Artlist vs Epidemic Sound: Entry Price and Client Rights

Artlist’s stock-plan rate table lists Music & SFX Social at $9.99 per month billed annually, music-only Pro at $16.58, Music & SFX Pro at $24.92, and Music & SFX Teams at $21.17 per member, before VAT. Epidemic Sound’s pricing table lists Creator at $9.99, Pro at $16.99, and its two-member Business plan at $30 per month, also billed annually. The personal entry prices match; the rights needed for client work change the comparison.

For freelance client videos or digital ads, compare Epidemic Sound Pro with the appropriate Artlist Pro plan. If colleagues also need to download and use tracks, price a team subscription. The number of channels a plan can clear does not tell you how many people may use its catalog.

What a personal channel gets

Both entry plans include music and sound effects, and both can support monetized content on a creator’s own social channels. Artlist Social permits one channel per supported social platform and one podcast, while Epidemic Sound Creator covers one channel per platform plus personal podcasts and websites. The website distinction matters to a creator publishing licensed audio outside social feeds: that use appears in Epidemic Sound Creator’s coverage, while Artlist places websites in its Pro stock coverage.

A sponsored post on your own channel is different from an ad produced for a brand’s channel. The Artlist license guidance allows monetization and sponsorships on personal channels under Social, but reserves projects made for clients or brands for Pro. It also allows a Pro subscriber to deliver a finished project to a client without transferring the underlying music or effects for the client to reuse. Epidemic Sound Creator similarly includes sponsored and boosted content published on the subscriber’s own channels; its Pro tier adds freelance client work and digital ads.

Where client rights change the bill

For a freelance editor making online client videos, Epidemic Sound Pro includes music and effects in its commercial tier. Artlist offers a lower-priced music-only Pro choice and a higher-priced Music & SFX Pro choice. That makes the services close in cost if the edit needs music alone, but materially different if the deliverable also needs licensed effects. The extra Artlist charge buys an asset category; it does not mean that Epidemic Sound Pro lacks client or digital-ad rights.

The publishing destination also determines which subscription can carry the job. A brand collaboration posted on the creator’s registered channel may fit an entry plan, while an ad delivered for the brand’s own account falls under client or commercial coverage. A client might later cut a new version using the same music; Artlist’s permission to deliver a finished project does not give the client independent rights to lift out and reuse its stock files. If the client needs that flexibility, the client’s own licensing position matters as well as the editor’s.

Three annual scenario budgets

One personal creator. At the annual-billing entry rate, either service costs $119.88 for a year. That pays for the creator’s own permitted channels, with the platform and website difference described above. If a paid client assignment arrives midway through that year, the original subscription has not become a client license; the relevant comparison moves to the commercial tiers.

One freelancer serving clients. Epidemic Sound Pro works out to $203.88 for a year and includes both music and sound effects for covered online client projects and digital ads. Artlist music-only Pro works out to $198.96; Music & SFX Pro comes to $299.04. The $95.16 annual gap between Epidemic Sound Pro and Artlist’s music-and-effects Pro follows from their listed annual-billing rates. These are subscription totals, not separate fees for every client video, and they assume that the editor alone needs catalog access.

A small production team. If two people each need access, Epidemic Sound Business costs $360 for a year and includes two team members, client work and digital ads. Two Artlist Music & SFX Teams seats cost $508.08 for a year. Artlist describes that team tier for eligible organizations rather than creative agencies, which it directs toward a Business license; the two-seat calculation therefore is not an agency quote. One freelancer buying Pro and sharing a login with a colleague would not match either team’s access rights.

Clear the upload, not just the soundtrack

Music matching on YouTube can create a claim even when an editor has downloaded a licensed track. Artlist’s Clearlist instructions explain that a Social subscriber registers the permitted personal channel, while Pro can register three entire channels per platform and unlimited individual YouTube videos. A Pro, Team or Business subscriber can also generate an invitation link for a client’s YouTube upload; those links expire after 30 days. The individual-video route helps an editor handle a client upload without using a whole-channel slot for every client.

Epidemic Sound calls its channel-registration process safelisting. Its Creator tier covers one monetized channel per platform and Pro covers three; the Business tier protects up to three channels per platform for its team. The editor should identify the account that will publish each finished video, then connect or clear the relevant channel or video under the chosen service’s rules before release. A commercial license answers whether the use is permitted; registration helps the platform recognize that permission when the track is matched.

What cancellation protects

Content published while an Epidemic Sound subscription is active remains cleared after cancellation, but new content published after the subscription ends does not. Epidemic Sound’s licensing guide also tells subscribers to connect their relevant channels to the account to avoid claims. For Artlist, a project published during an active subscription can remain covered for continued use in the same media, subject to its license conditions. The retained right attaches to the published project, not to downloaded tracks held for future edits.

Artlist requires channels and videos to be added to Clearlist while the subscription is active; they cannot be added after expiry. Its license also notes that an asset removed because of a rights or clearance concern may lose continued coverage. For a client delivery, the decisive dates are therefore publication and clearance, not the earlier download or edit. If the client will upload only after the editor’s plan ends, that later release needs an active license of the proper tier.