Is money earned from permissible video clips which include background music regarded as haram?

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

It is not permissible to use music in clips that have permissible content. This has been explained previously in the answer to question no. 5000 .

Secondly:

The Muslim must, in all his actions, keep away from what Allah has forbidden. The presence of music in clips takes away the blessing from his work. The Shaytan may plant in a person’s mind the idea that not having these musical effects will undermine the work, but this is the misguidance of the Shaytan, because the opposite is the case. Whoever gives up something for the sake of Allah, Allah will compensate him with something better than it, and

{ Whoever fears Allah, He will grant him a way out [from difficulty],

and will provide for him from where he does not expect } [al-Talaq 65:2-3].

So he must give it up and replace it with permissible sound effects.

Putting these musical sounds in the background of permissible material incurs sin for the one who does that, for including it in the first place, and secondly because those who watch these clips will hear it, during his lifetime and after his death [thus incurring more sin].

It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever calls others to guidance will have a reward like that of those who follow it, without that detracting from their reward in the slightest. And whoever calls others to misguidance will have a burden of sin like that of those who follow it, without it detracting from their burden in the slightest.”

Al-Nawawi said: Whoever calls others to guidance will have a reward like that of those who follow it, and whoever calls others to misguidance will have a burden of sin like that of those who follow it, whether he is the one who started that guidance or misguidance, or someone else did it before him, and whether that involves teaching knowledge, acts of worship, etiquette or anything else.

The Prophet’s words “and others do it after him” mean: if he sets the precedent, whether the other person’s following it happens during his lifetime or after his death. And Allah knows best."(Sharh Muslim  16/227).

He will also be causing his Muslim brothers to incur sin, as is mentioned in the hadith about seeking refuge with Allah from causing harm to a fellow Muslim. It was narrated that ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar said: Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) said: O Messenger of Allah, teach me something I may say every morning and every evening. He said: “O Abu Bakr, say: ‘Allahumma fatir as-samawati wa’l-ard, ‘alim al-ghaybi wa’sh-shahadah, la ilaha illa anta, rabba kulli shay’in wa malikahu, a‘udhu bika min sharri nafsi wa min sharr ish-shaytani wa shirkihi wa an aqtarifa ‘ala nafsi su’an aw ajurrahu ila Muslim (O Allah, Creator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of the unseen and the seen, there is no god worthy of worship except You, Lord and Sovereign of all things. I seek refuge with You from the evil of my own self and from the evil of the Shaytan and his shirk, and lest I bring any harm upon myself or cause harm to any Muslim).’” Al-Tirmidhi (3529); classed as sahih by al-Albani.

What is meant by bringing harm upon a Muslim is being a cause of his falling into sin.

Thirdly:

The money that a person earns from these clips on YouTube is not in return for the content; rather it is in return for the ads or number of views.

The ruling on earning money from ads has been discussed previously in the answer to question no. 374172 .

In the case of making paid content for subscribers, the payment is in return for the material that is presented, and is not in return for the music that is a secondary matter. With regard to the money that he earns, it is halal, but there remains the sin of putting music in the clips, as noted above. There is no connection between them, because the contract is not for the musical sounds; rather it is for the content.

And Allah knows best.