I license all the music on my home page under the creative commons music license as an MP3 download library. I want to share the music and this makes it legal for podsafe royalty free use on YouTube, in games and other multimedia. I have also come across some incredible sources of free open source music. I’ve started this directory of resources to highlight my favorites.
Just remember that the composers still own the copyright to their media. They are only licensing the music to the public using the contract provided by the creative commons organization so they don’t have to create their own. The creative commons project is just one kind of open source “copyleft” license - there is also the GPL, GNU, BSD licenses (also used for free software). This is very different from Public Domain music where their is no actual owner of the copyright.
There are different types of creative commons licenses - some allow commercial use for your business (like mine) but others are noncommercial. You need to make sure you read carefully to avoid any problems. The “sharealike” feature of some of the licenses require that any work you create also be licensed under the creative commons.
Incompetech.com
A large library of legal and free royalty free music that you can search for and browse very easily. Kevin MacLeod has an FAQ section on his site that explains the attribution licensing. Also includes a very inexpensive “on hold” option for corporate use.
http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/
Josh Woodward - Free Creative Commons Music
A huge assortment of impeccably organized songs, one of the best singer songwriters with free music online.
http://www.joshwoodward.com/music
Jamendo.com
Listen and download songs from hundred of artists and publish your music too. Also get background and instrumental stock music for commercial use through their PRO program.
Magnatune
A revolutionary record company that provides a non commercial licensing option for the releases put out by their recording artists.
Creative Common Music Content Directory
The definitive listing of music in the creative commons. Features all kinds of ambient, classical, jazz, rock and electronic artists.
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Category:Content_Directory
CCMixter
This site focuses on samples that you can use music mixer software to mashup and mix online for free. Producers looking for copyright cleared loops will love this site.
Internet Archive Open Source Audio
Artists have to choose a creative commons license to upload to this section. You can download all the tracks here in a variety of audio file formats.
http://www.archive.org/details/opensource_audio
Creative Commons Search
Search all the creative commons content curators for stock music, sound effects and audio. There are tons of great places to find loops and samples in this search engine too.
http://search.creativecommons.org
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Content_Curators
Sign up for my free music by email service for updates to this list.
Peace and enjoy!
Dan-O
