Is Audionautix music free for YouTube?

The licence

Every free track on Audionautix is composed by Jason Shaw and released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. You may copy it, edit it and use it "for any purpose, even commercially". The one condition is credit.

The credit

Audionautix gives two ways to credit, and either is enough: a link to the site, or the line "music by audionautix.com". The page offers copy-ready versions:

• "Creative Commons Music by Jason Shaw on Audionautix.com", linked to audionautix.com
• "Music by Audionautix.com", linked to audionautix.com

For a Short, put the line and the link in the description. The full CC BY 4.0 licence also asks you to link to the licence and say if you changed the track, so add "Licensed under CC BY 4.0" with its link.

What "YouTube friendly" means

The FAQ says that "through a special arrangement with YouTube", when you use the music in your videos, "YouTube will not silence or remove your video even if some unscrupulous party claims the music as theirs."

That promise is about your video staying up and audible. It does not say no one will ever claim it, and YouTube's own pages say nothing about this arrangement.

So a claim is still possible, most likely from someone who re-uploaded a track as their own. Your proof is the credit and the CC BY licence.

If you need paperwork

Some clients or platforms want a signed document. Audionautix offers a "copyright release form", linked at the foot of every page. For anything else, the FAQ has a contact link to email Jason Shaw.

What you cannot do

You cannot resell a track on its own. It "MUST be used as part of some other creation". You also cannot claim the music as yours, or use it in a way "that would prevent others from using the music as you have". Registering a track with Content ID would do exactly that.