StreamBeats by Harris Heller: Free Music for Streamers

Short answer: StreamBeats is a free music library for streamers made by Harris Heller, a streamer and YouTuber best known for the Alpha Gaming channel. It has more than 1,500 original tracks across over ten genres. You can use them in streams, videos and podcasts, monetized or not, with no account and no credit required. You play it from Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music or Bandcamp.

Who is Harris Heller?

Harris Heller is a streamer and YouTuber who teaches people how to stream. His Alpha Gaming channel covers the practical side: OBS setup, gear, and how to grow a channel. He streams on Twitch as harrisheller.

He started StreamBeats because streamers kept losing VODs and getting DMCA notices over background music. His answer was a library of original music with the legal side settled up front, made specifically for streaming.

What is StreamBeats?

• Free: no account, no sign-up and no credit card.
• Original music: released under the StreamBeats name, not a playlist of other artists. The catalog spans lofi, synthwave, rock and more, under names like StreamBeats Lofi and StreamBeats Synthwave.
• Use it almost anywhere: live streams, VODs, YouTube videos and podcasts, including monetized content.
• No attribution required: crediting it is a nice touch, not a rule.
• How it pays for itself: StreamBeats earns from plays on streaming services, so the music stays free for creators.

Check the StreamBeats site for the current terms before you build a channel around it.

How to play StreamBeats on stream

• Search for StreamBeats on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube Music.
• Pick a genre playlist that fits your stream.
• Capture the music app's audio in OBS (an application audio capture source works well) and set the level under your voice.

That is the whole setup. Because it plays from a normal music app, there is nothing extra to install.

StreamBeats, Pretzel or BeatsBackground?

They solve the same problem in different ways, and plenty of streamers use more than one.

• StreamBeats: free, a big multi-genre library, no credit required. The best free place to start.
• Pretzel: a paid music player built for streamers. It shuffles, shows song credits on screen, and handles the music side in one place, which makes it the safest setup. Our full catalog is inside it at no extra cost. See the Pretzel setup guide.
• BeatsBackground (us): two brothers making lofi, so the sound stays consistent from stream to stream. We do not file copyright claims against streamers or creators, ever, and credit is optional. Play us from Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music or YouTube, or through Pretzel.

For more options, including paid libraries, see the best royalty-free music for Twitch.