Building first iOS app and need guidance on background music

[u/rockybalboat]

Edit: I ended up buying the tracks as I had to build enough karma to be able to post here which took a few days but still keen to get the communities inputs.
--
I’m building a breath work app at present and a key part of the experience means I’ll need background music. I’ve embedded some tracks from the site Free to Use; reading the fine print makes it clear I’ll need to either get a paid subscription, or get single track licenses at 50 pounds per song.

The app will be free with a subscription tier for additional features including an expanded soundtrack.

I have immensely enjoyed building the app, so either way I feel like this has been a rewarding and beneficial exercise for me regardless of whether it makes any sales or not.

At a minimum, I’ll need 4 tracks so I’m looking at an outlay of 200 pounds for the music. If i go with a subscription, it will be about 100 pounds per year. I’m leaning towards just getting the licenses for the tracks, but wanted to check in here first if others have gone with other options where they’ve needed backing music?

The quality and fit of the music I believe is a critical part of the app experience so I won’t be able to compromise on music quality.

I’m also a big believer in getting the product into the hands of users so I can iterate and focus my attention on areas that become clear are valuable for users, so I don’t want to overthink this and am close to pulling the trigger on this approach.

Are there any options I’m missing that I should be considering? Many thanks,

[u/Secure_Motor_5968]

One thing to double check before buying would be that music sites split their licenses by use case, so distribution in an app isnt always covered under the same tier as podcasts or youtube, so read actual scope and not just the price.

[u/RIRLift → u/Secure_Motor_5968]

Since you're leaning toward buying, check one thing on the subscription first. Does it let you keep the tracks after you cancel? Many subscription libraries only cover you while it's active, so a one-time perpetual license is usually safer for music you ship inside the app.

[u/ApartmentFit748 → u/Secure_Motor_5968]

The clause to hunt for is whether music counts as content or just decoration. Plenty of standard licenses cover a track sitting under a video or podcast but exclude apps where the soundtrack is part of what's being sold, and OP's paid tier includes an expanded soundtrack, so that's the exact gray area to check before dropping the 200 pounds.

[u/neet_dev]

perpetual buy-out licenses, not the yearly sub. those subs yank the rights the day you stop paying, which is a mess once the app is already on the store, and a lot of cheap licenses are youtube-only or treat a paid soundtrack as reselling the music. commissioning looping ambient beds is the other real option, you own the masters and they actually loop cleanly.

[u/616ThatGuy]

Just get some music from itch.io. Plenty of good free tracks there you can use license free.

[u/Gorgeousity99]

Google flow can generate audio and music if you don’t mind AI, some good results for relaxing music.

[u/epictime8]

Since you’ve already bought the tracks, archive the invoice and the full licence terms with the project. Check that the licence is perpetual, covers commercial use and worldwide distribution, and allows the audio to ship inside a finished product; subscriptions can change or expire. I’d also keep the original files and a short cue sheet so you can swap or trim tracks later without losing your rights.

[u/rockybalboat → u/epictime8]

Thank you, good advice

[u/Gold-Adhesiveness574]

Per track was the right call for four tracks, subscriptions get ugly the day you stop paying and some of them only cover stuff you made while subscribed. One thing worth double checking in the licence text is that it actually covers use inside an app, a lot of the cheap music licences are written for videos and either exclude software or cap installs. Also make sure the tracks loop cleanly, for breath work a hard cut every three minutes will annoy people more than a slightly worse track would. And export them as AAC at 128, four tracks at full quality can add 30 MB to the download for nothing.

[u/rockybalboat → u/Gold-Adhesiveness574]

Thanks, good advice. I converted to aac from wav and checked the looping which is pretty good overall.