Where to find free to use music to use in the classroom
The Internet is full of websites that provide music and sound effects, but quite often using them in your own work would infringe copyright law. Thankfully, there are many sites that now provide audio files under a Creative Commons licence. You can use these freely (within the terms of the licence), as long as you credit the original source. Below is a sample of some of my favourite online resources:
ccmixter (dig.ccmixter.org)
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… ccmixter claims to have over 1,000 tracks that already have permission to use in commercial projects for free.
Website: dig.ccmixter.org
freeplaymusic (freeplaymusic.com)
The Freeplay Music Library, is a comprehensive collection of High End Broadcast production music spanning several popular musical genres. Music can be searched for by style, feel or even using a keyword search. Although the content on freeplaymusic is not licensed under Creative Commons, according to the sites terms and conditions, freeplaymusic.com allows "free" use of its music for student educational use for in-classroom projects (on school grounds only). If however, the projects are then broadcast or distributed e.g. in a podcast, youtube video etc., a paid license is required.
Website: www.freeplaymusic.com
freesound (freesound.org)
freesound.org is an online database of Creative Commons Licensed sounds. As with any free, online archive, the quality of sounds and recordings can vary however, you will find a large collection of high quality sounds which you can use in your projects. You will need to register to download clips from freesound however, registration is free.
SoundBible (SoundBible.com)
SoundBible.com offers thousands of free sound effects and sound clips. These sounds can be used in a variety of sound projects including Video Sound Scores, Movie Scoring, Game Design, Powerpoint Presentations, Sound Boards etc. Note: The Royalty Free Sounds can be used for commercial uses. The free sounds can only if they are under the Creative Commons Attribution, or Public Domain License, so please check the license before use.
