freemusicarchive.org
This is the #1 place to go for music that you are actually free and encouraged to use!
It is very very deep, with lots of genres to choose from. For example: Hip-Hop, Electronic, Instrumental, International, etc. Like all archives of its sort it is subject to some annoying users who tag their songs with every category so they show up on all searches. As such, it is helpful to begin with the curated lists of music.
I recommend starting with this collection as the name speaks for itself!
- MUSIC FOR VIDEO
The Music for Video portal seeks to fill a void in music for online media projects by featuring artists who wish to participate in the open sharing of their works under the Creative Commons licensing framework. We regularly feature Creative Commons music mixes curated with the producer in mind, as well as resources for education about Legal Music for Video and Best Practices in Online Video.
This curator has mixes that range from “Music for Video: Horror Soundtrack Music for Producers” to Music for Video: Back to School to Music for Video: Shades of Drone
Here’s an example: Shooting Stars
“Cool and crisp digital sounds that twinkle and sustain. A collection of songs for space travel and stargazing. Perfect for sci-fi projects, video games and jet pack instructional videos.”
About Creative Commons
Legal Music For Videos
Many musicians choose to release their songs under Creative Commons licenses, which give you the legal right to do things like use their music in your videos.
What is Creative Commons?
Creative Commons is a new system, built upon current copyright law, that allows you to legally use “some rights reserved” music, movies, images, and other content — all for free. CC offers free copyright licenses that anyone can use (without a lawyer) to mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. For instance, a musician would use a Creative Commons license to allow people to legally share her songs online, make copies for friends, or even use them in videos or other compositions. For more information, visit our Learn More page.
Can I use any song with a CC license on it?
Almost — you need to make sure that what you want to do with the music is OK under the terms of the particular Creative Commons license it’s under. CC-licensed music isn’t free for all uses, only some — so make sure to check out the terms (you can find these by clicking on each song’s license icon).
Most importantly, you need to use music that is not licensed under a No Derivative Works license. This means that the musician doesn’t want you to change, transform, or make a derivative work using their music. Under CC licenses, synching the music to images amounts to transforming the music, so you can’t legally use a song under a CC No Derivative Works license in your video.
Also, make sure to properly credit the musician and the track, as well as express the CC license the track is under. For example, you might include text like this at the end of your video:
This video features the song “Desaprendere (Treatment)” by fourstones, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
Where do I find the License?
1. Click the name of the song you want to use. (this is a nice song by the way!)
2. Look for the CC license for the track.
