In our awareness, WIPO ( World Intellectual Property Organization )is the holder of all copyrights to music and film works – if you need film music, contact WIPO.
Not true.
WIPO should be the last choice in almost every case. If you want to hear the latest radio hit in your movie … you probably haven’t thought about whether you can afford it. For last year’s radio hit and the one from 20 years ago, you probably won’t have enough money.
In a way, private individuals as well as small and medium-sized companies do not have access to such works, they are out of their reach. However, there is a whole bunch of other sources from which you can obtain music pieces, often of very high quality, for little money or for free. So where do you get them?
(NOTE: The following lists are not ranked and the order is not evaluative)
Table of Contents
For Free
On the Internet, materials distributed under a Creative Commons license are becoming very fashionable. The premise of the organization that distributes this license is to simplify copyright issues as much as possible. If the author decides that he shares his works with others, they are shared. Here, only the will of the creator and information related to the song are sufficient, nothing more than a mention of authorship is needed, e.g. in the description of the film or the final credits. The works are sometimes distributed under a non-commercial license, or the film must be distributed under the same license as the work being used. More information can be found here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
1. Audionautix.com
This is a large database of songs created by one person. Songs are sorted by genre, tempo and related emotions. The search is very simple and the songs are of good quality. The site is unfortunately located on a not very fast server.
2. Incompetech.com
It is also the site of one author – he claims that there are so many songs that they are unlikely to be able to remember their names if asked about them. The sound quality is very good, the compositions are of varying quality, but World Music deserves special attention. Don’t look for vocal songs on this page – you won’t find them.
3. Jamendo.com
It’s a solution for people who have a lot of time and patience. Be sure to set the search engine option to search only Creative Commons licensed songs (set the appropriate filter, depending on whether you use music commercially or not). In exchange for getting through the vast catalogs of Jamendo, you can get music of fantastic quality … if you are lucky.
4. Bensound.com
Another page of one creator. The archive is small, but of very good quality, and some songs can really surprise not only with a successful composition, but also with some kind of freedom and lightness in leading musical narrative.
5. Joshwoodward.com
Pages run by lonely creators reign in this ranking, and this is one of the better ones. Navigation in it is rather difficult, but if you are looking for music in genres pop / rock, reliably with guitar and male vocals – then you will have difficulties in deciding what to choose. A lot of good material.
6. dig.ccmixter.org
This is the subbase of the largest free music database, ccmixter.org. They were created especially for the needs of video production and contain really good music.
Biggest flaw? A slow page where listening to songs is a chore. In addition, most licenses do not allow commercial use.
7. newgrounds.com
This is a site associated with free flash games rather than free music, but the database is quite large. The quality scatter is large, but there are really interesting compositions. The vast majority of songs are licensed by Non-Commercial!
8. youtube.com/user/teknoaxe
This is Teknoaxe’s YouTube channel, which allows the use of his songs for any purpose, including commercial. The channel contains only electronic music.
9. youtube.com/audiolibrary/music
This is the official YouTube song library that anyone can use. In the “Music with ads” tab you can also find information about popular songs, the use of which is allowed, but associated with the lack of monetization.
Note: the site is only available to logged in YouTube users.
10. mobygratis.com
Even the famous Moby shares his music for free! It is available exclusively for non-commercial productions, and its acquisition requires the completion of a form that is individually considered, but in return you can get excellent quality music and boast at least one big name in the end credits!
Databases of paid music for films:
1. Jamendo.com
On Jamendo, most songs that are not released under CC can be purchased – unfortunately often at inflated prices.
2. audiojungle.net
Here you can find everything – from short jingles to animated logotypes, through full-fledged songs to essays lasting several dozen minutes for symphony orchestra – prices are usually reasonable. Unfortunately, many songs seem to be so similar to each other that it is difficult to dig out something valuable. Nevertheless, it is worth using this database because it is related to other materials (photos, videos, AE templates, etc. …)
3. pond5.com
Our favorite site – mainly due to the ease and clarity of the interface. The library is extensive, very diverse, although it is quite difficult to find something that goes straight ahead. If you are looking for the most ordinary music that will be a pleasant disturbance in your film, pond5.com is the right place.
4. musicbed.com
The site is characterized by exceptionally high quality of the proposed songs, for which, unfortunately, you have to pay – the prices are the highest among this combination. However, if by definition you are willing to pay more for the highest quality song, musicbed.com should be the first place where you start your search.
5. stockmusic.net
One price service. Each song without exception costs $ 39.95. No small base, interesting songs, although the site looks more like free than paid ones.
Of course, the above list in no way exhausts the possibilities that are available on the Internet. The search for music is usually quite tedious and long, because music is one of the most exposed elements of the film and often it determines its character. However, considering the availability of both free and paid songs on the internet, finding the perfect track is just a matter of time spent.
Are you still convinced that WIPO is the right place to look for music?
