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Music & Sound Design: Music, Sound Effects & Copyright

This guide will help Music & Sounds Design students find and evaluate key resources needed to successfully complete their assessments.

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. 

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. 

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.