One of the hardest things to find when it comes to video or
audio podcasts is free music. It’s almost the holy grail for regular
podcasters who don’t want to repeat the same tunes and background music
again and again.
Most audio available online is currently copyright protected,
and most of the rest is illegal. But it is possible to find and gain
access to music that is free to download and distribute. This article
is designed to help you with that goal.
Creative Commons
Nowadays the increased popularity of alternative distribution
licenses such as Creative
Commons
has made possible for musicians to publish their music online and share
it with others while guaranteeing some fundamental rights for
themselves.
This phenomenon promoted the birth of several online music
directories, whose aim is to collect music which has been voluntarily
contributed by independent artists.
The songs available in such
directories are freely downloadable and users can, for example, utilize
them to produce video clips and more complex audio files (in general for
non commercial use).
As you probably know, Creative
Commons
licenses can be of many types but their main objective is to guarantee
that the artist is rewarded and credited anytime her creation is used
by someone else.
In this mini-guide I collected for you some of the most
interesting
online music directories that allow you to download and utilize audio
content for free.
Please remember that this mini-guide does not pretend to be a
fully
comprehensive list of all the online music directories available
online; you are welcome to suggest additional services by using the
comments section that you will find at the bottom of this article.
Here some of the best services I have been able to find and review:
A Mini Guide To Resources
PodSafe Audio
PodSafe Audio is a location where you can find free music. The
artists on this site have released their music under the Creative
Commons license and agreed to allow their music to be used by you in
any way and form for webcasting, as long as you don’t take credit for
the original work.
Link: http://www.podsafeaudio.com/
Jamendo
On Jamendo, artists allow everyone to legally download and
share
their music for free. If you like some artists you can freely decide to
pay them directly or just spread the word about them.
Users can choose
among different categories and genres and there’s no limit to
the
number of songs they can download.
Link: http://www.jamendo.com/en/
Opsound
Opsound is a community of musicians who decided to make their
music
available for free.
Musicians and sound artists are invited to add
their work to the Opsound pool using a copyleft license developed by
Creative Commons. Listeners are invited to download, share, remix, and
redistribute it.
Link: http://opsound.org/
ccMixter
ccMixter, launched by Creative Commons, is a community music
site
featuring remixes licensed under Creative Commons, where you can listen
to, sample, mash-up, or interact with music in whatever way you
want.
If you’re into music, browse this site to hear some of the
remixes
people have built from sampling music..
Link: http://ccmixter.org/
SectionZ
SectionZ is an electronic music community that offers Creative
Commons-licensed tracks from genres like IDM, drum ‘n’ bass, and
ambient. Users can browse the huge repository of free music available
for free download and use it for their needs.
Link: http://www.sectionz.com/
DMusic
As one of the oldest online digital music communities, DMusic
offers Creative
Commons licenses
for artists hosting their music. Users are free to download their
favorite songs and use them according to the terms of the above
mentioned licenses.
Link: http://www.dmusic.com/
Garageband
Garageband is a site that showcases music produced by
independent
artists who are looking forward to increasing their popularity.
Registered users can download music for free and use it for non
commercial projects; again, giving credits is the best solution to
avoid legal issues.
Link: http://garageband.com/
SoundClick
SoundClick is a music website that features both signed and
unsigned
bands, offering unlimited storage band’s music. Music is available
under a Creative Commons license which regulates distribution.
Carefully read each license before downloading your favorite
songs,
because the same artists might have applied different licenses to each
one of their songs.
Link: http://www.soundclick.com/
Epitonic
Epitonic combines the best features of a college radio station
and
an independent music magazine, offering an array of features, reviews
and profiles alongside freely downloadable music and streaming audio
tracks.
You can use this music for your own projects but you cannot
distribute it for commercial purposes
Link: http://www.epitonic.com/
Salon Audiofile
The popular online magazine Salon features a section which is
entirely dedicated to free music. Everyday the editors at Salon pick a
new song and make it available for download.
The database is impressive
and each song is accompanied by a short review and info about the
musician. Audio files are available in mp3 format.
Link: http://www.salon.com/ent/audiofile/index.html
Dance
Industries
Dance-Industries is one of the many online music copyleft
communities produced by 3x-Industries, a commercial copyleft digital
distribution network of non author right ruled, contemporary copyleft
music. You can legally download your favorite mp3 files for free.
Link: http://www.dance-industries.com
Magnatune
Magnatune makes non-exclusive agreements with artists, and
gives
them fifty percent of any proceeds from online sales or licensing. All
of the tracks downloaded free of charge are licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.
Link: http://magnatune.com/
Online Free Music Directories: Comparison Chart
Originally written by Livia
Iacolare for Master
New Media
and published with the title: “Where
To Find Free Music For Your Videos And Podcasts: A Mini-Guide” on
July 22nd 2007. Some
Rights Reserved
