Music Resources

A curated list of websites offering free music downloads.

Websites

  • BANDCAMP: http://bandcamp.com/ (Paid/Free)
    If you search right you can find thousands of free to download albums; many under CC.

  • CC MIXER: http://dig.ccmixter.org/; http://ccmixter.org/view/media/remix (Free)
    Dig.ccmixter holds a big collection of great music, all of which is liberally licensed under a Creative Commons license giving you permission to use it in your video, podcast, school project, personal music player, etc. The site also contains over 1,000 tracks with a permission to use in commercial projects.

  • FREE MUSIC ARCHIVE: http://www.freemusicarchive.org (Free)
    “The Free Music Archive is an interactive library of high-quality, legal audio downloads. The Free Music Archive is directed by WFMU, the most renowned freeform radio station in America. Radio has always offered the public free access to new music. The Free Music Archive is a continuation of that purpose, designed for the age of the internet.”

  • INTERNET ARCHIVE: http://www.archive.org/details/audio (Free)
    “The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was founded to build an Internet library. Its purposes include offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format.” Find thousands of free music, videos, movies, books.

  • JAMENDO: http://www.jamendo.com (Free)
    “Jamendo is the world’s #1 platform for free and legal music downloads under Creative Commons licenses. Available in eight languages, the site offers a catalog of over 350,000 tracks/ 60,000 albums/ 50,000 artists!”

  • LASTFM: http://www.last.fm/music/+free-music-downloads (Free)
    Free mp3 downloads across the website.

  • MUSOPEN: http://www.musopen.org (Free)
    The website provides classical music recordings, sheet music, and textbooks to the public for free, without copyright restrictions (Log-in required) (free downloads, not available for redistribution/sharing, publishing, transmit, edit, etc.)

  • NOISETRADE: https://www.noisetrade.com/ (Paid/Free)
    Lots of free great music. Most of which require your email and zip code.

  • OPEN MUSIC ARCHIVE: http://openmusicarchive.org/index.php (Free)
    The Archive is a collaborative project, initiated by artists Eileen Simpson & Ben White, to source, digitise and distribute out-of-copyright sound recordings. (based on a UK copright law, 50 years)

  • OPSOUND: http://opsound.org/index.php (Free)
    This site contains music of various genres all released under Creative Commons license which allows for all kinds of copying, remixing, use, and reuse while retaining an attribution to the original artist.

  • PHLOW MAGAZINE: http://phlow-magazine.com/ (Free)
    The website offers free music downloads from netlabels and musicians all over the globe, who are licensed under CC.

  • PUBLIC DOMAIN 4U: http://www.publicdomain4u.com/ (Free)
    This website contains recordings of songs that were published prior to 1922 and/or those already in the public domain which means the public is free to copy and use the works in any way. (Not very user friendly design)

  • ROYALTY FREE MUSIC: http://www.incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/ (Free)
    This website offers royalty free instrumental music (available for use composed by Kevin MacLeod.

  • SONICSQURREL: http://sonicsquirrel.net/ (Free)
    A platform and distribution channel for netlabels. It aim is to promote free music and help artists and netlabels make their work easily available for a wider audience.

SOUND & SAMPLES

  • REKKERD: http://rekkerd.org/loops/ (Free)
    Creative Commons licensed free loops and samples.

  • SOUND BIBLE: http://soundbible.com/about.php (Free)
    The website is a great source for copyright free sounds. SoundBible.com offers thousands of free sound effects, sound clips, and straight up sounds, which can be used in a variety of sound projects including Video Sound Scores, Movie Scoring, Game Design, Powerpoint Presentations, Sound Boards, etc.

  • THE FREE SOUND PROJECT: http://www.freesound.org/ (Free)
    The website consists of a collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds.