Adding music to your podcast will help you communicate your message better, not bore your viewers, and is a great indicator of what emotions viewers are meant to feel through watching your podcast. 

Adding music to cinematic work has been around as long as we can remember everything from movies and cartoons to Tik Toks and youtube Shorts. Adding the appropriate music to your podcast can work wonders for you and your channel, especially if you’re still new to the game.

Although not every podcast needs background music, adding a laid-back track in the background can be a game-changer for many.

Should a podcast have background Music? 

Depending on what niche you specialize in, and the tone you deliver your podcast in, you may not need music on your podcast, some podcasts are better off with sound effects only. 

If you’re loud, well-spoken, and are able to evoke different emotions using only your tone of voice then you may not need music at all. 

The idea of music is to elaborate upon the message you’re delivering without being too pushy with it. 

A good example is the positivity and motivational clips you come across every day on your feed. What if those clips didn’t have music would they be just as motivating? 

While you can use podcast background music to engage and lock in a viewer’s attention, music can also fill in conversational gaps on a podcast. 

If the dialog is too slow, or one’s speaking is too monotone music can make up for the lost quality, getting more views and a longer watch time.

Additionally, adding music to you’re podcast can either enhance or destroy your efforts, which brings us down to, what type of music should you use on your podcast.

What type of music should I use for a podcast?

The type of music to use for your podcast depends on the context of your podcast along with your tone of voice. 

Depending on your objective you can use music in a podcast for three main reasons:

Add an emotional element 

Adding some emotion to your videos can help podcast viewers determine how they feel about what you’re saying. Emotional elements also add to the memorability of your podcast. 

To create a memorable impactful message, one must fully appreciate the power of music. Your message will not be remembered or have a significant impact on the listener if you do not trigger the right emotions. 

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Break down and elaborate on certain messages. 

It is not necessary to have music playing throughout your whole Podcast, you can use different music clips to blend together audio clips and segment each message. 

Adding different music that better communicates each message, will live a much more impactful effect on the listener than if it was only you talking over one track.

Help viewers lock in and stay focused

Finally, many podcasters are new to the game and are still experiencing, glitches, technical difficulties, blurriness and even suffering from monotone delivery. 

Music in this case will enable listeners to overlook your flaws and errors, and help them see the whole message through without distractions. 

Some of the best kinds of music to add to your podcast include: 

• Upbeat happy music 
• Relaxing calming music 
• Emotional dramatic music 
• Enticing intro music 

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5 Tips to choosing the right podcast background music

Choosing the right music is all up to you and your production team, and relies almost solely on your taste and preference in alignment with messaging. 

However, no matter what music, track, beat, or genre you decide to choose there are always a few elements to take into consideration. 

Background music should be barely noticeable 

You never need the music to be the viewer’s center of attention. Adding loud music to your podcast may defeat the whole logic behind adding music. 

While we usually recommend setting the volume to -15 or anything less, it is your task to find the perfect balance before shooting your pod. 

Reflect the right feeling with your music 

Think of music as a complementary feature to the message you’re delivering. It adds depth and  weight to an already amazing message.

While upbeat music is better at inspiring happy emotions, and 

Test your volume levels post-production 

Testing how a clip, video, or podcast flows with background music is a crucial step to aligning the music with your voice, and tone, and choosing the right volume level. 

It is important to ensure background music doesn’t overlap with what you have to say, or dominate the pace by being too prominent. 

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Do not use copyrighted music 

Copyrighted music is never your friend when producing a podcast, in fact, platforms like Youtube will limit your reach or even block your content for using copyrighted music. 

You can find royalty-free Music on Pixabay, Incompetech, and Envato Market.  

Pick an aligning intro for your music 

Your background music will only be as good as the intro that blends into the podcast and gives viewers a good first reaction to your podcast. 

Bold captivating intros are recommended, but depending on the context and style of your podcast, any attention-grabbing intro that aligns and flows with the background music should work. 

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How to add background music to a podcast?

Adding background music to your podcast is a simple process with no longer than 3 simple steps. 

1- Download the desired music or track 

2- Open your editing app and ass the background music as an MP3 file.

3- Align the track to flow with your podcast 

4- Adjust placement, volume, and sychronization 

Popular editing software such as Adobe Premier, Cap-Cut, and Apple’s Final cut all have relatively similar measures to volume, placement of the track, and adjusting features. 

Using the Drag and Drop method, move your clip from the media library to the timeline and align it under the original video or soundtrack of your podcast. 

You can from there adjust the volume, add sound effects, and modify how the synchronization and flow of music and voice-over.