6 ms·

Ask HN: Where Can I Get Some Free / Royalty-Free Music Tracks

17 points by jlgosse 17y ago

Hey guys, I'm writing a couple of games using XNA. One is a personal project, and one is for school. Where can I pick up some decent background music which I could include in my game? Note that I'm probably going to distribute through XBOX Live and maybe the Windows Marketplace for $1-$5 if I ever get around to completing them both. Preferably looking for a electronic/techno/ambient style of music. Thanks

billpg 17y ago
ccmixter is good.
dstik 17y ago
you might be able to find something you like at http://www.youlicense.com/ http://www.youlicense.com/ they have a lot of bands and if you can't find something you like for free you'll still definitely get a good licensing deal.
jmillikin 17y ago
Take a look at Jamendo < http://www.jamendo.com/en/ http://www.jamendo.com/en/ > -- it offers music licensed under Creative Commons licenses, and it's relatively high-quality.
dalenkruse 17y ago
Check out iamusic.com.
stevejohnson 17y ago
There are a lot of musicians who advertise themselves on iDevGames in the Classifieds section of the forum (http://idevgames.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=4 http://idevgames.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=4). A lot of them will work for free, or under very reasonable terms, because they want to experiment with games or they're just feeling generous. And they really are responsive. I've worked with a couple.
marcusestes 17y ago
If you find a track licensed under Creative Commons, be sure that it's not licensed Non-commercial. It's bar far the most common CC provision. Also try Rumblefish's music licensing store: http://musiclicensingstore.com/ http://musiclicensingstore.com/
samsonasu 17y ago
Archive.org has an "open source audio" section that contains a lot of CC licensed music. http://www.archive.org/details/opensource_audio http://www.archive.org/details/opensource_audio
aw3c2 17y ago
Whatever you end up with, make sure to double check it's legality. People like to put copyrighted music on free music websites. I too recommend archive.org and jamendo.com. Also check out http://www.freesound.org/ http://www.freesound.org/
petesalty 17y ago
shameless plug: You're welcome to use any of the music from my 2008 album, it's all CC - providing you can find anything worth using, I make no guarantees :) Just let me know if you're interested. http://snugglytako.rpmchallenge.com/ http://snugglytako.rpmchallenge.com/
anshulk 17y ago
thesixtyone has a CC section with a very good collection. Here is their CC electronic section: http://www.thesixtyone.com/cc/electronic/ http://www.thesixtyone.com/cc/electronic/ There are some other relevant genres too.
- jlgosse 17y ago
  Wow, I'm actually going to use this site as a source of music for myself as well. Good find.
erikwiffin 17y ago
http://musopen.com/ http://musopen.com/ is a pretty decent archive of classical music. Not quite what you're looking for, but a useful resource if others are interested

17 points by jlgosse 17y ago

billpg 17y ago

ccmixter is good.

dstik 17y ago

you might be able to find something you like at http://www.youlicense.com/ http://www.youlicense.com/ they have a lot of bands and if you can't find something you like for free you'll still definitely get a good licensing deal.

jmillikin 17y ago

Take a look at Jamendo < http://www.jamendo.com/en/ http://www.jamendo.com/en/ > -- it offers music licensed under Creative Commons licenses, and it's relatively high-quality.

dalenkruse 17y ago

Check out iamusic.com.

stevejohnson 17y ago

There are a lot of musicians who advertise themselves on iDevGames in the Classifieds section of the forum (http://idevgames.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=4 http://idevgames.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=4). A lot of them will work for free, or under very reasonable terms, because they want to experiment with games or they're just feeling generous. And they really are responsive. I've worked with a couple.

marcusestes 17y ago

If you find a track licensed under Creative Commons, be sure that it's not licensed Non-commercial. It's bar far the most common CC provision. Also try Rumblefish's music licensing store: http://musiclicensingstore.com/ http://musiclicensingstore.com/

samsonasu 17y ago

Archive.org has an "open source audio" section that contains a lot of CC licensed music. http://www.archive.org/details/opensource_audio http://www.archive.org/details/opensource_audio

aw3c2 17y ago

Whatever you end up with, make sure to double check it's legality. People like to put copyrighted music on free music websites. I too recommend archive.org and jamendo.com. Also check out http://www.freesound.org/ http://www.freesound.org/

petesalty 17y ago

shameless plug: You're welcome to use any of the music from my 2008 album, it's all CC - providing you can find anything worth using, I make no guarantees :) Just let me know if you're interested. http://snugglytako.rpmchallenge.com/ http://snugglytako.rpmchallenge.com/

anshulk 17y ago

thesixtyone has a CC section with a very good collection. Here is their CC electronic section: http://www.thesixtyone.com/cc/electronic/ http://www.thesixtyone.com/cc/electronic/ There are some other relevant genres too.

jlgosse 17y ago
Wow, I'm actually going to use this site as a source of music for myself as well. Good find.

erikwiffin 17y ago

http://musopen.com/ http://musopen.com/ is a pretty decent archive of classical music. Not quite what you're looking for, but a useful resource if others are interested