Looking for "Royalty-Free" recordings for use in multimedia productions
  • catholicservantcatholicservant
    Posts: 8
    Hello,
    I create web-based multimedia for Catholic organizations (i.e. Dioceses and other Catholic non-profits) – e.g. a photo/video slideshow of ordinations, tours of historic churches, etc.

    I often struggle trying to find suitable background music for these productions. Proper use of licensed works is a deep dark rabbit hole. However, I've been fortunate on occasion to get permission directly from the source.

    There are websites where you can buy 'royalty-free' music beds, but they never have 'Classical' music – at least the ones I've found.

    Any suggestions on where to find quality recordings of Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Hayden, etc. for this kind of use?

    NOTE: Although many compositions are considered 'public domain', the performances themselves are not.

    Thanks!
    Craig
  • marajoymarajoy
    Posts: 783
    Are you more interested in orchestral or choral recordings (obviously MUCH harder to get permission for, as there are so many players involved!) or soloists? (single pianists, organists, etc.)
  • catholicservantcatholicservant
    Posts: 8
    At this point, I'll take what I can get. :)

    It would be nice to know if there's a Catholic music label out there willing to license recordings for multimedia. I'm guessing there are not.
  • irishtenoririshtenor
    Posts: 1,325
    Perhaps CC Watershed would be willing to try to work something out with you? I'm sure you would have a lot of particulars to work out, but at least you could ask! I'm sure Matt Curtis would be a good person to ask, too.
  • catholicservantcatholicservant
    Posts: 8
    @irishtenor - thanks for the tip!
  • RobertRobert
    Posts: 343
    I would say your best bet is older recordings that are no longer under copyright--this means very old recordings, not exactly hi-fidelity but for web content it may suit.

    archive.org would be a good place to start. For example:

    http://archive.org/details/MozartMinuetInCMajor

    http://archive.org/details/BeethovenSymphonyNo.4

    http://archive.org/details/J.s.BachViolinConcertoInEMajormenuhin

    http://archive.org/details/SibeliusSymphonyNo.5
  • catholicservantcatholicservant
    Posts: 8
    @robert - thanks for the tip!

  • marcMan
    Posts: 1
    Check www.soundtaxi.net, there you can find a wide variety of orchestral music.

    Hope this helps...
  • catholicservantcatholicservant
    Posts: 8
    @marcman - perfect! Thanks!
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    I'd humbly suggest that your work would be more valuable if you were to avoid orchestral secular works and concentrate on Catholic music for Catholic videos....even the Catholic composer Bruckner I feel would not be comfortable with his symphonies being played at Mass.

    If you view just the opening of the video at:
    http://www.ccwatershed.org/video/8941838/?return_url=/cmaa/
    you may see what I mean.

    Jeffrey Ostrowski has the rights to that music and more...

    Please know that we welcome your interest and are willing to help!

  • Manuel
    Posts: 1
    Hello,

    I want to share a great royalty free music websites to get acoustic music for media projects. the site is [site name deleted by moderator].

    There are many sensitive music tracks that i think that will fit for this kind of projects

    kind regards

    Manuel
  • francis
    Posts: 10,816
    i could make some tracks perhaps

    which pieces r u thinking about?
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611

    SCAM....well, not a scam, but not "free".

    You do not pay royalties to the composer, but you have to pay to license the use of it for a limited period of time.

    You don't own the house, you just rent it. That's hardly free.

    Manuel, I want to "share" something with you, you've joined and in the very first 16 minutes publicized your product.

    Now, if you had submitted some modal music, possibly....
  • rich_enough
    Posts: 1,048
    This site looks promising - it includes a lot of classical recordings, all in the public domain:

    http://musopen.org
  • francis
    Posts: 10,816
    wow rich... great site... tis amazing what you can find for free.
  • rich_enough
    Posts: 1,048
    Note the fine print:

    Musopen requires all users who upload music to the site to represent that the uploaded musical composition and/or the sound recording is in the public domain. However, please note that Musopen cannot guarantee that any music uploaded by its users is, in fact, in the public domain. While Musopen seeks to prevent copyright infringement and complies as a service provider with the requirements of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), Musopen does not review music uploaded by users of the site to determine if the music is in the public domain or subject to copyright. We strongly encourage anyone who wishes to use music found on Musopen to familiarize themselves with copyright law and the public domain and to independently assess whether any given musical work or sound recording is in the public domain and not otherwise subject to third party rights.


    Bottom line: use at your own risk!
    Thanked by 1Gavin
  • francis
    Posts: 10,816
    rich:

    If I was including music in media projects, I would always follow up with a phone call and get something in black and white that gives permission to use the music from ensemble that created it.
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