Creative Commons licences for music: what NC and ND mean for releases and sync

You want people to use your music: in a podcast, a student film, a remix, a stream. Creative Commons (CC) licences let you say yes in advance, in public, without answering every email. The catch is that the letters after "CC" decide who can say yes on your behalf, and two of them, NC and ND, change what happens to your music in releases and sync more than most artists expect.

This is a practical guide, not legal advice. Everything below is from the Creative Commons version 4.0 licences and CC's own pages as we read them on 24 Oct 2026. If you are new to the rights in a track, start with two copyrights in every song; if you are pitching for placements, our sync licensing basics covers the paid side.

The four building blocks

Creative Commons' licence overview describes every licence as a mix of four elements:

• BY (Attribution): "Credit must be given to you, the creator." Every CC licence includes it.
• SA (ShareAlike): "Adaptations must be shared under the same terms."
• NC (NonCommercial): "Only noncommercial use of your work is permitted."
• ND (NoDerivatives): "No derivatives or adaptations of your work are permitted."

The six licences, side by side

The sync column follows from one line in the licence text, covered below. Anything not allowed by the licence is still yours to license separately, for a fee if you like.

What does NonCommercial actually mean?

The 4.0 legal code defines NonCommercial as "not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation." That is the whole test. It does not list which uses pass, so the grey zones are real: a monetised YouTube video, a brand's social post, a café playlist. Each depends on whether the use is primarily aimed at money.

For a release, NC means:

• Listeners and fans can share and play your track for non-commercial purposes, with credit.
• Businesses cannot use it for free. An ad agency, a game studio or a production company has to come to you for a licence. That is the point: NC keeps the paid market for yourself.
• Royalties are not fully waived. Section 2(b)(3) of the NC licence says the licensor waives the right to collect royalties for non-commercial uses, including "through a collecting society", but reserves that right in all other cases. If you belong to a performing rights or collecting society, check its membership terms before you choose.

What does NoDerivatives mean for music?

The BY-ND legal code lets people "produce and reproduce, but not Share, Adapted Material," and adds: "You do not have permission under this Public License to Share Adapted Material." Someone can make a remix in their own studio. They cannot post it.

The important part for musicians is how CC defines an adaptation. For musical works, performances and sound recordings, the licence says Adapted Material "is always produced where the Licensed Material is synched in timed relation with a moving image." In plain terms: putting ND music under video is an adaptation, so a video with your ND track in it cannot be shared under the licence. That covers the vlog, the short film and the game trailer alike.

So ND is the strongest "ask me first" setting for sync. It still lets people download, copy and pass your track around unchanged, which suits a free album giveaway.

What about ShareAlike?

SA lets people adapt your music, but anything they share must carry the same licence. For a remix culture it is generous and self-reinforcing. For sync it is often a practical barrier, because a film or advert built around BY-SA music would have to be shared under BY-SA too, and most commercial producers will not do that. In practice, SA can act as an informal brake on commercial sync even without NC. That is our reading of the terms, not a rule CC states.

Where does CC0 fit?

CC0 is not one of the six licences. The CC0 deed says the person applying it has "dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law," so anyone can copy, modify and use it, including commercially, without asking. It does not affect patent or trademark rights, and other people's publicity or privacy rights can still apply. For music that means no credit is required and nothing comes back to you.

Can I change my mind later?

Not for what is already out. The 4.0 licence grants a "non-exclusive, irrevocable license." You can stop distributing a track, and you can offer future copies under different terms, but anyone who took the track under the CC licence keeps the rights it gave them. Treat the choice as permanent.

Because the licence is non-exclusive, you can still sell other licences for the same track. Separately, if you have signed an exclusive deal with a label, publisher or sync library, you may not be free to apply a CC licence at all. Check your contracts first.

How to apply a CC licence to a release

1. Make sure you control every right. That means the recording and the song, plus every co-writer, featured artist and sample. You cannot licence what you do not own.
2. Pick the licence using the table above.
3. State it where people find the music: your release page, the file description and your liner notes, with a link to the licence.
4. Write a short "commercial use" line next to it, with a contact address, so the people NC or ND turns away know how to pay you.

What we think

For most independent artists releasing music they hope to earn from, CC BY-NC is the sensible default. It lets fans, students and non-profit creators use your work and spread your name, while keeping every paid use, sync included, for you to license. Add ND only if you specifically do not want remixes in public; know that it also blocks even a fan video.

We are wary of plain CC BY and CC0 for anything you might later want to sync. They are generous and good for the commons, and that is a real choice for sound packs, field recordings or a project you want to spread as widely as possible. But they are irrevocable, and the brand that finds your track in three years owes you nothing.

The deeper point: a CC licence is a pricing decision. NC and ND do not stop money flowing. They make sure it flows to you. Choose them on purpose, write the commercial contact line, and treat the licence as part of your release plan rather than a badge.

FAQ

Can a YouTuber use my CC BY-NC track in a monetised video? It depends on whether the video is "primarily intended for" commercial advantage. The licence does not list examples, so if you want to allow it, say so explicitly on your release page.

Does ND stop people using my track in a video? Yes for sharing. The 4.0 licences treat syncing music to moving images as making Adapted Material, which ND does not let anyone share.

Can I sell a sync licence for a CC-licensed song? Yes. CC licences are non-exclusive, so you can still license the same track separately on paid terms.

Can I withdraw a CC licence? No. The grant is irrevocable for people who already received the work under it.

Sources

• About CC Licenses, Creative Commons
• Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International, Legal Code, Creative Commons
• Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International, Legal Code, Creative Commons
• CC0 1.0 Universal deed, Creative Commons