LibGuides: ENG W377: Writing for Social Change: How to Find Audio

Public Domain Audio Content

The resources below offer access to music and other audio files in the public domain.

Choral Public Domain Library
This section of the ChoralWiki provides access to public domain music. While much of the site is devoted to scores, it also includes some audio files.
Digital History
This resource from the University of Texas, the University of Houston and the University of Hawaii provides access to historical music that their research has indicated is in the public domain.
Musopen
Run by a non-profit with an aim of making music freely and openly available, Musopen provides access to public domain music and allows users to upload music that is in the public domain. The site also offers access to public domain sheet music.
NASA On SoundCloud
NASA offers a variety of audio content on SoundCloud. According to their content use page, this content is "generally not copyrighted" and may be reused.

Creative Commons Audio Content

If you aren't able to find a public domain audio clip that suits your purposes, there are also many resources available to find music and other sounds that have been licensed under a Creative Commons license. Below are some of the best of these tools.

ccMixter
This website helps users to create and share mixes and samples that are Creative Commons-licensed.
CreativeCommons.org
This site makes it easy to search for Creative Commons-licensed materials across many other websites, including three that focus exclusively on music.
Freesound
This website makes it easy for users to upload sounds they have recorded or created and license them under a Creative Commons license. Users can choose to release their works into the public domain or select one of two Creative Commons licenses, so it is important to review the specific licensing and attribution information for each sound you plan to use.
Incompetech
This site offers a wide variety of royalty free music under a CC BY license.
Jamendo
This service allows users to limit their searches to only music that is licensed under specific Creative Commons licenses using their Advanced Search features.
Opsound
All audio files on this site are in the public domain or licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike license. You can find specific information about the license attached to each piece under the link to the file.
Wikipedia Sound/list
Wikipedia provides access to a wide range of music that is either in the public domain or Creative Commons-licensed. While the site indicates that the music is "free," it is important to note that this is not synonymous with "in the Public Domain," so you will need to review the license information for the music to ensure you attribute it properly.