Use case

Background Music API

Teams that need unobtrusive instrumental beds generated to match a scene, page, or product moment rather than picked from a library.

The problem

Background music has to sit under something else: a voiceover, a UI, a video. A library track rarely fits the exact mood or length, so editors spend time hunting and trimming. You need a bed that matches the brief and does not fight the foreground.

Why MusicAPI fits this

Instrumental output via make_instrumental, so the bed never competes with a voiceover or dialogue.

Mood and genre are steered with the tags field, so you can request calm, neutral, or energetic beds per context.

Generated per request, so a bed can be tailored to a specific scene instead of forced from a fixed catalog.

Code sample

A real request against the live API: start a job, then poll the task endpoint until the audio is ready.

curl

# Generate a calm instrumental background bed
# 1. Start a generation job
curl -X POST https://api.musicapi.ai/api/v1/sonic/create \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MUSICAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "custom_mode": true,
    "mv": "sonic-v5",
    "prompt": "A gentle, low-key instrumental bed to sit under a voiceover",
    "tags": "ambient, soft, unobtrusive, no drums",
    "title": "Under The Voice",
    "make_instrumental": true
  }'

# Response: { "message": "success", "task_id": "a1b2c3d4-..." }

# 2. Poll until the audio is ready (state: "succeeded")
curl https://api.musicapi.ai/api/v1/sonic/task/a1b2c3d4-... \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MUSICAPI_KEY"

# Response data[].audio_url is a ready-to-stream MP3 once state is "succeeded".

Pricing

MusicAPI is pay-as-you-go with credit packs, plus predictable monthly subscriptions. The per-credit rate is the same across packs and subscriptions. See the pricing page for current rates, free credits, and volume options.

FAQ

How do I keep the bed from overpowering speech?

Set make_instrumental to true and steer tags toward soft, ambient, low-key styles. Generating instrumental-only audio keeps the bed clear of vocals so a voiceover stays intelligible.

Can I match the bed to a specific mood?

Yes. The tags field controls genre and mood. Requesting something like calm, warm, minimal produces a different bed than energetic, driving, bright from the same pipeline.

Can I get longer beds for full scenes?

Generate a base track, then use the extend endpoint to lengthen it for longer scenes. The poll endpoint returns the finished audio_url for each step.

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API details verified 2026-05-16. The API surface evolves; the pricing page always has current rates.