparison tables only get you so far. Listen to what is actually in the library and see the licence price on every track before you sign up to anything.