Music with Creative Commons is great essentially because… it’s free. The authors decide to apply licenses Creative Commons to your music to share it with the public and make us all happy. In this article I am going to show you 9 of the sites where you can find music with creative commons totally free.
9 Places to Find Music with Creative Commons
1. Free Music Archive
Free Music Archive is one of the largest sites to find music with creative commons. There are more than 14 thousand songs with creative commons licenses that allow commercial use. The music of many musical styles and its quality in general is very good. You can filter music by more than 15 musical genres.
2. SoundCloud
SoundCloud is a well-known site for listening to independent music.
But, did you know that there is also a lot of music with creative commons licenses?
Yes, SoundCloud includes a lot of music of this type. To filter songs with these types of licenses you have to search for a search term and click on “Tracks”. Below, where it says filter the results, you can click on “For Commercial Modification”, “For commercial use” or “To share” and you will get songs with creative commons.
Also, be careful that sometimes many users upload other people’s music without permission (and perhaps they don’t have creative commons). That’s why make sure it’s the artist’s official channel.
3. Audionautix
Audionautix is a fairly unique site because all the music on the site is produced by one person, Jason Shaw. All of his music is licensed under Creative Commons so you can use it freely in your videos, even for commercial purposes. It has more than 30 styles of music to search for (including sub-genres) and you can even filter by tempo. And all their music is free. Pretty amazing and cool.
4. CCMixter
CCMixter is a large directory of songs with Creative Commons (CC) licenses. Its motto is “You already have permission” referring to the fact that you can use their music at once with creative commons licenses. It has three parts: Instrumental Music for Film & Video (instrumental music for film and video), Free Music for Commerical Projects (free music for commercial projects) and Music for Video Games (Music for video games). When you enter each section, its search engine can be somewhat complicated to understand, but the search but the filters and the search box by terms is very efficient. Simply type a musical genre in the search engine at the top right and you will find a lot of music. In each particular song there will be a logo with the type of CC license it has in particular.
5. Museopen
Museopen is a directory that includes songs with creative commons and public domain. Public domain is another type of license that means it is free of copyright due to expiration. So, it’s also free. Each song says the type of license it includes so you are totally sure. Many of the songs they include are quite old since they are in the public domain, such as by Bach, Mozart or Beethoven.
6. Freesound
Freesound is a site where there are sounds, effects and songs with Creative Commons licenses uploaded by hundreds of users. In total it has more than 500 thousand sounds, taking into account all types of licenses (commercial and non-commercial). So It corroborates the type of license well as always. More than anything there are loops and effects, but there are also complete songs.
7. FreePD
FreePD is a page where there are more than 800 songs under creative commons. It has different styles: Upbeat, Epic, Terror, Romantic, Electronic and others. You can download each song for free, or you also have the option of downloading all of them together by paying $10.But they all include creative commons licenses to use.
8. Scott Buckley
Scott Buckley is an Australian who shares all his music freely with Creative Commons BY 4.0 licenses. This is the type of license that allows adaptations and commercial use. The one we all like. It has high quality music that is delivered for free. It also receives support through Patreon and Paypal additionally.
9. Sampleswap
Sampleswap is a site that includes many songs with Creative Commons (some for commercial purposes and others non-commercial). Each song says what type of license it is using. It has more than 400 songs for commercial purposes of very good quality.
Tips on how to use licenses
Check the type of license
Creative Commons is a set of licenses that allows the re-use of works. When you see that a song is listed as “Creative Commons” it means that you can use it as long as you give credit to the author. But they are not all licenses the same, but each type of license has specific instructions. Some are for commercial purposes and others are non-commercial, some allow modifications and others do not. Therefore, always carefully check the type of license to use. In another post I wrote more in depth about how to use works with creative commons and the types of license.
Creative Commons vs Royalty Free
A very common confusion is to think that Royalty Free music is the same as Creative Commons. And although Royalty free means “royalty free,” you might think that it is free. But, Royalty free music is not free, but is generally paid music. And after paying, you are free to use without giving credits. Royalty free music is sold individually or also in monthly subscription services that allow you to access thousands of royalty free songs. For those who cannot or do not want to give credits, is the indicated option. You can read more about Royalty free music here.
Final thoughts
Creative Commons music is great because it allows free free use by simply giving credit. As a tip, always read the license carefully before using the music and make sure you give credit appropriately. Then, you can rest assured that you are using the music correctly.