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    6 apps if you cannot clear a hit

    Epidemic Sound, Artlist, Uppbeat, Versely, Suno, and Soundraw replace a chart song you cannot license. Use a catalog or a prompt. Do not clone the hit.

    Versely Team••8 min read

    You wanted the chart song. You cannot clear it. Sync quotes, label delays, a "no ads" refusal, or a budget that is not a master-and-sync fee. Six apps will give you a replacement. They will not give you the hit. Epidemic Sound is a human catalog built for video. Artlist is the other catalog. Uppbeat is a cheaper catalog with a YouTube safelist. Versely is a credit-pool generate in a new direction, not a soundalike. Suno is a vendor generate with a download cap. Soundraw is a beat you time to the cut. This page is that list. It is not a piracy guide. It is not "AI covers of Billboard 2026."

    Do not prompt the song title. Do not prompt the artist. Do not time-stretch a ripped MP3. If the brief is still "it has to be that record," you need a sync license, not an app.

    What "cannot clear a hit" actually means

    The job is a replacement cue that will not get claimed, muted, or sued.

    Hits fail for boring reasons:

    • The master and the composition are different licenses
    • Ads are a different quote from organic
    • The artist opted out
    • The quote arrived after the launch date
    • You never had the budget

    UGC talent humming two bars on camera is still the hit if the recording is recognizable. UGC does not get a free pass because it is handheld.

    Replacement is not imitation. A generate "in the style of [hit]" is how you buy a problem. Prompt tempo, key, instrumentation, and mood: 100 BPM, four-on-the-floor, bright piano, hopeful, no vocals. Leave the famous title out of the box. ElevenLabs will block downloads that reference other artists' songs. Other vendors may still let you generate something you should not ship.

    Catalogs win when you need a claim desk. Generates win when the catalog sounds like every other Shop ad. Neither is the chart.

    The six apps

    1. Epidemic Sound. Start here if the replacement should be a finished, human track with a license that names the surface. Pricing-and-plans (read 20 September 2026, yearly) lists Creator at $9.99 a month billed $119.88 yearly, and Pro at $16.99 a month billed $203.88 yearly. Creator covers social, podcasts, web, one monetized channel per platform, unlimited music and SFX, and does not cover digital ads. Pro covers digital ads, client sublicensing, three channels. Organic Reel that cannot use the hit: Creator can be enough. Paid flight that cannot use the hit: Pro. Search mood and BPM, not the Billboard title. Epidemic's plan pages quote 55,000-plus tracks. You will not find the hit in there. That is the point. Safelist the channel before you publish so Content ID has somewhere to look besides the chart.

    2. Artlist. Open Artlist when the edit already pulls Artlist footage, or when the replacement should sit on a Pro stock license. Artlist's pricing explainer lists Music & SFX Social at $9.99 a month billed annually ($14.99 monthly), one channel, and Music & SFX Pro at $24.92 a month billed annually, client work and paid ads. Pro is annual-only per Artlist help. The AI pricing page (read 20 September 2026) lists AI Core at $23.99 a month billed annually with up to 266 AI songs, and AI Creator at $41.67 with up to 533. A generate bucket is a second way to avoid the hit. It is not a way to clone the hit. If legal wants a stock license they already understand, stay on Music & SFX Pro. If the catalog is exhausted, the AI song counter is a different product. Do not mix the two in the same sentence in a client deck.

    3. Uppbeat. Open Uppbeat when the replacement is YouTube-first and Epidemic's ads seat is more money than the clip. Uppbeat pricing (read 20 September 2026, yearly) lists Essentials at $6.99 a month (20 percent off yearly), unlimited music and SFX, one YouTube safelist. Creator $8.99 a month (30 percent off), three safelists, stock video to 1080p. Pro $14.99 a month (40 percent off), client projects, commercial digital use, ten safelists, WAV. Business $34.99 a month excluding tax, yearly only. Free: 3 downloads on your own channels. Cannot clear a hit on a personal YouTube: Essentials. Cannot clear a hit in a client ad: Pro. Uppbeat says assets are human-made and rights-cleared. Search energy and genre. Customize duration so you are not replacing a 3-minute single with another 3-minute single. You needed 20 seconds.

    4. Versely. Versely sits here because the cut is often already on this bill, and the missing piece is a new cue, not a ripped file. Signed-in studio Suno V6, V6 Mini, V6 Wild: 3 credits a generation, two takes, launch discount. Prompt mood, BPM, instruments, instrumental. Do not paste the hit's lyrics. Do not name the artist. Open the AI music generator. Mix with add music to video. Catalog Sounds V6 / Mini / Wild are 2 credits in models.json (20 September 2026), unpublished as /models. Do not link /models/suno-sounds-v6. A published loop card is Suno Sounds V5.5 at 2 credits. Use Sounds when the replacement is texture, not a song-shaped cue. Credits are not USD. Versely will not clear the hit. It will not impersonate the hit. It will generate a different file you can actually ship. If the client still insists on the record, stop generating and send them to a music supervisor.

    5. Suno. Open Suno when you want the generate off suno.com, with commercial terms on a paid plan. Suno pricing (read 20 September 2026, yearly) lists Free at $0, 50 credits a day, no monthly downloads, no commercial rights. Pro $8 a month billed yearly (saves $24, $10 month to month), 2,500 credits, 20 downloads, commercial use, v6 and v6-wild. Premier $24 a month billed yearly (saves $72), 10,000 credits, 60 downloads, Studio. Free is not a replacement you can run in an ad. Twenty Pro downloads is the month you get to try replacements. Listen in the app. Download the one that is not a cousin of the hit. Suno's v6 post (9 September 2026) describes a family built with Warner, BMG, and Believe. That is Suno's training story. It is not a license to emit the Warner catalog as your bed. Credits do not roll. Downloads do not roll.

    6. Soundraw. Open Soundraw when the replacement should be a timed beat with sliders, and you want their in-house-training story rather than a scraped one. Soundraw (read 20 September 2026, annual) lists Creator at $11.04 a month ($16.99 monthly), unlimited MP3, commercial background use. Artist Starter $19.49 ($29.99 monthly), 10 downloads. Artist Pro $23.39 ($35.99 monthly), 20 downloads, WAV and stems. Artist Unlimited $32.50 ($50 monthly), unlimited WAV and stems. Creator is the video replacement seat. Set length to the cut so you are not fading a clone of a 3-minute radio edit. Genre-blend if you need it to not sound like the catalog loop everyone else downloaded. Do not pick "the genre of the hit" and the same BPM and the same hook contour and call it original. Change the furniture.

    How to pick without cloning the chart

    Write "replacement" on the brief. If someone wrote the song title, delete it.

    • Paid surface, human catalog, claim desk: Epidemic Pro or Artlist Music & SFX Pro.
    • YouTube organic, cheaper catalog: Uppbeat Essentials or Creator.
    • New cue on the Versely bill: 3-credit V6 family, instrumental, no artist names.
    • New cue off suno.com: Suno Pro, spend the 20 downloads on real candidates.
    • Timed beat, MP3, in-house training pitch: Soundraw Creator.

    Two apps is a replacement stack. Epidemic Pro plus the editor. Or Versely plus the editor. Six apps is how "we could not clear the song" becomes six invoices and still no hit.

    If the brand will only accept that recording, budget a sync. Apps do not mint a master license.

    After you picked a replacement

    Play it for someone who knows the hit. If they name the hit, generate again or pick another catalog track. Similarity is the risk.

    Caption the offer. The hit had lyrics everyone knew. Your replacement does not. Mute viewers need type. Burned-in captions are the substitute for a famous chorus.

    Keep the license PDF next to the cut. "We used Epidemic Pro, downloaded 20 September 2026" is a sentence. "It is royalty-free" is not.

    When the cut is locked and the replacement is a generate, sign up and prompt the mood, not the title. When the replacement is a catalog, stay on Epidemic, Artlist, or Uppbeat. The list is six apps. None of them is the hit.

    FAQ

    Can I generate a soundalike and swap two notes?

    No. That is still a problem if it is recognizable. Prompt a different arrangement. Or buy the sync. Swapping two notes is not a legal strategy.

    Why not put Suno first?

    Because the first honest replacement is usually a catalog with a claim desk. Generates are what you do when the catalog is wrong, not when you still want the hit. Versely sits in the middle as the credit-pool generate. Suno is the vendor site if you wanted that login.

    Will Epidemic Creator cover a paid ad that used to use a hit?

    No. Creator does not cover digital ads. The paid flight that lost the hit needs Pro (or Business / Enterprise). Replacing the song does not upgrade the plan.