License Guide
What's A Music Licence?
How Can I License Music From FMA?
How to use Creative Commons Licences?
Retired Licences on FMA?
How to Credit artists?
What's a music licence?
A music licence is an agreement between the creator of music and/or rights holder and the user who wants to use this original music in a specific setting, for a specific purpose, and in a specific manner. Most of the music licences you will find on FMA are Creative Commons licences.
Creative Commons licences do not replace copyright. FMA artists can upload their own music and select a specific CC licence themselves. Free Music Archive does not own the copyright to these original works. FMA cannot license original work to you for commercial, private, or other use. FMA cannot alter nor change the terms of a music licence. It is up to the decision and permission of the rights' holder/artist/ creator.
Another form of music licence is “royalty-free”. This means the rights holder states the song is not managed by a third-party collecting royalties. Original, safe-to-use music licensed as “royalty-free / all rights included” can be found on Tribe of Noise PRO. In this case, the songs are curated, relevant metadata is added (easy search), Tribe of Noise guarantees the legality of the licence and helps you in the event of copyright claims. They do charge you a small fee. More about Tribe of Noise's pricing model.
How can I license music from FMA?
If the work is under a Creative Commons licence, you may use the work as long as you abide by the licence conditions, which are outlined below and in more detail on the Creative Commons website. To license music beyond the conditions of the licence, you must contact the artist and seek permission.
1. Get acquainted with Creative Commons licences terms and conditions first.
2. Find the specific CC licence conditions on the song page of the FMA artist.
3. Do you need different conditions for your project? Contact the artist to explain how you want to use the song and ask for written consent to do so.
How to use Creative Commons Licences?
The CC Licences are designed to fit on top of traditional copyright—meaning, the artists are sharing their works with these provisions; they still own the copyright to their work. When you see one of these symbols on our site next to a song, it tells you how you may (or may not) use the track. Here are their descriptions, courtesy of the Creative Commons website!
This licence enables users to distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon an original work, even commercially, as long as the creator is credited for the original work.
How to use it:
- You must credit the artist.
- You can use it for commercial purposes.
- You can put this song in a video or other derivative work.
- More permissions must be obtained directly from the artist.
CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
This licence enables users to remix, tweak, and build upon an original work, even for commercial purposes, as long as the creator is credited and licences their new creations under identical terms.
How to use it:
- You must credit the artist.
- You can use it for commercial purposes.
- You can put this song in a video or other derivative work.
- You must add the same licence (CC BY-SA) to your video, remix or derivative work.
- More permissions must be obtained directly from the artist.
CC BY-ND: Attribution-NoDerivatives
This licence allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, and creators must be credited. If you remix, transform or build upon the material, you may not distribute, publish, share, or post the modified material. Syncing a track to video/moving images constitutes a derivative work, which is prohibited by this licence.
How to use it:
- You must credit the artist.
- You can use it for commercial purposes.
- You cannot put this song in a video or other derivative work.
- More permissions must be obtained directly from the artist.
CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial
This licence lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as the creator is credited. A commercial use is one primarily intended for commercial advantage or monetary compensation. You may NOT use this for fundraising, advertising, or promoting a product or service without further permission, even if you're a non-profit organization.
How to use it:
- You must credit the artist.
- You cannot use it for commercial purposes.
- You can put this song in a video or other derivative work.
- More permissions must be obtained directly from the artist.
CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
This licence lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as the artist is credited and new creations are licensed under identical terms. A commercial use is one primarily intended for commercial advantage or monetary compensation. You may NOT use this for fundraising, advertising, or promoting a product or service without further permission, even if you're a non-profit organization.
How to use it:
- You must credit the artist.
- You can put this song in a video or other derivative work.
- You cannot use it for commercial purposes.
- You must add the same licence (CC BY-NC-SA) to your video, remix, or derivative work.
- More permissions must be obtained directly from the artist.
CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
This licence is the most restrictive of our six main licences. Only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as the artist is credited, the use is non-commercial, and the work is passed along unchanged. If you remix, transform or build upon the material, you may not distribute, publish, share, or post the modified material. Syncing a track to video/moving images constitutes a derivative work, which is prohibited by this licence. A commercial use is one primarily intended for commercial advantage or monetary compensation. You may NOT use this for fundraising, advertising, or promoting a product or service without further permission, even if you're a non-profit organization.
How to use it:
- You must credit the artist.
- You cannot use it for commercial purposes.
- You cannot put this song in a video or other derivative work.
- More permissions must be obtained directly from the artist.
CC0: Public Domain Dedication / No Rights Reserved
The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law. This includes all related and neighbouring rights, to the extent allowed by law.
How to use it:
- You can use it for commercial purposes
- You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work
- You can put this song in a video or other derivative work.
- No permission is needed
Note: CC0 can only be applied by the right's holder. CC0 does not cover:
1. works in the public domain whose copyright has expired.
2. works in the public domain due to expired copyright may still be protected by state or local statutes.
The information regarding a track’s public domain status is to the best of our knowledge and should not be considered authoritative.
Retired licences on FMA?
There were a handful of other licences on FMA in the past, but most have been retired, merged with Creative Commons licences, or are otherwise uncommon. These licences are not available on FMA any more, but are still applicable. The CC Licences 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 Licence: Download Only
This licence 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 licence.
How to use it:
- No video, no redistribution, no broadcast/podcast, etc.
- More permissions must be obtained directly from the artist
How to credit artists?
You can use CC-licensed materials as long as you follow the licence conditions. One condition of all CC licences is attribution. A proper attribution not only includes the name of the song, and the name of the artist, but where it was retrieved from and the licence information for others to find.
- Title: Single Steps
- Author: Ketsa / https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/
- Source: Free Music Archive / https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/1000/single-steps/
- Licence: CC BY-NC-ND / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Read more: Best practices for Attribution
For more questions on Creative Commons Licences on FMA, please follow the FMA FAQ or get in touch with the FMA Team.
Disclaimer
Music copyright is one of the most complicated areas of copyright law. Creative Commons licensing is an attempt to offer permissions you don't need to ask for, as long as you follow the licence terms explained here.
The FAQ provides general information about legal topics; it does not provide individual legal advice. The FMA provides this information on an “as-is” basis. The 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.