Free Music Archive FAQ
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What is Free Music Archive (FMA)?
What do you mean by "FREE" music?
How can I tell which license is being used for a specific track?
How can I search for songs by license type?
How can I search for songs by duration?
How do Creative Commons licenses work?
How should I give attribution?
What exactly is a "Derivative work"?
What exactly does "NonCommercial" mean?
I'm not sure whether I have permission to make a certain use. Who should I contact?
Can I use this music for my internet radio station/gym/hold music/etc?
What's the deal with the FMA Retired Licenses?
What is Free Music Archive (FMA)?
Free Music Archive (FMA) offers free access to open licensed, original music by independent artists around the world. Tens of millions of online visitors roam the FMA catalog each month to find and download original songs for personal use or featured tracks in media projects. Tracks on FMA are featured in countless videos, podcasts, films, games, apps, commercials, documentaries, and more!
Powered by Tribe of Noise, together with Creative Commons licenses, FMA provides sustainable online spaces for artists and listeners to harness the potential of music sharing. Every FMA artist will have their own digital hub to publish their original songs, be discovered by countless media makers, and have the space to share where FMA visitors can purchase their works. To increase the value of music sharing, FMA visitors can compensate artists directly, when possible, with the different monetization models each FMA artists are able to enable on their artist page.
Get to know FMA on the About Free Music Archive page.
What do you mean by "FREE" music?
You don't need to create an account, you can download and listen to music without paying (with your private data).
FREE doesn't mean you are free to use, alter or build upon all songs without any conditions. Most of the music on Free Music Archive is licensed under one of the popular Creative Commons licenses. This means the music is copyright protected and some conditions apply before you can re-use the song. Interested to learn more?
Works that aren't subject to any copyright restrictions are said to be in the public domain, which means you're free to do pretty much whatever you want with them. Some tracks in the FMA could be in the public domain for a couple of reasons. First, it's possible that its copyright term has expired. (Generally, until 2018, only works made prior to 1923 fall into this category). Second, it's possible that the work's rights-holders have waived all their rights by using a CC0 license.
For a more detailed guide of the Creative Commons licenses on FMA, please follow the License Guide here
How can I tell which license is being used for a specific track?
On the left side of the track page, you will see the specific Creative Commons license attached to the track.
How can I search for songs by license type?
You can search for songs by using the FMA License Filter.
- Click on the License filter
- Select the specific use you need
- Click on the orange Search button to see the results
How can I search for songs by duration?
You can search for songs by duration using the FMA Duration Filter.
- Click on Duration Filter
- Select how many minutes you need
- Click on the orange Search button to see the results
How do Creative Commons licenses work?
There are several Creative Commons licenses, which allow varying degrees of use and impose varying requirements on users. To achieve this diversity of options while keeping things relatively simple, CC mixes and matches four key license terms: Attribution ("BY"), NonCommercial ("NC"), NoDerivatives ("ND"), and ShareAlike ("SA").
CC BY: You are free to share; copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and adapt for remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially under these conditions:
- Attribution is required
- You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits
CC BY SA: You are free to share copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and adapt for the remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially under these conditions:
- Attribution is required
- If you remix, transform or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
CC BY-ND: You are free to share copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially under these conditions:
- Attribution is required
- If you remix, transform or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material
CC BY NC: You are free to share copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format adapt remix, transform, and build upon the material under these conditions:
- Attribution is required
- NonCommercial: you may not use the material for commercial purposes
CC BY NC SA: You are free to share copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format under these conditions:
- Attribution is required
- You may not use the material for commercial purposes
- If you remix, transform or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material
- You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits
CC BY NC ND: You are free to share copies and redistribute the material in any medium or format under these conditions:
- Attribution is required
- NonCommercial: you may not use the material for commercial purposes.
- NoDerivatives: if you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
- You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
CC0/Public Domain: You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work under these conditions:
- Attribution is required
- for non commercial and commercial purposes
- all without asking permission
For a more detailed guide of the Creative Commons licenses on FMA, please follow theLicense Guide here
How should I give attribution?
Any license that includes BY requires “Attribution” which means giving credit to the creator of the work. This basically means you need to list the Title, Author, Source & License associated with the work, here’s an example:
Short version:
- Tra-la-la by Podington Bear
- From the Free Music Archive, CC BY-NC
Long version:
- On A Saturday / https://freemusicarchive.org/music/J_Hacha_de_Zola/icaro-nouveau/on-a-saturday/
- J Hacha de Zola / https://freemusicarchive.org/music/J_Hacha_de_Zola/
- Free Music Archive / https://freemusicarchive.org/
- CC BY / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The licenses also suggest that you cite your sources in a way that is appropriate to the medium, meaning that you are encouraged to include attribution verbally if it's in a podcast or broadcast, in the credits of a film, in the reference list of a research paper, etc. Where possible, link back to the original work, source, and license to make it easier for your audience. If you cannot give attribution or do not want to, you must ask the artist for further permission.
What exactly is a "Derivative work"?
Generally speaking, mashups and remixes are derivative works. Under Creative Commons licenses, incorporating a song into a video is a derivative work, too. More specifically, "Derivative work" is a legal term that comes straight from the Copyright Act. Here's how the law defines it, in part:
"A 'derivative work' is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted."
For more on what is and isn't a derivative work, see the Creative Commons FAQ, "Does my use constitute a derivative work or an adaptation?"
What exactly does "NonCommercial" mean?
First of all, we are no authority on what counts as a commercial purpose, and neither are Creative Commons and their fleets of lawyers who created these terms. What matters is how the licensor and licensee interpret these things. Here's how Creative Commons explains this on their FAQ Wiki:
"CC's NonCommercial (NC) licenses prohibit uses that are 'primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation.' Whether a use is commercial will depend on the specifics of the situation and the intentions of the user. In CC's experience, whether a use is permitted is usually pretty clear, and known conflicts are relatively few considering the popularity of the NC licenses. However, there will always be uses that are challenging to categorize as commercial or noncommercial. CC cannot advise you on what is and is not commercial use. If you are unsure, you should either contact the creator or rightsholder for clarification or search for works that permit commercial uses. Please note that CC's definition does not turn on the type of user: if you are a nonprofit or charitable organization, your use of an NC-licensed work could run afoul of the NC restriction; and if you are a for-profit entity, your use of an NC-licensed work does not necessarily mean you have violated the term."
I'm not sure whether I have permission to make a certain use. Who should I contact?
Contact the artist of the track to ask for further permission via the contact section on their artist page.
Can I use this music for my internet radio station/gym/hold music/etc?
The music you can use depends on a lot of things. Here are just a few questions that come to mind.
- Is your intended use commercial in nature? Does advertising revenue factor into your project/business, or are you promoting a product? If so, you can only use Creative Commons music that allows for commercial use.
- How will you give the artists credit? Will you announce the artists' names and the titles of their songs somehow? Most CC music requires attribution in a manner appropriate to the medium.
- Will you also use Creative Commons in your project/business? If not, then you can't use the materials on our website that say "Share-Alike" without additional permissions.
- Will you blend, remix or modify the songs? If so, you shouldn't use "No Derivatives" works without further permission.
You also need to understand the rules for broadcasting music in your specific region. How to deal with collecting societies (royalties/fees) or other stakeholders who might (not) have been informed by the rightsholders about the CC licensed works? When in doubt, contact the artist.
I used Creative Commons music in my video, but it was flagged by YouTube's Content ID system. What now?
Some artists on the FMA have started using YouTube's Content ID system to protect their intellectual property. This use does not conflict with the terms of a Creative Commons license. Since YouTube's Content ID prohibits independent artists from uploading and managing their own music, it makes FMA artists highly vulnerable to this possibility.
When an artist licenses their music using Creative Commons on Free Music Archive, they retain their copyright but extend permissions for you to use their copyrighted content according to the terms of the license. Free Music Archive cannot and does not license music, so we cannot change the terms of the licenses, FMA cannot address Content ID claims directly.
When your video is flagged, reach out to the artists themselves. Since artists can't manage their catalogs in YouTube's Content ID system directly, some may not even realize it's being claimed (or by whom). Some artists are happy to waive the third-party rights warning for your specific video, upon seeing that you have correctly followed the terms of the license (i.e., you've given credit, shared alike when necessary, followed non-commercial use guidelines, etc).
What are the differences between "International" licenses and ones for specific countries like "The United States"?
All Creative Commons licenses apply worldwide. In past versions of these licenses (versions 3.0 and earlier), they would specify a country or specific jurisdiction to reflect the local nuances in laws. Both the country-specific (ported) and the international licenses are intended to be legally effective everywhere.
The latest suite of licenses (4.0) has been drafted with particular attention to the need for international enforceability.
What's the deal with the FMA Retired Licenses?
There were a handful of other licenses on FMA in the past, but most have been retired, merged with Creative Commons licenses, or are otherwise uncommon. These licenses are not available on FMA anymore but are still applicable. The CC Licenses listed above are available for FMA artists to license. If you do encounter a work not licensed under the ones above, contact the artist or the FMA team.
FMA-Limited License: Download Only
This license allows ONLY for personal downloading, listening, and streaming. Many artists are willing to allow for non-commercial broadcasts etc but require further written permission. For more info, read the full text of the license.
How to use it:
- No video, no redistribution, no broadcast/podcast, etc.
- More permissions must be obtained directly from the artist
Disclaimer
The FAQ provides general information about legal topics; it does not provide individual legal advice. FMA provides this information on an "as-is" basis. Use of this FAQ does not create an attorney-client relationship between the FMA and the user, and the FMA disclaims liability for damages resulting from its use.
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