50+ Royalty-Free Stock Music Sites

by CourVO | May 10, 2010 | Music | 42 comments

Have I mentioned I’m a prodigious list-maker?

I am….my shrink has yet to explain the significance.

With Google around, it may seem a moot point, but then again, Google only provides search results, and the list I have here today is sifted, winnowed, filtered and somewhat vetted.

Voice-Actors are always looking for royalty-free, stock music, music beds, sound effects, looped tracks, and public domain music (must be 1922 or older, BTW).

HERE‘s a great site that explains public domain, copywriting, and music copying principles. Reading below, you’ll see a list that I’ve compiled from — first — my trusted friends at the VO-BB (Voice Over Bulletin Board), and secondly from a Google search using the terms “royalty-free”, “music-beds”, “public domain”, and “stock music”.

I can tell you that I visited each site, and found them all to be exactly what they claim to be. Not all sites are made the same, but you’ll see a lot of similarities among them: free download samples, graduated pricing structures, an occasional calendar special, packaged specials, and a spectrum of music genres.

Digging into some of the sites will yield sections that offer looped tracks, special effects, stingers, and sound effects. I’d recommend checking out the first ten-or-so on the list before going deeper…but they’re all genuine.

CourVO

http://www.digitaljuice.com/
http://www.footagefirm.com/
http://www.pond5.com/
http://www.stock20.com/commerce/index.php
http://www.mymusicsource.com/
http://www.yopo.co.uk/
http://www.radio-mall.com/stxold.htm
http://www.tracksnow.com/shopping/catalog/
http://www.shockwave-sound.com/
http://www.sound-ideas.com/
http://www.freeplaymusic.com/
http://www.flyinghands.com/
http://www.cssmusic.com/
http://www.smartsound.com/
http://www.soundsnap.com/
http://www.findsounds.com/
http://www.killertracks.com
http://www.musicbakery.com/
http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/
http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/
http://www.mediamonkey.com/
http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/free-music.html
http://incompetech.com/static/music/
http://www.publicdomain4u.com/
http://www.publicdomain4u.com/
http://derekaudette.ottawaarts.com/music.php
http://www.stockmusicstore.com
http://www.freemusicbeds.com/
http://www.mysourcefor.org
http://www.freshmusic.com/
http://www.audiomicro.com/
http://www.beatsuite.com/
http://www.opuzz.com/
http://www.premiumbeat.com/
http://www.royalty-free.tv/
http://audiojungle.net/
http://www.primaryelements.com/
http://www.loopsound.com/
http://www.iamusic.com/
http://www.whitebeetle.com/
http://www.pdinfo.com/
http://beatdock.com/
http://www.productiontrax.com/
http://www.buyabeat.com/
http://www.studiocutz.com/
http://www.stockmusicsite.com/
http://www.allmusiclibrary.com/
http://www.buyoutmusictracks.com/
http://www.sounddogs.com/
http://www.sfxsource.com/
http://www.bbm.net/
http://www.stonewashed.net/buyoutmusic.html
http://www.footagefirm.com/

(Author’s note: the following two added 5-20-10 from suggestions of the ones I missed – also see next blog article)

http://www.jewelbeat.com

http://www.doschdesign.com/products/audio/Dosch_Trailer_Music_Sounds.html

(another added 6-13-10)

http://www.music2license.com/

(another added 6-25-10)
http://www.musicrevolution.com

(another added 12-14-10)

http://www.directcomposer.com/

(another added 3-15-11)

http://stockfuel.com/

(another added 6-11-11)

http://www.stockmusic.net/

(this one added 8-17-11)

http://soundbible.com/

(added 3-15-12)

http://www.themusicase.com/

added (6-25-12)
http://musicforproductions.com/home.aspx

http://audiojungle.net/

added (8-28-12)
http://www.grooveoption.com/
added (1-24-13)
http://www.dl-sounds.com/
added (6-10-13)
http://www.soundtaxi.net/en/
(added 7-27-13)

http://www.melodypods.com/

(added 1-26-14)
UniqueTracks Production Music Library
http://www.uniquetracks.com
(added 12-27-15)

https://www.909music.com/

Comments

comments

42 Comments

Guy Lewis on May 10, 2010 at 3:21 pm

Hi Dave, if you get the chance It would be great to see you add AmbientMusicGarden.com to your list as we offer all our music royalty free as well.

Many thanks,

Guy Lewis
Reply
Greg on May 11, 2010 at 12:17 pm

Looks like you missed one of the top 5.
http://www.royaltyfreemusiclibrary.com
Reply
Linda Ristig on May 13, 2010 at 10:39 am

Hi Dave!

Here’s my current favorite for royalty free music:

http://www.BobsMusicCafe.com

(They also have terrific customer service!)

Best,
Linda
Reply
Levi on May 17, 2010 at 8:51 am

I’m with Greg. I have used http://www.royaltyfreemusiclibrary.com twice. Music is good and licensing is easy to understand. (which isn’t always the case with some royalty free sites)
Reply
Ian Kirton on June 13, 2010 at 3:23 am

Hi Dave,
I would really appreciate it if you could take a look at our new royalty free music site and maybe add it to your list. http://www.music2license.com.

Best wishes,

Ian Kirton.
Reply
Chris Cardell on June 24, 2010 at 12:18 pm

You should also consider MusicRevolution.com (https://www.musicrevolution.com), an innovative new online marketplace for royalty-free production music. I am the Co-Founder.

Chris Cardell
Reply
Andrew on December 13, 2010 at 1:30 am

Please consider http://www.directcomposer.com
It really is a whole other level of cutting edge stock music.
I think you will love it.
cheers
Reply
Brad Whiting on December 21, 2010 at 9:49 am

That’s a great list, I do a lot of multimedia for work, so I’m always looking for more music to add to my library.
Reply
rty_oleon on February 19, 2011 at 12:26 pm

check out http://www.freestockfor.us and http://www.allourstock.com both 100% free (Creative Commons licensing)
Reply
ajlst21 on March 14, 2011 at 11:23 am

I like the list, not sure if this made it or not, but there is plenty of decent SFX and audio and music over there… http://stockfuel.com
Reply
- CourVO on March 14, 2011 at 4:09 pm
  
  Thanks, Alexander…I’ll add the link to the list.
  
  DC
  Reply
Jerry on March 15, 2011 at 8:01 am

Wow! This is a fantastic list of royalty-free stock music sites. Thank you so much for taking the time to share them with us here. This will save us an awful lot of time with voice over and video production! And the fact that you actually took the time to check each one of the 50+ websites out yourself is an added plus. I will DEFINITELY be blogging about this and sharing your website with my readers over at my blog, http://cheapvoiceoversandvideos.blogspot.com/. You offer a lot of truly valuable resources for the voice over community. Thanks again!
Reply
- CourVO on March 15, 2011 at 2:16 pm
  
  Jerry,
  
  Thanks for visiting and commenting those kind words.
  
  I appreciate the link…
  
  write soon, write often,
  
  Dave C
  Reply
Joe on April 28, 2011 at 1:44 pm

I currently enjoy using http://www.soundjig.com for free royalty free music and sound effects.
Reply
Leanne on June 10, 2011 at 7:31 am

Another site to be added to this list is http://www.stockmusic.net. We provide royalty free music licensing for all media forms and do custom composing as well. Not to mention we have witty and fun track descriptions so that you don’t get bored as you browse.

🙂

Thanks for making the list!
Reply
- CourVO on June 11, 2011 at 12:26 pm
  
  Thanks for writing, Leane! I’ll be sure to add it to the list!
  
  Dave C
  Reply
Charles Johnson on August 16, 2011 at 3:26 am

We are an audio / sound production company that specializes is providing
high quality audio for students, faculty, non profit agencies and projects.
Our resource is 100% free and has loads of free content your students would
hopefully be interested in.

We’ve worked with such fine organizations as the British Columbia Ministry
of Finance, Stony Brook University in NY, Our Dynamic Earth, and Tux Paint a
popular paint program designed for children.

We were hoping you could offer our services to your students and faculty. We
saw where you http://www.courvo.com/2010/05/50-royalty-free-stock-music-sites.html
and hoped you would consider adding our site as well.

If we can help you at all, or if you happen to have questions about
SoundBible.com just let us know.

In addition to this project we have started what is going to be another top
knotch project WikiTopic.org, an open discussion platform that aims to
promote local and regional topics submitted by users.

While it’s not a audio resource is is a nice discussion utility for class
discussions, no registration is required.
.

—
Thanks C.J.

Charles Johnson
Koenig Media, LLC
Reply
- CourVO on August 17, 2011 at 12:55 am
  
  Charles,
  
  Thanks for tipping me off to this site. I chuckled about your reference to “my students”. This is just a blog for VO talent where I share whatever information I come across that enables my peers.
  
  I’m not only going to add your site to the current list on the previous article, but I blogged about soundbible.com and other recent adds to the list on Today’s blog.
  
  I appreciate your stopping by to let us know!
  
  Dave C
  Reply
TheGuy on August 20, 2011 at 1:41 pm

Killertracks.com is not rights managed, not royalty free
Reply
- CourVO on August 20, 2011 at 8:48 pm
  
  Thanks for stopping by, “guy”…
  
  Educate me/us. What’s the discinction here? Is Killertracks.com illegal? Is Killertracks.com breaking some rules? Does in not belong in this list? In short…can you flesh-out your comment a little.
  
  I’d really like to know.
  
  Thanks for taking the time to raise the flag.
  
  Dave C
  Reply
Manuel on November 29, 2011 at 7:34 am

Hello people,
I want to share a new royalty free music site with pianos music tracks
There are many genres and moods with high quality sound.
http://www.royaltyfreepianos.com
Reply
Heather Farrar on February 21, 2012 at 8:50 am

Needed a sound effect for a project and realized you were the guru who put this together a few blogs back. Went to you site here did a simple search and BAM! got what I needed…thanks Dave…you certainly are amazing!
Reply
Bill on March 15, 2012 at 3:19 am

Hi Dave
Like your list.
There are many players out there..

You can also check http://www.themusicase.com and included in your list if you want.
i am working the last 5 years on royalty free music industry as an independent film maker and stock music libraries saved me a lot of time.

thanks.
Reply
- CourVO on March 15, 2012 at 11:55 pm
  
  Bill,
  
  You’re great for stopping by and letting me know about that. I’ve added it to the list.
  
  Let me know if there’s ever anything I can do for you.
  
  best,
  
  Dave Courvoisier
  Reply
Wesley Oliver on June 25, 2012 at 4:53 am

I have a new motivational track entitled “The Waterfall” I’d like to offer your readers 🙂 Thanks for listening !
Cheers! Wesley

Link:
http://audiojungle.net/item/the-waterfall-motivational-theme/2554784?WT.ac=new_item&WT.seg_1=new_item&WT.z_author=vizion-studios
Reply
- CourVO on June 25, 2012 at 9:05 pm
  
  Hi Wesley,
  
  I’d like to thank you on behalf of my readers for this generous offer. I’m including you in the 50+ Royalty-Free Stock Music sites list if that’s OK.
  
  I’m also adding you to an update blog I’m writing today on this article, since I also got a similar message from another visitor: Jean Anfossi. Know her?
  
  Best to you, and thanks for stopping by to comment!
  
  Dave Courvoisier
  Reply
Jean Anfossi on June 25, 2012 at 10:18 am

Hi Dave, Can you please add my company when you have time?
http://www.musicforproductions.com/home.aspx
Thank you:)
Jean
Reply
- CourVO on June 25, 2012 at 9:03 pm
  
  Jean,
  
  Done.
  
  CourVO
  Reply
  - Jean Anfossi on June 26, 2012 at 9:05 pm
    
    Thank you Dave!
    Reply
Mathias on August 27, 2012 at 8:00 am

Hi Dave,

Please also check out http://www.grooveoption.com

These tracks can be used for audio-video production.

Best regards,
Mathias
Reply
- CourVO on August 29, 2012 at 12:59 am
  
  Thanks for this link, Mathias…I’ve added it to that particular blog article.
  
  Dave C
  Reply
Frederique Desmarais on September 16, 2012 at 7:17 am

Hi Dave,

Royalty Free Music with free download is also available from http://www.royaltyfreeze.com
The free tracks on offer are changed a few times per month.
I find it an excellent source for original tracks.

Regards,
Frederique
Reply
Frederique Desmarais on September 16, 2012 at 7:21 am

Hi Dave,

In my previous message i’ve forgotten to mention the direct link to the page with the free tracks:

http://www.royaltyfreeze.com/free-instrumental-music

Regards,
Frederique
Reply
Kate on January 15, 2013 at 5:30 pm

Hey Dave,

I am totally new to the notion of purchasing music, but am embarking on a small video project that will require music. Regarding respect for copyrights, I am concerned that I might download something that is not legit. Is there a verified clearing house that can confirm that a particular stock music site is legit? Dave, I’d be so very grateful for your input.

Thanks!
Reply
Pascal on January 24, 2013 at 12:26 am

Another suggestion is http://www.dl-sounds.com 😉
Reply
Marc on June 10, 2013 at 5:44 am

Hi Dave,
great list! but It seems you missed another one of the top addresses for royalty free music, Soundtaxi.net.
I’d really appreciate, if you could add it. Thx a lot for checking it out!

best,
Marc
Reply
- CourVO on June 10, 2013 at 9:02 pm
  
  Thanks, Marc,
  
  Now added to the list!
  
  Dave Courvoisier
  Reply
Ambient Guy on July 27, 2013 at 2:47 am

On a slightly different slant, if you are looking for royalty free music to use in the background of your business, say for example, a cafe, restaurant, retail store etc, then http://www.melodypods.com offers up a simple way to play legal royalty free music in your business using smartphone and tablet apps. So not a traditional track download licensing website for production music needs but still royalty free background music.
Reply
- CourVO on July 27, 2013 at 10:06 pm
  
  Thanks!
  
  I’ve added this link to the list in that article.
  
  I appreciate your stopping by my blog.
  
  dave courvoisier
  Reply
  - AmbientGuy on July 28, 2013 at 1:19 am
    
    Thanks Dave.
    Reply
David Geary on January 22, 2014 at 4:28 pm

Hi Dave,

We have yet another site for your list.
UniqueTracks Production Music Library
http://www.uniquetracks.com
Online since 1998

Nice comprehensive list
Dave G.
Reply
android answers on January 28, 2014 at 9:34 am

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