How to Add Background Music to OBS Studio [2025]

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. Learn more!

Today, I'll be explaining to you how to add background music to OBS Studio. This way, whether you're streaming or recording, your viewers will be able to hear the music in the background. 

The way I'll be showing you how to do this today is not just to have a Spotify tab running in the background. We will be building a playlist and putting it directly into OBS Studio. This allows you to use fewer resources and you can loop it so there's less work involved. You won't have to worry about finding new music for your playlist after today.

If you haven't yet, be sure to check out Thestreameracademy.com where I help you start and grow your stream. There are tons of free resources available to help you succeed. 

Creating Your Scene

The first thing we'll do is get OBS Studio open and ready to be used.

Once you have this going, head to 'Scenes', in the bottom-left corner, press the '+' (plus sign) icon, and name this "Music". 

We're creating this scene because the last thing you want is to be on your 'Starting Soon' screen with the music playing and then have the music stop or restart as soon as you switch to your 'Countdown Timer'. This is going to allow us to add the scene over everything so that the music will continue to play no matter what. 

Finding Your Music

The next thing we need to do is find our music. Specifically, you want to be using MP3 files.

You can go ahead and get music from wherever you would like or use music that you already have, but you just need to be aware that most of this music will not be worry-free and will not protect you from copyright strikes. This is why I use Epidemic Sound. 

Epidemic Sound offers worry-free music that you can use on any platform. They have over 50,000 songs and over 200,000 sound effects. 

As the website says, "Publish worry-free, worldwide." This means that you can use this music on TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, Facebook, or Kick without having to worry about getting any copyright strikes or getting your streams or videos muted.

I'll be getting all of my music from Epidemic Sound. If you click here, you can get a 30-day free trial to make sure this site is for you.

You can select from different genres like pop, jazz, electronic, hip-hop, funk, country, and more. You can also search for music that you want to use. 

I've personally already made a few different playlists for my streams. 

The playlist that I use for my livestreams is three hours and seven minutes. Remember, you don't need to have three hours of music since you can have this playlist looping. I just like to have some rarity in my mix. If I see a new song come up on Epidemic that I like, I'll go ahead and add it to the playlist to be utilized in my stream. 

Once you've found the music that you want to use, you'll need to download the songs. I'm only going to download a few, but you can download as many songs as you want to use and add to your playlist. 

To download the song on Epidemic Sound, all you need to do is click the down-facing arrow. 

I would encourage you to go ahead and download the full mix, but definitely be sure to download this as an MP3 file. However, if you only want the instrumentals, the bass, the drums, or any other part, you can download only that portion of the audio. 

Once you've selected those options, press 'Download' and it will add the song to your files. 

I'm going to go ahead and do this with two more songs, making sure to download the full mix and the MP3 file. This process works exactly the same way for all of the songs and sound effects. 

If you want to access my playlist and potentially use any of this music, you can check it out here. You can also choose any of these songs and select the 'Find Similar' button to get a different selection of songs like the original one. 

Making Your Playlist

With your files downloaded, you'll need to download the free tool Audacity to compile all of these songs into a playlist. It works on both Windows and Macs. 

Once you've downloaded this, it's going to look just like the picture below. 

Now, simply drag and drop your first music file into Audacity. 

You'll add your second song the same way. However, once you've added your second song, be sure to drag up to the same line as the first song. 

This can be a little bit tedious, especially if you have a lot of songs like I had. In the end, it's definitely worth it to me because I know that I have music that I can constantly play. 

Obviously, in setting up your playlist like this, there isn't the option to shuffle the music. So, whenever you start your stream, it will be the same song each time. However, as you go through your stream, the music will change and vary from there. 

Now, you'll add in each of the songs that you want to use the same way you did with the second song, making sure they're all on the same line. 

Typically, whenever I find a new song, I'll just download it and add it to the front of this playlist so that it changes the order of it some and switches up what my viewers hear first. 

Exporting Your Playlist

Once you have all of your music added, go to 'File' on your computer's menu bar, and select 'Export Audio'. 

Then, select 'Export to Computer' and we'll name this "Stream Playlist 2025". You'll also need to make sure that this is set to download as an MP3 file. 

The reason that you'll want to download this to your computer is so that you can open this back up later if you want to add more music. 

When this is done downloading, the playlist will be added to your files and we can head back over to OBS Studio. 

Adding Your Playlist to OBS Studio

Once you're back in OBS, make sure that you're on the 'Music' scene and then press the '+' (plus sign) icon under 'Sources'. 

You'll select 'Media Source'. We can name this "Stream Playlist 2025" and then press 'Ok'. Select 'Browse' and find the file that you just downloaded from Audacity. 

You're going to want to select 'Loop' so that if you reach the end of the playlist, it will start over and won't leave your stream without any background music. If you have 3 to 4 hours of music and you're only going to stream for an hour, then you're fine. However, if you have a shorter amount of music, then you need to turn this on. 

With this done, press 'Ok', and now you've added your playlist to OBS Studio. 

Adjusting the Volume 

What you need to do now is adjust the volume of the playlist under the 'Audio Mixer'. 

There's a general rule of thumb for how loud your music should be compared to your voice and the game that you're playing. Typically, I'll keep this around -35, or sometimes even -40 as I don't want the music to overpower my voice. 

Adding the Playlist to Other Scenes

With the playlist added, and the volume adjusted, it's time to add the playlist to all of your other scenes. This way, the music won't stop playing when you switch scenes. 

To do this, go to scenes and select 'Starting Soon'. Then, go to 'Sources', press the plus sign icon, select 'Scene', and find the one that says "Music". Once you press 'Ok', the music will be added to your 'Starting Soon' scene. 

You'll do the same thing with the rest of the scenes that you want to add music to, like the 'Countdown Timer'. Once you're done adding the music to your scenes, when you flip between them, the music will keep going. 

Just like that, you now have background music playing on your stream without needing multiple tabs open, taking up resources on your computer. It takes a little bit of time, but now you have this set up. 

If you want your stream to look professional, with overlays and graphics, for not just horizontal videos, but vertical as well, check out this video here. In it, I'll walk you step-by-step through how to add all of your alerts, overlays, and scenes needed to make your stream look professional.