Custom vs Stock Music in SaaS: What the Data Shows

Music is present across almost every SaaS brand touchpoint. You’ll hear it in product videos, advertising campaigns, and onboarding flows. In most cases, it’s added as part of production after the visuals.

But across the sector, that approach is starting to split in two. In our analysis of the top 25 SaaS companies, up to 48% use custom or customised music in at least one brand asset, while the remainder rely on stock or licensed tracks sourced from commercial libraries.

The split is close, and it reflects two different approaches to how sound is being used in the software industry.

There’s a Clear Split Emerging Across SaaS

The divide becomes clearer when you look at how music is applied across touchpoints. In some cases, the same tonal direction is used throughout assets. Tracks feel related, even when they differ in length or arrangement. There’s a sense that decisions are being made with reference to something consistent – something documented.

Elsewhere, assets stand on their own. A campaign might use one track; a product video might use another. While the audio might work for both assets in isolation, there’s no thread connecting them. Someone experiencing both assets one after another is less likely to recall the brand afterwards.

When developing product or marketing assets, audio is usually chosen at the point of production. The brief is agreed, development begins, edits are made, and a track is chosen to complete the asset. Indeed, this is how most SaaS companies currently operate.

However, a smaller group of companies has started to approach things differently. Music is still used to support individual assets, but it’s tied to a larger strategy.

What “Custom” and “Stock” Mean in Audio

While definitions differ slightly in sonic branding, in our analysis, stock music refers to tracks sourced from commercial libraries. They’re selected to fit a brief, then applied to an asset. The same track may appear across multiple brands.

Custom music is defined by evidence of tailoring. So, that might include a recognisable motif, a structure that aligns with the brand, or cues that relate to product interaction. In some cases, the track has been commissioned. In others, it has been adapted or built from existing material.

The difference is in how closely the sound relates back to the brand. Of course, without access to licensing details, it isn’t always possible to confirm how a track was produced, so the classification relies on what can be observed in the audio itself.

Why Stock Music is Still the Default (For Now)

Stock music fits the way most SaaS content is produced. Music is chosen to complete the asset, and library tracks offer a fast way to get there.

The range can be extensive (exhaustive, almost) with various styles, moods, tempos, and genres to choose from. It’s possible to find something that aligns loosely with the brief in a matter of minutes.

In SaaS, content is often produced across multiple functions, sometimes in parallel. A shared library removes friction. A track can be chosen, licensed, and dropped into the edit without needing further development.

In that context, stock music becomes a practical choice because it supports delivery without much investment.

Where Stock Music Falls Short

Across the assets we analysed, similar musical choices appear again and again. Mid-tempo electronic tracks, light percussion, and clean synth textures dominate.

The tone falls within a familiar range too – focused, optimistic, and forward-looking. Of course, these are sensible decisions because they align with how SaaS companies present themselves. However, nothing points back to the brand. Nothing carries through from one interaction to the next.

This limits how music can evolve. While a stock track might serve its role, it doesn’t extend any further. It can’t be adapted into shorter cues, reworked for product interactions, or developed into something recognisable over time.

The Long-Term Advantage of Custom Music

In short, custom music can be ‘owned’ by a brand. And it can be reused. A track written for a product video can be edited into shorter versions for social content. Sections can be cut for intros, outros, or transitions. The same material can be rearranged to suit different formats without needing to source something new each time.

Parts of the track can also be repurposed. For example, a short melodic phrase can be lifted and used as a notification cue. A sound from the original composition can be used in a product interaction.

This approach gives a brand a fixed point of reference. Each new asset draws from something that already exists, which reduces variability over time. Indeed, research from Kantar reflects this effect at scale. Brands that invest in sonic branding report 76% higher brand power and 138% stronger perceptions of advertising effectiveness.

So, instead of choosing a new stock track for each piece of content, custom music works within a defined set of sounds. The output becomes more consistent without adding complexity.

It also allows for extension. New tracks can be developed from the same material and variations can be created without changing direction. The sound evolves, but it remains recognisable.

A Structured Approach to Custom Music

TaskPop was developed as part of our internal benchmarking programme to explore how a defined sonic approach could extend across a SaaS product.

The starting point was a custom brand theme. A loopable track was created to support onboarding and product visuals, built around a consistent tonal palette and a clear melodic direction. That track established the core sound of the platform.

From there, specific elements were extracted and adapted. A short ascending phrase from the theme was refined into a sonic logo. Individual sounds were repurposed into UX cues, covering task completion, notifications, and error states. Each cue was designed to sit within the same tonal framework as the original composition.

The entire system developed from a single piece of music. Rather than selecting separate sounds for each interaction, the platform draws from a shared set of audio decisions. The theme, logo, and interface cues remain connected, even as their function changes.

Ownership vs Convenience

Research from Ipsos shows that ads containing sonic branding are 8.53 times more effective than those using visual assets alone.

As such, the difference between stock and custom music becomes more visible over time. A stock track is typically chosen for a single asset, then replaced when the next piece of content is produced. Custom music enables the same sonic decisions to be repeated.

A user might hear the same tonal qualities in a video, then again in a product interaction, then again in a separate campaign. The format changes, but the underlying audio decisions stay consistent. And that consistency affects how sound is processed.

Why Sonic Branding Is Becoming More Visible in SaaS

SaaS companies are producing more content than ever before in the form of product updates, feature launches, webinars, and campaigns. Each one introduces another point of contact with the brand, and audio occupies a clear place within many of these interactions – even when it isn’t the focus.

As that volume increases, the differences between approaches becomes more obvious. One set of assets feels consistent while another feels fragmented.

Interfaces across SaaS platforms are starting to look more alike. Dashboards follow similar structures, design systems draw from the same conventions, and features increasingly overlap.

Visual identity still plays a role, but it operates within a narrower range. Sound, however, isn’t constrained in the same way. It appears in those moments where visual elements recede. And as more of those moments accumulate, the way a brand sounds starts to become more important.

The Case for Custom Music in SaaS

Music is already embedded across SaaS products and marketing. It appears in videos, interfaces, onboarding flows, and interaction design. The question is how that sound is defined.

Stock music doesn’t provide a foundation to build from. Each track is selected to complete a specific asset, then replaced when the next piece of content is produced. The decisions reset every time.

Custom music introduces continuity. A track can be reused, adapted, and extended across different contexts. The same tonal direction can appear in product, content, and interaction. When elements repeat, the overall sound becomes familiar. And over time, that familiarity turns into recognition.

As SaaS products become more aligned in how they look and behave, sound carries more of that distinction. A defined sonic approach gives the brand something that can persist across touchpoints, rather than changing with each asset.

If you’d like to explore this further, our report The State of Sonic Branding in SaaS breaks down how leading software companies are currently using sound, where gaps exist, and what this suggests for the future of sonic branding.