Cheap, if not free , royalty free music anywhere?

shewolfnm
Most songs are just .99 cents

90 bucks a song
Are they crazy?

Napster sells for a reasonable price imo or you can get unlimited songs for a monthly fee.

Edit: I have never purchased songs over the net or seen any for free.
Napster just came to mind since they got in trouble and now sell the songs the legal way.

with napster, you do not have the right to use the song in commercial settings.
Those songs still belong completely to the record label.

If you use one of those songs on .. your website for example.. you will be sued for not having the rights to the song.


Songs that are ok for anyone to use any where with out fear of being sued is what I am looking for.

I believe copyright is for 75 years so I doubt you will find too many recorded songs you can use for free. Your best bet is to find a local group that will let you use their work.

Keep in mind the song is copyrighted as well as the recording. So you can't use a cover of a song without infringing on the copyright of the song itself.

I've used sharing software to get several hundred songs for free.

Wiki has threads about "Free music" and "Open music".

shewolfnm
Sorry, I didn't realize that the songs someone purchases cannot be put on their website. I understand not allowing that to be done if you are re-selling the song. I really didn't realize there was a copyright issue if someone is just using the song as background music.

It seems like a person should be able to purchase a song and put it on their website kinda similar to going in to an office building and they have music playing in the background or in the elevators.

It seems like this whole internet world is new territory for some of these issues and they will likely end up in court (if they haven't already) to regulate what is allowed and what isn't. So, I understand your concern about not wanting to get sued.

I don't know about the USA but in Euroep you have of course pay for that as well - what do you think copyright is for?

As far as I know Walter Hinteler, in the USA a business can play the radio as background music and they don't pay for that. The radio station pays from what I understand. The business who is just playing the music for others to listen to does not pay.

Well, that's the reason why you (and we) have got "shop radios": they payed those copyright 'licenses'.

Walter Hinteler
It just seems to me that the website who is selling the music should pay all the fees. Then when they sell the song or album the buyer should be allowed to play that music on their website just as background music, not to sell to others.

parados
The 75 years was in effect until December 31, 1977 for works created prior to that date, then in 1998 it was extended to a total of 95 years.

For works created on or after January 1, 1978 they have what they call a "life-plus-70 or 95/120-year terms" depending on different circumstances. Here is the site where I found this information: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/
It is confusing to say the least so feel free to post a correction if my interpretation is wrong.

When I saw this: "• How do I protect my sighting of Elvis?"
I just had to laugh

albumbase.com

Hmm...

Im not looking for just free downloads.Im looking for music I can use as part of advertisements that I wont be sued for.
Music that currently has no copyrights, and no royalty fees attached..

or if they do have them, the cost is cheap.

Look for some music midi files. This is what you hear as background music on many websites and most ecards. Most are free for personal use on websites. For commercial websites you'll need to contact the creator of the midi recording.

Here's one for commercial websites to check out. There are many others. I've linked you to their FAQs page so you can read up on the use agreement.


http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/contact/techhelp.php

Right on!
Thanks

I need a diffrent 'diddy ' for my webpage as I am running out of rather expencive time on the song I have...
(sigh)
I wish I were rich

I'm not sure what you consider cheap, but I've routinely found the royalty-free music I've needed on the web for 20-50 bucks. Here are some results of a quick search, I have not used these particular ones (don't remember the one I liked as it's been a while).

http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/
http://www.stockmusic.net/
http://www.premiumbeat.com/
http://www.buyabeat.com/
http://www.shockwave-sound.com/ - I'm pretty sure I used these guys a few years ago but may be confusing them with another site.
http://www.revostock.com/

cc-licensed music:

http://starfrosch.ch
http://freemusic.freeculture.org/media/tags

note the licenses, some won't be available for commercial use. on the freemusic site, these just have a "$" icon with a / through it.

also "nd" means you can't make a derivative. whether this includes making clips i couldn't tell you. but some are (pd) public domain, others are cc-by which means you can do anything as long as you give credit to the artist.

it might take a while to find the right track, but whatever you want, i know it's there somewhere.

Re: Cheap, if not free , royalty free music anywhere?


Memory isn't serving terribly well on this one but as best it does, I THINK copyrights expire after about 50 years in the US. That would make any music up to about 1957 fair game; just get out there on gnutella or some such and start collecting oldies. Debby Reynolds singing "Tammy" would be one such possibility.

wouldn't that be nice? disney managed to get the time extended for all copyrighted materials, robbing the public of 30 years of books, recordings, and other content.

we'll get that stuff in 2037, unless they extend it again, like they did the time before last.

You can find such music through CreativeCommons.org. Much of it is copyrighted but gives you the right to redistribute it for free. That includes using it as background music on your website.

Here is their audio page, with links to many sites distributing free music.