sound Semi-Comprehensive guide to free or cheap royalty free music

The Tune Peddler

The Tune Peddler

Recently, I have heard a lot of people asking what and how to go about finding royalty free music to use in their films. So I tried to put together a guide to help anyone with these question.

For anybody not entirely sure what Royalty free music is, the commonly agreed upon definition goes like this. You pay for a license once to use the music for as long as you want.

-- NOTE -- It's usually as simple as that. Although you need to check the terms and license agreement of each music library to be sure there isn't some kind of exception.

This license sounds great for a low budget filmmaker. "Pay once and use it in anything I make". The biggest issue seems to be the quality of the music. A lot of royalty free music sounds like no thought was put into it and just thrown together. So you have to scour through a bunch of pretty amateur music until you find the gems.

While doing research for my own production music site, I found site after site of incredible music that honestly surprised me at how good they really were.

So to help you in this rather daunting quest, I have tried to compile a long list of royalty free music libraries that offer either free or very inexpensive broadcast quality songs on their site. I have also included a little description of the site to help you know what they have available. Just be sure to check the music license terms and conditions.

http://www.thetunepeddler.com
(warning - shameless self promotion..) Thetunepeddler.com is a subscription based production music library that has had music used on the Discovery Channel, History Channel, Nat Geo and others. You can download all the tracks you want for a single fee. It's quick and simple and is constantly being updated with new tracks. Check out our "Free Tunes" page for some complimentary tracks.

http://www.gregvmusic.com/royalty_free_music.html

Greg is an in-demand musician in Nashville so you know these tracks are gonna sound great. They are mostly guitar oriented tracks but there are a ton of different styles. Also, they are free with credit given

http://www.audiojungle.net/

This site has what seems like a million pieces and really low prices compared to the most royalty free libraries. They also offer a free download every month.

http://www.incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/
This site was started by Kevin MacLeod and it was one of the most talked about sites I found when I was doing research for my site. The tracks are totally free, however he has a donation button if you would like to support him. Definitely check this one out.

http://www.q-music.co.uk

Here's a great British production music site. They seem to always be adding new pieces and the quality is great. They also have a free music section that you can use.

http://www.themusicase.com

This site offer tons of tracks as well as sound FX. The tracks differ drastically in price but you can find some really good deals if you look around

http://www.danosongs.com/

This site offers tracks in many different styles and offers them for free with credit given. You can also buy the whole package if no credit is given.

http://www.mobygratis.com/film-music.html
Now this is a brilliant site. Moby is offering a bunch of his music for free if you use it in a non commercial and non profit video.

http://www.purple-planet.com

This site has some really nice music and looks like it was designed and named by Prince, which I think it BRILLIANT! Their music is free to use for non commercial use. But even if you want to use it in commercials it's still really inexpensive.

http://www.musopen.org/music

Here is a cool idea. They take public domain songs and re record them so they're copyright free. Their motto is "to set music free". The recordings sound great and the pieces are obviously incredible seeing as they're classical pieces re-recorded.

http://www.jewelbeat.com/

This place rocks. Their music sounds great, the site is killer, and they offer an option to get their music on a hard drive or flash drive sent to your door. They also offer single downloads really cheap as well.

http://www.digitaljuice.com/

This is another one of those sites that was talked about a lot on various forums and blogs. Great quality and they are always running special promotions so you can get their tracks at a great deal.

http://www.stock20.com/commerce/index.php

Really great site full of high quality music. Their music has been used on abc, nbc, cbs and other networks and you'll hear why when you check them out.

http://www.shockwave-sound.com/

This site is not only one of the earliest sites to offer royalty free music. They also have the largest collection of royalty free classical music on the web. They say "we wade through the mediocrity, so you don't have to" and it shows in their tracks.
 
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I just made my music catalog available for licensing. Most of it was originally film score music for other indie and student films, but some may find it useful for their projects as a cheaper alternative. They're all available at 24/48, and the catalog is fully searchable with a large amount of metadata (instruments, genres, moods, etc.). Many of the tracks also have stems and/or alternate versions.

http://www.resolutionmusiccollection.com

Hope this is helpful! :coffee:
 
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***** Legal Footnote about RFM *****

To be a bit more detailed about RFM... and to help people avoid legal problems later....
For anybody not entirely sure what Royalty free music is, the commonly agreed upon definition goes like this. You pay for a license once to use the music for as long as you want.

-- NOTE -- It's usually as simple as that. Although you need to check the terms and license agreement of each music library to be sure there isn't some kind of exception.

This license sounds great for a low budget filmmaker. "Pay once and use it in anything I make".
Click to expand...

Originally, traditionally, and almost without exception.... Royalty-Free was created to eliminate "Mechanical" royalties associated with licensing. Prior to RFM, licensing music required a payment for mechanical copies of the final media produced. For someone doing a corporate video that was being distro via DVD... this mechanical fee would be a nasty expense for a relatively low value and low exposure production.

RFM was never intended to mean "purchase once and get unlimited uses in unlimited productions". In fact, for the MAJORITY of RFM libraries.... including most of those listed in this article... music is licensed on a single-use, perpetuity, mechanical-royalty-free, basis. Websites that offer multiple-use purchases are the minority.

That's a VERY important distinction.
 
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Are there any more websites that have free royalty free music? It seems that everyone uses these sites and the tracks are not really unique on YouTube anymore.

My channel is based around sketches and dramedies and I am in need of some really fresh music!.. Any resources on FRESH free RFM music would be great :)
 
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hey nightfalcon i just received an email about more than 100 royalty free music tracks which the composer is giving out for free. recently i had the chance to listen to the tracks and i was actually very impressed with the quality.
I use Royalty Free Music a lot and I have never heard of him before so i would assume the tracks are very fresh. Maybe it would work for you check him out: http://www.909music.com/free-music
 
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canonmaster said:
hey nightfalcon i just received an email about more than 100 royalty free music tracks which the composer is giving out for free. recently i had the chance to listen to the tracks and i was actually very impressed with the quality.
I use Royalty Free Music a lot and I have never heard of him before so i would assume the tracks are very fresh. Maybe it would work for you check him out: http://www.909music.com/free-music
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But be careful what you're using it for... if you read his "License Agreement" there are quite a few restrictions... Here's one...
3.5 Licensed Material shall not be incorporated into a logo, corporate ID, trademark or service mark, nor used as the theme song for any film, television show, or other broadcast or program, without obtaining the prior written consent of 909 Music. - See more at: https://www.909music.com/information/license#sthash.EirRTDKk.dpuf
 
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canonmaster said:
hey nightfalcon i just received an email about more than 100 royalty free music tracks which the composer is giving out for free. recently i had the chance to listen to the tracks and i was actually very impressed with the quality.
I use Royalty Free Music a lot and I have never heard of him before so i would assume the tracks are very fresh. Maybe it would work for you check him out: http://www.909music.com/free-music
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Hey thanks cannonmaster for this link. I signed up on their site and free tracks are quite impressive. It's pretty much what I was looking for :)
 
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soundslikejoe said:
But be careful what you're using it for... if you read his "License Agreement" there are quite a few restrictions... Here's one...
3.5 Licensed Material shall not be incorporated into a logo, corporate ID, trademark or service mark, nor used as the theme song for any film, television show, or other broadcast or program, without obtaining the prior written consent of 909 Music. - See more at: https://www.909music.com/information/license#sthash.EirRTDKk.dpuf
Click to expand...


As far as my law knowledge goes what that means is you cannot register that music under a specific logo or corporate ID. For example the very famous 20th Century FOX music that everyone has heard before the movies begin, that music is the property of 20th Century FOX/News Corp.

Since the copyright to this music belongs to the composer of that website the agreement says you cannot "incorporate" into other brands. There is a difference between "incorporation" and "usage". I've read these agreements in many other Royalty-Free Music type sites and seems pretty normal.

Great material and once again thanks to cannonmaster for the referral :D
 
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nightfalcon said:
As far as my law knowledge goes what that means is you cannot register that music under a specific logo or corporate ID. For example the very famous 20th Century FOX music that everyone has heard before the movies begin, that music is the property of 20th Century FOX/News Corp.
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You're partially right... but "the theme song for any film, television show, or other broadcast or program" doesn't have anything to do with your assumption. It's fairly clear that you can't use this music for that purpose without paying for it. The sticky part, regarding film, is what constitutes a theme legally. In film particularly, it isn't limited to just the opening credits.
 
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soundslikejoe said:
You're partially right... but "the theme song for any film, television show, or other broadcast or program" doesn't have anything to do with your assumption. It's fairly clear that you can't use this music for that purpose without paying for it. The sticky part, regarding film, is what constitutes a theme legally. In film particularly, it isn't limited to just the opening credits.
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I hope thats not the case. I am just sending them an email to confirm this. The music is really nice and would really love to use some of the tracks right away for a pending project i had. Let me reply back here after i have heard from that 909 guy
 
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Just got a reply back from the owner of 909. He said that he is giving away his personal catalog for free. All tracks on the specific free music page can be used for free in unlimited use. Speaking of the contract he said exactly what i mentioned, the music cannot be incorporated with another brand. So as it stands all the music here is free: https://www.909music.com/free-music

:D :D good times.. the music is lovely!!
 
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nightfalcon said:
Just got a reply back from the owner of 909. He said that he is giving away his personal catalog for free. All tracks on the specific free music page can be used for free in unlimited use. Speaking of the contract he said exactly what i mentioned, the music cannot be incorporated with another brand. So as it stands all the music here is free: https://www.909music.com/free-music

:D :D good times.. the music is lovely!!
Click to expand...

wwooww night falcon good job confirming this.. thanks for the update.. yeah the music is truly unique and really high quality :)
 
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