Copyright & re-using music and sound
If you are permitted to re-use music and sound from online sites in your student work, for each sound track or clip you should check the licence conditions (also known as the Terms of Use). If in doubt check with your subject coordinator and always provide a complete reference or attribution to the creator. Remember that your assessment tasks will form the basis for your professional portfolio on graduation so avoid reusing unlicensed, copyright protected material unless directed to do so.
Creative Commons
Just because something is Creative Commons licensed, doesn't mean you can use it however you like. There are different types of Creative Commons licences with different conditions on how something can be used.
- Creative Commons LicencesFind out what the different Creative Commons licence conditions are.
Online music repositories
There are many repositories & libraries where people share music & sound clips online with others. You can download and re-use these for your own music/sound compositions at university. Just be sure to check the licences so you know if you can re-use the music you download.
- SoundCloud A sound and music sharing social media site.
- Free Music Archive The music here is free to listen to for inspiration. Some tracks you can re-use as well.
- Musopen Find out of copyright classical music and scores.
- Mixter Mixter is an international community of 40,000 musicians offering their music to reuse via sharalike licence.
- Free Sound Project This online database has heaps of sounds licensed under Creative Commons for you to re-use.
- FreePD Sound tracks available under Creative Commons Zero (no attribution required to re-use).
Sound effects online
Before looking for sound effects online, check the Sound Ideas sound effects library linked through EditShare on the MSD lab computers. The following websites offer sound effects which you can download and re-use for your studies. Be sure to check the licence and terms of use so you know whether you can re-use the content.
- Freesound Audio snippets, samples & sound effects available for re-use under Creative Commons licences.
- PacDVD Royalty free sound effects. Special conditions for crediting the website if you use their content.
- SoundBible Great for downloading royalty-free sounds & sound effects.
- Free-Loops Has thousands of sounds & loops licensed under Creative Commons.
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