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Orchestral Christmas Music for Videos and Holiday Ads
Strings, harp, brass and sleigh bells instead of a synth loop: these are the best-known Christmas carols as orchestral arrangements, several of them with solo violin by Paul Lorenz, for holiday adverts, Christmas films, corporate greetings and social content. The carol itself is public domain; the recording is what needs a licence, and here it costs €29.90 once per track, worldwide and with no expiry, with an instant WAV download and a licence certificate.
Curated by Paul Lorenz — composer, arranger & conductor · his Violin Concerto No. 2 recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios · Vienna State Opera
500M+ streams · Gold & Double Platinum · Instant download · Lifetime worldwide license
Orchestral Christmas Music for Videos and Holiday Ads: hand-picked & sync-ready
Listen, then license: €29.90 per track, one-time · worldwide, for life · instant WAV download
Is Christmas music copyright free — and do you actually need it to be?
The phrase covers two completely different situations with different answers. What matters is not whether music is “free”, but what you are using it for. Here is honestly what we cover — and what we do not.
| Your use | What actually applies |
|---|---|
| YouTube video, Reel, TikTok, social postHoliday clip, year-in-review, greeting videoCovered | Fully covered. Sync and master rights come directly from Artyfile — no additional collection-society fee on your licence. Our catalog is registered in YouTube Content ID with a monetize policy: a Content ID claim may appear, but your video is subject to YouTube Content ID rules. |
| Commercial, brand film, client videoHoliday campaign, agency productionCovered | Fully covered — worldwide and permanent, with no regional tiers and no renewals. Your licence includes a certificate as documented proof of rights for clients, broadcasters and E&O review. |
| Online shop, website, newsletter videoHoliday promotion, product videoCovered | Fully covered. €29.90 once per track, no subscription, no re-licensing next December. |
| Film, series, broadcastChristmas episode, TV airingCovered | You buy the synchronisation rights a production needs — worldwide and unlimited in time. The broadcaster settles its own performance royalties under its blanket agreement, exactly as with any music. |
| Christmas market, shop, restaurantMusic played publicly to an audienceNot our case | Honestly, we are not the right product here. Public performance is — for ANY music — a separate matter between the operator and the local collection society (GEMA in Germany, PRS, ASCAP/BMI elsewhere). Artyfile music is in the GEMA repertoire, like the work of every professional composer. If your only goal is to avoid registering a public performance, you need a provider with expressly society-free repertoire, not us. |
| Live event, company party, church servicePerformance to an audienceNot our case | Same answer: the organiser reports the performance as usual. Our licence covers use in recordings and video, not public performance. |
| Video OF the event, posted afterwardsChristmas market aftermovieCovered | That is case 1 again, and fully covered: the moment it is a video, your sync licence applies. Only the music played live on site remains the organiser’s matter. |
The real question is not “is it free?” but “am I allowed to use this recording in my video?”
For video, advertising, social and film the Artyfile answer is yes — €29.90 once, worldwide, for life, with a certificate. Because we administer sync and master rights ourselves, no additional collection-society fee lands on your licence.
Which orchestral Christmas track for which video?
- Retail and brand Christmas adverts: bright, bell-led and instantly festive. Jingle Bells (full orchestra, sleigh bells, 168 BPM), Deck the Halls, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Hark the Herald Angels Sing.
- Corporate holiday greetings and thank-you videos: warm, unhurried, room for a voice-over. The First Noel, Silent Night with solo violin, Leise rieselt der Schnee, Es ist ein Ros entsprungen.
- Christmas films, family stories and charity appeals: emotional, with a solo line. Alle Jahre wieder, O Tannenbaum, Ihr Kinderlein kommet.
- Openers, social clips and Advent calendars: short and lively. Kling Glöckchen, Good King Wenceslas, Lasst uns froh und munter sein.
- Classical works for the season: Handel: Hallelujah from Messiah, Ave Maria, Mozart: Ave verum corpus.
Choirs, brass bands and the alpine carols are on Christmas music for video and Alpine Advent.
Is classical Christmas music public domain?
The music usually is, the recording never is. Silent Night (Franz Xaver Gruber, 1818), Jingle Bells (James Lord Pierpont, 1857), Hark the Herald Angels Sing (melody by Felix Mendelssohn), Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, Handel's Messiah and Bach's Christmas Oratorio are all free to use as compositions. Every recording of them is protected separately: in the EU and the UK the performers and the producer hold rights for 70 years from release. The famous Nutcracker or Messiah recording you know belongs to an orchestra and a label, and needs their licence.
Two traps catch Christmas campaigns every year:
- Modern Christmas classics are not public domain. Sleigh Ride (Leroy Anderson, 1948), White Christmas (1942), Let It Snow (1945) or a film score like Home Alone are protected compositions; using them in an advert means licensing the song from its publisher and a recording from its label.
- "Free Christmas music" downloads often allow personal use only, or carry a Content ID claim you cannot clear for a client.
Why orchestral, and why now?
A Christmas advert competes with every other Christmas advert in the same six weeks, and most of them use the same synth-and-bells stock loop. An orchestral arrangement sounds like a film from the first bar. Campaigns usually lock their music in October and November, so the licence is worth settling before the edit: one licence covers the TV spot, the social cut-downs and next December's re-run, with no renewal.
What does a licence for orchestral Christmas music cost?
€29.90 once per track (Basic licence): adverts, online video, social media, film and TV, websites and presentations, worldwide and without an expiry date, client work included, with no additional collection-society fee on the licence. Playing music in a shop, at a Christmas market or at a company party is a public performance, which the venue or organiser settles with its collecting society, as with any music. On YouTube a Content ID claim may appear on a monetised video; it is not a copyright strike, and your licence certificate proves the licence.
Which Christmas songs are public domain — and what does that mean for your video?
Short answer: almost every classic carol is public domain as a composition. That still does not let you use just any recording of it. This table shows, for every carol we have actually recorded, how old the composition is, who wrote it — and who performed it for us.
| Carol | Written by | Public domain since | The Artyfile recording |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silent Night | Franz Xaver Gruber / Joseph Mohr | 1818 | Tuxer Kirchenchor (Tyrolean church choir) |
| The First Noel | traditional English | trad., pub. 1823 | Artyfile orchestral |
| Deck the Halls | traditional Welsh | trad., pub. 1862 | Artyfile orchestral |
| Good King Wenceslas | John Mason Neale | 1853 | Artyfile orchestral |
| We Wish You a Merry Christmas | traditional English | trad., 16th c. | Artyfile orchestral |
| Jingle Bells | James Lord Pierpont | 1857 | Paul Lorenz (also a jazz version) |
| O Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum) | Ernst Anschütz | 1824 | Paul Lorenz |
| Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming | trad., setting by Michael Praetorius | 1599 | Paul Lorenz |
| O How Joyfully (O du fröhliche) | Johannes Daniel Falk | 1816 | Bläserkreis Hippach (Tyrolean brass) |
| Vivaldi — Winter (The Four Seasons) | Antonio Vivaldi | 1725 | Artyfile Orchestra |
The composition is free.
For every work above, the composer and lyricist died well over 70 years ago (and each was published long before 1930). The composition itself is public domain — you may re-arrange it, record it yourself, and use it freely.
The recording never is.
Every individual performance is its own protected work — that is equally true of a YouTube rip, a Spotify track, a free download and ours. This is where nearly every Christmas Content ID claim comes from: the song was free, the recording was not. At Artyfile you licence the recording — €29.90 once, worldwide, for life, with a licence certificate as documented proof.
One honest exception: “Advent ist ein Leuchten” (Lorenz Maierhofer) is a modern composition and expressly NOT public domain — which is why it is not in this table.
Why Artyfile
An orchestra, not synth bells
Strings, harp, brass and bells: Christmas carols as orchestral arrangements, plus solo violin by Paul Lorenz. Never AI, never a synth library.
The carol is free, the recording is not
Silent Night, Jingle Bells and Hark the Herald are public domain as compositions; every recording of them stays protected. That recording is what you licence here, with a certificate as proof.
€29.90 once, yours for good
Worldwide sync and master licence, for life. No additional collection-society fee on your licence, no subscription, no re-licensing next December.
Instant download
Studio-grade 44.1 kHz WAV plus a licence certificate, the moment you buy.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I get orchestral Christmas music for a video?
On this page: carols such as Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls, Silent Night, The First Noel and Hark the Herald Angels Sing as orchestral arrangements, several with solo violin by Paul Lorenz. Each track is licensed once for €29.90, worldwide and with no expiry, with a WAV download and a licence certificate.
Is classical Christmas music copyright free?
The compositions mostly are: Silent Night, Jingle Bells, the Nutcracker, Messiah and Bach's Christmas Oratorio are public domain. Recordings are not; in the EU and UK each recording is protected for 70 years from release. You need a licence for the recording you use.
Can I use the Nutcracker or Handel's Messiah in a Christmas advert?
Yes, if you licence a recording. Tchaikovsky and Handel are public domain, but every recording belongs to its orchestra and label. Artyfile offers Handel's Hallelujah and orchestral carol arrangements for €29.90 once, adverts included.
Are Sleigh Ride or White Christmas public domain?
No. Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride (1948) and Irving Berlin's White Christmas (1942) are protected compositions. An advert needs a licence from the publisher for the song and from the label for the recording.
Does the licence cover next Christmas too?
Yes. The Basic licence is perpetual: the same track can run in this year's campaign and in every re-run, worldwide, without renewal fees.
Can I play this music in my shop or at an event?
That is a public performance and not part of a sync licence. As with any music, the shop, venue or organiser settles it with its collecting society (in Germany the GEMA). The Artyfile licence covers using the music in your video and advert.
Will a Christmas track get a Content ID claim?
It can. Artyfile registers its catalogue with YouTube Content ID, so a claim may appear on a monetised video. It is not a copyright strike, and your licence certificate proves the licence.