Audio/music

Audio and music found on the internet has the same copyright protection as a music CD purchased from a shop. Copying, reusing or distributing this material will infringe copyright unless the copyright owner has given you their express permission. Getting into contact with the copyright owner is not always easy, so a few websites have developed licences which allow others to reuse their audio or music under certain terms and conditions. Always remember to check the terms and credit the material unless specified otherwise.

Sound recordings like audio and music, comprise of different elements which have different types of copyright protection applied to them:

• Music - standard term of copyright is for 70 years from the end of the year of the author's death, whether the work is published or not;
• Words - the lyrics of a song or spoken word recording are protected by copyright for 70 years after the author's death;
• Recording - the copyright for a recording lasts for 50 years after it is released.

Copying of audio / music

The law allows the following copying of recordings:

• you can copy all or a substantial part of a recording for the purpose of criticism and review, provided the source is acknowledged;
• you can use recording copies for the purpose of illustration for instruction, however the use must be non-commercial and made available only through a secure electronic network;
• you can use copies made from recordings for the purpose of examination or submitted assignments. Such copies need to be destroyed after the examination has taken place. 

For material you wish to record that are still in copyright and your use falls outside the legal exceptions, you must:

• get written permission from the copyright holder;
• hold a licence to copy the material;
• be permitted to do so by exceptions to copyright. 

For commercial use, you will need permission to re-use in copyright material. Permission has to be sought from three parties: composer, music publisher and record company. There are a few organisations that can help regarding permissions and licences:

• Public performance of music: the performance of live and recorded music for commercial purposes is licensed in the UK by PPL PRS - TheMusicLicence. You may need to get permission from the copyright owner to upload musical performances to some online platforms, but this depends on the context.
• Public performance of literary work: under UK copyright law you are allowed to recite “reasonable" quotes from books and journals in public without needing a licence. You may record the reading or recitation and share it online, as long as the quoted material is only a small part of the overall recording.

Resources A-Z

• Audio Library – No Copyright Music Channel – YouTube channel dedicated to search, catalogue, sort and publish free music for commercial purposes, destined to content creators and filmmakers. Has over 900 free songs, sorted by artist, musical genre and mood.
• BBC Sound Effects - the BBC Sound Effects Archive has over 33,000 clips from around the world, including recordings from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and the Blitz. You can explore sounds from every continent, from Oxford bells to a Patagonian waterfall. Please read the terms and conditions of use. 
• Bensound – audio tracks which you can use for education purposes and e-learning with their CC licence. Make sure usage falls within the terms.
• ccMixter – is a community music site featuring remixes licensed under Creative Commons, where you can listen to, sample, mash-up, or interact with music in whatever way you want.
• Creative Commons Search - Creative Commons (CC) to search for music with CC licences on Jamendo. See the Creative Commons website for more information on its licences.
• Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL) - provides free choral sheet music. Most of the scores on CPDL are modern editions based on older works where copyright has lapsed, but some scores are newly composed and offered for download by the composer. Please refer to their copyright pages here.  
• Free Music Archive - offers free downloads under Creative Commons and other licenses.
• IMSLP – International Music Score Library Project from Canada. Provides music scores which can be downloaded to support music history, analysis, and harmony modules etc.
• Mobygratis – free music for non-profit filmmakers.
• National Jukebox – historical recordings form the Library of Congress. Historical sound recordings have been available to the public free of charge. These recordings can be streamed from the site but should not be downloaded and saved.
• Open Music Archive – copyright has expired or is in the public domain.
• Ultimate list of Free Music – page listing 34 websites of royalty free of Creative Commons licensed music.

Please note that the website links have been compiled to highlight the range of websites available but are not endorsed by the University.

For more information please contact the University Copyright and Licensing Manager.