Free Audio Links

In light of the last post on copyright, fair use, and online video, I've put together a list of some free audio links that may be helpful for your multimedia projects. Many of the links contain music that have Creative Commons licenses- a "copyleft," if you will. Most of the sites provide free downloads of music that you can then remix and reuse in your projects.

ccMixter is a "community music site featuring remixes licensed under Creative Commons where you can listen to, sample, mash-up, or interact with music in whatever way you want." Download a clip or two, sample and remix it, and upload it back into ccMixter so that others can hear-- and potentially remix-- your work.

If you're looking for music to include in your film, podcast, or other multimedia project, also check out dig.ccMixter. There's music geared for podcasts, film, dance, and even commercial projects. Because all of the clips are liberally licensed under Creative Commons, "you already have permission" to use them in your projects. According to the site, "one out of six uploads to ccMixter are used in a YouTube video, flickr moving image, podcast, compilation album and thousands of other places all over the web."

The Free Music Archive contains a compilation of high quality legal downloads that you can use in your multimedia projects. What makes the site unique is that all of the musical selections have been hand-picked by established audio curators.

The Free Sound Project is a collaborative database of sounds that are licensed under Creative Commons. Unlike the other sites listed here, the Free Sound Project focuses on sounds, not songs. So, if the audio that you captured of the buzzing bee, cityscape, woman's laugh, or any number of sounds just isn't cutting it, you can check this site out to see if there's something that could work with your project.

Jamendo is another collaborative database of songs that are licensed under Creative Commons. The songs are "free, legal, and unlimited" and are arranged by artist, album, genre, etc.

Open Source Music contains a compilation of soundtracks from various contributors who make their music available as Public Domain MP3's. The site views music as a "programming language to be used in an open source context."

Like Open Source Music and the other sites listed here, Opsound is "an experiment in applying the model of free software to music." Contributors are encouraged to upload their musical work to the site, licensing their work under Creative Commons. People are invited to download, share, remix, and reimagine.

A Simple Sound includes a library of "original sound scores to accompany works of film, choreography, theater, radio and all other mediums, and music made specifically for dance educators to use in the classroom." Although the sound tracks are not free, they are reasonably priced and are geared toward the type of video or other multimedia projects you may be working on.


Although the copyright landscape might look dire at times, especially in regards to music and video, there is a growing movement of musicians and creators who realize the value in sharing their work and making it free for others to build upon-- which is at the heart of any creative impulse. So go ahead--check these sites out, download a few tracks, and start creating. Or better yet, create your own soundtrack using sound editing software such as Garageband or Audacity-- but that's another post for another day...