A friend supervises a workplace and had been playing nice music over the speaker system in the hallways and waiting rooms. But they’ve been told that they can no longer play copyrighted music of any kind, so I’m looking for alternatives that are free of cost and royalty free.
What I’ve come across so far isn’t great. On the lower end you have music that sounds like what you’d hear on an elevator, on hold on the phone or a corporate promo video. On the slightly higher end it’s still generic music that gets tedious after a half hour.
I know it’s a big ask, but does anyone have really good free music that can be played in the work place and around customers? Some customers are there for orientation appointments in the college and some are there for counselling.
My friend has their own CDs, but it’s not allowed. Youtube isn’t an option because of the ads. I assume Spotify isn’t an option for the same reason.
Update: I was having a great time with somafm.com until I realised I can’t use them for public performances / commercially. I’ve found some decent tracks at https://pixabay.com/music/search/instrumental such as this one https://pixabay.com/music/beats-lofi-instrumental-409202/ that are free of charge and allow public and commercial use.
I’ve also found (but yet to explore) Fesliyan Studios, Bensound and uppbeat.io
My producer, Neigsendoig, has some music you could use. Just search up [at]Neigsendoig using an Invidous instance, and put on a playlist or album of his music. He doesn’t mind if people uses it as long as he’s credited.
I’d only recommend the ones with CC BY as the license, and maybe you could use Wavlake in order to ensure you can credit him properly.
Interesting. I like that music. It’s a little different. The only way I think attribution can really work on their system is if I record myself announcing the tracks. I’m not sure how I feel about that though. I’ll be listening myself anyway, thanks again.
I thought you were doing that over the airwaves. My mistake on that, as that’s an autism moment. For just the store or something along those lines, you don’t need to do so. Sendo is absolutely fine with it. I think CC BY is only enforceable if there’s some sort of video, movie, livestream, etc. that basically has it displayed. For a shop like yours, he can’t control that, since that’s what the license is.
Sometimes, for a few of them, they’re ARR, but he doesn’t mind that either.
How about some AI music? You can make or download some in Suno, or Udio. There’s no copyright for AI generated music as far as u know, but may depend on jurisdiction
That’s been challenged by UMG or Warner I think.
It’ll be interesting to see the outcome. I personally don’t agree with that verdict. There should be copyright somewhere. It’s not like computer decides to make music on its own whim, like that monkey who snapped a selfie.
Does it matter whether music was generated by pressing keyboard keys, or typing a prompt? What if i write a program that makes an audio file by matching chords that work well together? What of chords and notes are randomly selected?
Classical music seems like a good choice. Not all recordings are public domain, but because much of the compositions are old as hell it’s easier to find older recordings that are out of copyright. Here’s a list!
That’s great, thank you. The clientele here are on the younger side but I will personally get great use out of that list :)
Edit: actually, there are some great songs there for any age group. I’ll definitely include some in the play list. Thanks again!
YouTube in Firefox with ublock origin… Not sure if that goes against any licences…
Just about all of them.
- I second what @martine@sh.itjust.works suggests
- I knew of Pixabay for images, cool you found they also do music
- Another source: maybe Jamendo? Here’s their page on licensing. I believe those subscription plans support use with fewer limitations & additional features/services, but I think you can start building a library of tracks for free (but I am not an expert)
Thank you so much, Jamendo looks ideal! I’ve been downloading from Pixabay, but with Jamendo I could possible create an account for them and gradually add songs to it as I find ones that suit.
Edit: I just see that a subscription is actually paid. The institution in question won’t cover that but I’ll mention it because management might reconsider when there’s a good offer like this that ticks all the boxes.
Good to hear it might be useful 😀
a big ask
Hey. When you’re not selling cars, it’s still just ‘a request’.
good free music that can be played in the work place and around customers?
Try the radio: https://radio.garden/
I like radio garden. But it’s not permitted to play radio in a commercial setting that has visiting public. It counts as a public performance and requires a license.
Soma.fm!!
Their terms don’t allow public performances, unfortunately. But I really enjoyed what I heard there so I’ll be keeping a tab open for myself. Thank you :)
i dont think the songs soma.fm plays are generally copyright free, many artists i listen to there have regular releases.
Check out soma.fm. Groove Salad is my fav station, there are other great options too. All free.
I noticed the hold music for a government office the other day sounded the same as one from a porn game.
Maybe they had answered :)
Do you really need to play music? I’ve never heard anyone say they will (not) shop at x because they don’t play music.
Yes, the staff and clientele would both like music. It’s not a shop as such, but a set of services. They used to have music in the past until they were alerted to the need for both a commercial license and a public performance license. So due to the budget set by senior powers, the music was dropped. They’re trying to change that now.
