Music for Video : A Portal For Filmmakers and Video Producers

Tracks to Sync is a monthly mix of music curated with the online video producer in mind.

As more and more people turn to video in the digital era, they are faced with the music licensing hurdles that have hindered many a film. At the same time, the increase in video production offers new opportunities for multimedia collaboration. This series aims to unite producers with musicians who have music to share for these purposes.

The tracks is this mix are available under Creative Commons licenses that allow for "derivative works," like a video (some CC licenses specify "NoDerivatives"), while retaining the parts of copyright that the rightsholders wish to keep. Creative Commons offers a few custom license combinations, and each is hyperlinked to a human-readable license + legal code, i.e. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike, aka "BY-NC-SA". You can read more about the various CC combos here, and check out FMA's HELP & FAQ for more resources.

Before using any Creative Commons music for a project, you need to make sure you follow the track's license in order to avoid copyright infringement. If you're not sure whether your use is pre-cleared by a particular license, it's always a good idea to reach out to the artist directly. Click the "i" button below to view the license along with a URL or email address where you can secure 'more permissions.'

We always love to hear about collaborations inspired by FMA music, so if you use one of these tracks, please post a link to the track page as well as to our Video Showcase. We'll feature our favorite video made using this month's tracks in the next Tracks to Sync!

5. Denmark's Quantum Jazz [quantumjazz.net] released End of Line, their second and final album, via Jamendo under a CC Attribution-ShareAlike license. Jamendo PRO offers a cool way to secure more permissions directly from the group.

6. GaBlé's 2003 netaudio release le sac de l enfer 1 is a recent add from France's Los Emes De Oso netlabel. It's chock full of intriguing lofi folk-hop beats. More music available at gableboulga.com. "humm ok" is CC BY-NC-SA.

7. CBC Radio's technology program Spark first introduced us to Bulgaria's Antony Raijekov (tony.cult.bg). "By the Coast" can be found on Jazz U, a 2003-2006 retrospective [CC BY-NC]

In September of 2011, I started editing the first season of my web series "8 for Vegas," a mockumetary about the NYC pool team Show Your Balls. I had a ton of footage, enough for 9 episodes... but was missing one crucial element: Music!

Earlier in the year, I shot video for a fundraising campaign and came across Kevin MacLeod's site of royalty-free music that is free to use commercially.

It was enormously helpful, and added a dimension to the series that only music can bring.

But I knew I was going to need a ton more music for the remaining episodes, and found myself at Soundcloud.com. Using their fantastic search feature, I was able to find a TON of music that was free to use commercially under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution license (the same license used by Kevin MacLeod).

We share all of our musical discoveries through a dedicated music page on our website. At the invitation of Jason from the FMA, we've also curated a mix of some selections for the Free Music Archive. I hope you enjoy it. There is not only fantastic music out there to use for your film and video projects, but also a bunch of great music to download and enjoy personally.

Thank you for reading!

John Painz

As tonight's Oscars ceremony longs for Hollywood's heyday with a conservative parade of nostalgia films, I've been watching some online videos and thinking about the future.

More and more independent filmmakers are raising funds and distributing their work outside of the traditional studio model. The bottlenecks for film have been shattered in the same way that they have for music, and there is much to be gained through collaborations. We've already seen some inspiring examples of independent producers and musicians joining forces. Since many FMA artists use video-friendly Creative Commons licenses, we started the Music for Video Portal to help build these connections and provide important resources.

The tracks below were all found in one of our featured videos, Retour aux Sources - Fontainebleau 2012. Check out these incredible shots of bouldering in Fontainebleau, France:

The CC BY-NC-SA tracks by Learning Music and Blue Ducks were already on the FMA.

The johnny_ripper album has just been added, and I love the title: "Soundtrack For a Film that Doesn't Exist." It's the third album by one man named Jean from Lille, France (pictured at right). His other albums are available at his site, and he describes this one as "audio content for visualizing scenes in your head," using a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license to help those ideas come into existence (contact him if you'd like to use his music in a commercial project, or in a project that is not also Creative Commons licensed!)

Tracks to Sync is series of mixes curated with the online video producer in mind. Along with a few new faces, this playlist features updates from artists who'll already be familar to FMA regulars. License and artist info below, and if you're new to the Creative Commons licenses that facilitate online sharing, we've gathered links to great resources in our Music for Video portal.

The Freak Fandango Orchestra is a multi-ethnic band from Barcelona who recently performed at Barbés Brooklyn and release music under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.

Oddio Overplay first introduced the FMA to Lee Rosevere, a Canadian composer who approaches music informed by his professional broadcast experience. His latest album was imagined as a soundtrack to Isaac Asimov's science fiction stories (link). [CC BY-NC-SA]

Ending Satellites from Bayonne France mix music with photography in a journey between pictures and melodies. Be sure to get the free deluxe version of their new album for its accompanying artworks! [Creative Commons BY-NC-SA]

The OO-Ray took part in disquiet's Instagr/am/bient: 25 Sonic Postcards in which artists composed music to accompany each other's insagram photos, using sonic and visual filters to explore the intersection of technology, aesthetics, and artistic process. [Creative Commons BY-NC-SA]

junior85 aka Tony Higgins has struck up a very cool collaboration with filmmaker Danny Cooke, which began here at the FMA and we wrote about last year. Danny commissioned a new soundtrack for his latest film about letterpress and movable type. Junior85's soundtrack to Upside Down, Left To Right - A Letterpress Film is now available under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license to inspire new works.

Blear Moon also inspired a Danny Cooke film, as featured in April's Tracks to Sync.  Now based in Prague, the Russia-born artist returns with another fantastic ambient release, Town of Two Houses. [Creative Commons BY-NC-SA]

Chris Zabriskie recently removed the NonCommercial clause from his work in favor of Attribution-only, and wrote an article, "Why I Went CC-BY," explaining his reasoning. His latest release, Undercover Vampire Policeman, is beautifully minimal and darkly cinematic, with excellent song titles to boot. [CC-BY]

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Most of these artists provide contact info if you'd like to reach out for more permissions than the CC license grants -- they'll be happy to hear from you, and it can lead to cool collaborations like this one between Tony Higgins and Danny Cooke:

Here's the latest volume of the FMA's Tracks to Sync series of Creative Commons music mixes curated with the online video producer in mind!

The FMA hosts music that wants to be shared under a range of licenses, and while some cannot be used in a video without permission from the artist because they have the "NoDerivatives" clause, the tracks in this mix can on terms that range from Attribution-only (CC BY) to the more popular Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA). If you're new to the site, you can read more in our FAQ and at Creative Commons' website.

Most of the artists in this mix offer more tracks on the FMA or beyond, so if you like what you hear you can dig deeper. You can also reach out to most artists directly via their homepage or FMA profile if you would like to license their music beyond the scope of the CC license, and whenever you use an artist's music we recommend sending them a link to the work they helped inspire by leaving a comment — they'll be happy to hear from you!

UK-based filmmaker Danny Cooke is Editor and Director of Photography of Ray: A Life Underwater, a short documentary about 75-year-old deep sea diver Ray Ives produced and directed by Amanda Bluglass. The filmmakers commissioned an original soundtrack by Tony Higgins (aka junior85), in an ongoing collaboration between Higgins and Cooke that was kindled by the Free Music Archive.

The commissioned works that Tony Higgins composed for Ray are now available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license via the Free Music Archive, where you can also find a bunch more of Tony's music (junior85 / half of Hogan Grip / former So Cow drummer).

I interviewed Danny Cooke via email:
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How did you discover the Free Music Archive?

I came across FMA whilst browsing the Vimeo forums.  When I came onto the site, I didn't expect much as let's be honest, most free music sites aren't that great! However, after listening to a few tracks, FMA stood out; the quality of music and categorisation on the website is astounding.

We often hear about the hurdles that videomakers face when attempting to clear music -- including everyone from home video makers to important documentaries. As a filmmaker who takes advantage of online distribution, have you run into any of these issues yourself? What drew you in to the Creative Commons music world?

As a small time filmmaker, I find it incredibly hard to clear music.  Mostly because of the costs involved; you just don't have the budget.  Many of my films are my own personal work which has no commercial gain.  FMA with the Creative Commons licenses is a perfect resource - I especially like 'Tracks To Sync'!

How does a small time filmmaker find funding? Do you have a sense that it might be similar to what musicians go through?

Most of my paid work has come from people seeing my portfolio of work.  They like what they see so they commission me to make a film for them.  I've also found that the Internet has provided me with a global audience, and I have sold bits of video that I didn't expect to sell to media based companies to use in TV ads and such.  I got a few friends in bands and it seems to be a similar thing going.

So how did you connect with Tony Higgins?

I discovered Tony's work when looking for a soundtrack for my documentary David A Smith - Sign Artist.   His heavy percussion based style was perfect for the project.  Both he and I found it easy to work together and Tony was kindly able to create new tracks as well as edit existing ones.  His work on our latest collaboration is absolutely fantastic.  Amanda (the director) and I wasn't sure if he could create a sea-feel because it was very different to his normal style - but he did it with ease.

The soundtracks Tony Higgins composed and that you commissioned specifically for your films -- not just for Ray but also OurGlass of Cockington, and David A Smith: Sign Artist -- are now available under Creative Commons licenses. How was this arranged?

There wasn't much arranging really, with Ray: A Life Underwater I mentioned it would be a good idea to release a soundtrack alongside the documentary.  Not every track was used but it was all original compositions that were submitted to both Amanda and myself.  I think it was up to Tony to decide whether it be released under Creative Commons license or not. Personally, I think it's a great idea as it all links back to the film!

hey, what are you up to this weekend?

YACHT wants you to do something creative. Like make a video using instrumentals from YACHT's new album Shangri-La. When we sent out the word about Vimeo hooking up with the Free Music Archive, the first response we got was from Jona Bechtolt of YACHT, excited about the prospect of making his music available to Vimeo's vibrant noncommercial video-making community. YACHT maintains an active Vimeo profile, and previously shared instrumentals from 2009's See Mystery Lights via the FMA. Now, Shangri-La instrumentals are also available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

Shangri-La was recorded by the YACHT duo of Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans, along with frequent collaborator Bobby Birdman. It's an ambitious concept album and one of our favorite releases of the year, so we're honored that Team YACHT chose FMA as the outlet from which to serve up these inspirational instro's. You can pick up the full version in 2xLP/CD/digital, released this summer on DFA.

To celebrate, Vimeo has issued a Special Weekend Project. The YACHT Music Challenge invites vimeans to create a 3 minute narrative that has two different endings: one positive (inspired by the YACHT song "Utopia") and one negative (drawing on the sound of YACHT's "Dystopia").

At the album's unveiling, YACHT declared that "With "Shangri-La,” we assert that the future is a blank slate upon which anything can be imposed" -- now it is up to you to envision that future!

Free Music Archive artists who wish to participate in the open sharing of their works now have a direct line to video producers through Vimeo. The classy video-hosting site is utilizing the Free Music Archive's API to index the video-safe portion of our library (i.e. Creative Commons tracks that don't have the "NoDerivatives" clause) as the free option in their "Music Store".

Vimeo is the go-to resource for creative independent video producers, and its community exists specifically to support noncommercial artists, so this is an exciting moment that will help those of us who share our music under these licenses to expand our reach. 

From Vimeo's announcement:

As many of you know, finding music for your videos can be somewhat... well, painful. Licensing music on your own can be confusing and finding good free music can take forever. Many of us here at Vimeo are video creators or filmmakers as well and we experience these frustrations on a regular basis. So, we decided to do something about it.

The majority of FMA music is pre-cleared for noncommercial use only, so it might sound strange for free music to be included in something called a "Music Store" alongside paid music from Audiosocket. But for many artists, free noncommercial sharing is part of a broader promotional strategy, and leads to lucrative commercial opportunities. We always love to hear from FMA artists about the cool collaborations that result when video producers discover their music on the FMA -- viral videos that reach 2 million views, commissioned scores for new documentary films, the mobile app soundtracks -- so please chime in if you have a story to tell.

Vimeo introduced Creative Commons licensing for video last summer, so we've already seen some inspiring video projects powered by CC music from the FMA educational projects, travelogues, time lapses, recipe-sharing, and science videos to the immensely popular cute animal videos. We look forward to the works that this bridge between the CC Music Community and the CC Video Community will inspire.

It sounds like the Music Store is going to continue to evolve, so if you have feedback you can leave a comment here.

Here's the latest volume of the FMA's Tracks to Sync series of Creative Commons music mixes curated with the online video producer in mind! The FMA hosts music that wants to be shared under a range of licenses, and while some cannot be used in a video without permission from the artist because they have the "NoDerivatives" clause, the tracks in this mix can on terms that range from Attribution-only (CC BY) to Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA). If you're new to the site, you can read more in our FAQ and at Creative Commons' website.

Most of the artists in this mix offer more tracks on the FMA or beyond, so if you like what you hear you can dig deeper. You can also reach out to most artists directly via their homepage or FMA profile if you would like to license their music beyond the scope of the CC license, and whenever you use an artist's music we recommend sending them a link to the work they helped inspire by leaving a comment — they'll be happy to hear from you!

Tracks to Sync is our series of Creative Commons mixes curated with the online video producer in mind.

Most of the tracks on this mix can be used as long as you follow the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license, while some grant more permissions, either striking the "ShareAlike" clause and/or the "NonCommercial" clause. Click the "i" for the song's info page, where you can see the license and find more of the artist's music -- they all have a bunch more music to share! 

Kevin MacLeod and Dan-O are two of the world wide web's most prolific and talented artists composing royalty-free music under Creative Commons Attribution licenses. All they ask is that you credit them in their specified manner, and/or make a small donation in thanks for their generosity.

Netlabel 12rec calls Nic Bommarito's music "cinescope beauty," and this track is off of the Rhode Islander's Harp Fragments.

Trip-hop turntable wizard Anitek hails from Morristown NJ, and has a vast library of instrumental tracks available via Jamendo.

Dave Merson Hess -- a fantastic composer in his own right -- recently contributed a spotlight/interview with Good Old Neon in which the band explains their reasons for using a Creative Commons license that allows for derivative works:

we’ve known right from the beginning that we wanted to be a part of the ‘musical/artistic conversation.’ We want people to remix our songs, to use them as soundtracks to their YouTube movies"

well hey, here's one mashing Good Old Neon with public domain footage, and it's got 100,000+ views on Vimeo -- pretty cool!

Helping Johnny Remember from ashleigh nankivell on Vimeo.

You can read more about Creative Commons licenses here, and be sure to check out our FAQ if you're new to this whole concept.