Free to use music ?

[faerwain]

Hello all,

a friend of mine is looking for background music for a video she is doing. Do you know of any sites providing free-to-use music? Sites with which you already had positive experiences yourselves are especially appreciated. She is not going to use the video in a commercial way, but may show it publicly, so the point of really having the right to use it is important.

Thanks in advance!

[Optimystik]

Try the Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org/legalmusicforvideos), it was made for this sort of thing. :smallsmile:

[monomer]

One of your best bets would be looking into the Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/legalmusicforvideos). The main stipulation is that you reference back any work to the original license holder.

edit: durp... ninja'd

[Optimystik]

edit: durp... ninja'd

*vanishes in puff of smoke*

[Makensha]

If you want to look at Newgrounds, all music in their Audio section is under CC I believe. Of course, then you have to go to Newgrounds...

[cleric_of_BANJO]

...If you live in Canada, the laws of Fair Use allow you to use ANY copyrighted material as long as it is not in a commercial way.

[Dogmantra]

NOTE: DON'T TAKE LEGAL ADVICE FROM ME; I AM NOT A LAWYER AND DON'T INTEND TO BE

That said, you might encourage her to look up copyright laws. I have heard that there are certain laws (which may or may not apply where you live) that let you use X amount of a song (measured in either time or percentage) for non-commercial use, before you breach copyright. It'd be worth looking up if that's applicable (or even existent: this is all hearsay), since it would broaden your friend's choices.

[Doodleface]

All I know is that all of Jonathan Coulton's (www.jonathancoulton.com) music is free to use in any non-commercial way. As long as you give him credit, (and he asks that you send him whatever it is you are making just for personal reasons)

[Platinum_Mongoose]

...If you live in Canada, the laws of Fair Use allow you to use ANY copyrighted material as long as it is not in a commercial way.

By that, do you mean people living in Canada can use anything copyrighted, or people living anywhere can use copyrighted stuff from Canada? (This is possibly the stupidest question I've ever asked.)

[Lord Seth]

...If you live in Canada, the laws of Fair Use allow you to use ANY copyrighted material as long as it is not in a commercial way.I did a little research, and that doesn't seem to be true. (as a note, it's called fair dealing in Canada, not fair use)

[Turcano]

Everything at the Free Music Archive (http://freemusicarchive.org/) is available to use; whether it's good or not is up to debate.

[Jimorian]

One thing to keep in mind for music needs is local acts. Do a search on MySpace or Facebook for local bands, check out their music, and if a particular song suits your needs for a project, ask them. They'll usually be happy to help. :smallsmile:

[faerwain]

Thanks a lot for your quick help and great ideas, guys!

As I understood her project was quite urgent(hence the lack of research:smallwink:) so it's really appreciated. I suppose the idea with local bands cannot be followed due to the short amount of time, but it's a very good one nevertheless.

I haven't talked to her yet, but I forwarded the thread to her after creating it, so she saw your answers and I'm sure she found something she liked.