Where To Find Creative Commons Music Downloads

If you want to add music to your video, game or production but don’t want to risk being sued for copyright infringement, you need to be careful. Social media sites, copyright holders and media outlets are all pursuing copyright infringements quite forcefully. If you want to stay on the right side of the law but still want to use music, you need creative commons music downloads.

Creative commons (CC) is short for Creative Commons Copyright License. This is a license that offers you the right to feature music without having to pay a fee or risk prosecution. It provides copyright permission to use creative work for your own use. It also provides an understandable framework those of us without a law degree can understand.

There are five types of Creative Commons copyright license, CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-ND, CC BY-NC-SA and CC BY-NC-ND. Each has different elements that give you permission to use work in different ways. For example; CC BY means you can use the work in any way you like as long as you provide clear attribution to the creator. At the other end of the scale, CC BY-NC-ND allows you to download and freely share the work but not change it in any way.

So that’s Creative Commons. The link above has a ton more detail if you want to know more. Otherwise, let’s get on with the main event, where to find Creative Commons music downloads for your video or production.

SoundCloud

SoundCloud has an entire section of its offering devoted to Creative Commons music. There is a lot of work here covering everything from EDM to rock, classical to country. The selection changes as fast as the rest of the catalog so you should keep an eye on the site and download what you want when you see it.

SoundCloud should need no introduction. The streaming music giant that allows users to stream music to any device anywhere depending on your subscription level. The selection of CC music is smaller than its paid catalog but it is still extensive.

ccMixter

ccMixter is a very popular place to get Creative Commons music downloads. The collection is huge and covers all types of tracks from all branches of music. The website is well designed, logically laid out and makes short work of finding something for your production.

The levels of Creative Commons are clearly stated and the ability to sample first is right next to the song title. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

Free Music Archive

The Free Music Archive, or FMA is another large repository of Creative Commons music downloads. It is curated by WFMU and provides clear and unambiguous access to music and transparent licensing information. The range is huge and covers most music types. There are apparently over 400,000 tracks on here.

The site is clear, easy to navigate and provides the license type and sample up front. There is even a Licensing guide on the site so you always know where you stand.

Audio Archive

The Audio Archive is part of the Internet Archive project that seeks to save a copy of everything from the web. That includes a huge range of royalty-free music. You have to be a little more careful on this site as not everything is covered by Creative Commons. However, the range is so vast that it would be remiss of me not to include it here.

The site is massive and it will take you a while to find something you like. That’s purely because of the sheer number of tracks rather than any difficulty using the site. There is literally a bit of everything there.

Jamendo

Jamendo is another highly regarded site that allows you to download Creative Commons music. Not everything on the site is free but licensing or payment is clearly labeled. When you go into a track, you will see small gray icons with their CC level, such as ‘CC BY-SA’ etc. This will tell you how you can use each track.

There is a little bit of work involved in finding a track you like only to find the license doesn’t fit your needs but persevere. The depth and breadth of content on Jamendo makes it worth your time.

hearthis.at

hearthis.at has a decent collection of Creative Commons music for you to use in various ways. The site is very easy to use and provides a category page just for Creative Commons Music. The collection is varied and covers most music genres. You can play from that very first page so finding something you can work with should be a breeze.

Once you find a track, go into its page and you will see a CC license type. Most are Creative Commons: Attribution but there are a few others. Once selected you can do what you like with it as long as you follow the license type.