Creative Commons & Other Music for Video Projects

Video projects often need some background music to help set the tone and mood of the story. Of course, there are dozens of stock music companies that will sell a variety of music tracks from a few dollars to thousands per track or collection.

When your budget is tight, there are other options for music. There are creative commons music outlets as well as individuals and companies that are willing to allow you to use their music tracks. Most often the basic tradeoff for using a track from these sources is attribution. 

If you choose a creative commons track or a track from an individual, make sure to check out the required agreement or licensing. There is some really good music out there, however, you often get what you pay for. I've discovered that the best free music tracks are used over and over again.

Here is just a small sampling of sources of creative commons music. Remember to read the fine print before you incorporate any of these music tracks into your project.

PacDV 

http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/ PacDV has been

producing royalty free sounds for filmmakers, sound designers, music producers, film students, and multimedia developers since 2001. On this web site, you find sound clips that we have decided to make available free for you to download.

BENSOUND

Can I use your Bensound music for free?

Yes, we offer a Free License with Attribution that allows you to use our tracks available in our 'Free Music' section in your projects. However, there are a few guidelines to follow:

For online videos: The music can be used as part of an online video or live video streaming that is published and accessible free of charge.

For theatrical performances and films: The music can be used in projects meant for educational purposes only and that do not generate revenue.

All you need to do is include our single-use* attribution text (provided when downloading a track) in your video description for online videos or mention Bensound.com in your project for other authorized uses, as set out above.

If you respect all of this, you’re good to go!

*Each attribution text is valid for 1 video only. If you want to use the same track in a new video, you can download it again to receive a new attribution text.

DIG.CCMIXTER

DIG.CCMIXTER is devoted to helping you find that great music, all of which is liberally licensed under a Creative Commons license so you already have permission to use this music in your video, podcast, school project, personal music player, or where ever… We even have several 1,000 tracks that already have permission to use in commercial projects for free. http://dig.ccmixter.org/

YOUTUBE AUDIO LIBRARY

YouTube Audio Library is a collection of music and sound effects for YouTube creators to use in their videos.
https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary
How to use YouTube Music Library:
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3376882?hl=en

DANOSONGS

A free royalty free music library at http://www.danosongs.com/ which uses the most friendly creative commons attribution license. You only need to credit me and you can include my music at no cost. There are over 100 songs there in various styles and I release new tracks several times per month.
http://www.danosongs.com/#music

AUDIONAUTIX

All music is composed and produced by Jason Shaw. This music is royalty-free - completely free - for you to download and use (even for commercial purposes) as long as you provide credit.
http://www.audionautix.com/

INCOMPETECH

If you need free music for your YouTube videos where you get to keep the ad revenue...If you need music for your film or video game...If you need music for your presentation or commercial...
https://incompetech.com/wordpress/