Free Music Resources

[Ignis]

In my decade-plus of modding games and dabbling with RPG Maker, one of the many things I learnt about and came to appreciate is the existence of free music resource sites. As the phrase suggests, these aren't sites that merely provide music downloads, but rather musicians who put up their works with the explicit intention to have people use them. They have pretty widespread use, particularly among vloggers and small-time app developers.

Only very recently did I begin chronicling some of them. These are just the ones I can remember (and only those from Japanese authors, since you know, weeb site and all). Since I already had a list, I thought why not share it with others who may benefit from it? Maybe some of you are interested in making free apps, RPG Maker games, or YouTube videos — or simply enjoy listening to BGM.

The terms of service are simplified. While not all authors explicitly lay out everything, if you intend to use these resources and publicise the resulting work, always do the following:

1. Give credit.
2. Don't link directly to the sound files. Bandwidth can be costly. Link to the homepage instead.
3. Don't reupload as-is. Many of these authors do this as a sort of portfolio, so just link to their homepage.
4. Don't use YouTube's ContentID. It can prevent others from using the same music.
5. Don't register your resulting work with a copyright body. It can impede the author.

The list is arranged in alphabetical order. Those with a star

are my personal favourites. There are some others that I may add later — Ontama has their own list — and I'm hoping others can help me discover new authors as well.

1	甘茶の音楽工房	Amacha no Ongaku Koubou (official English name: Music Atelier Amacha)	http://amachamusic.chagasi.com/	Free to use, no royalty necessary for commercial use, credit or linking not strictly necessary but "would be nice to have." No redistribution, reselling, or directly linking to the sound files. No implied or expressed authorship over the music. Works made must not be registered with JASRAC or any other copyright collection agencies. Videos made must not be registered with YouTube's ContentID system.
2	H/MIX GALLERY		http://www.hmix.net/music_gallery/	No explicit mention about crediting (just give credit anyway, courtesy and all). Commercial use generally restricted; however, use with YouTube vlogs (even with ads), amateur theatrical group (even where entrance tickets cost money), and self-published doujin works are all allowed provided they're "a hobby" (presumably meaning those aren't your primary source of income).
3	くらげ工匠	Kurage Koushou	http://www.kurage-kosho.info/	Free to use, no credit or permission necessary, no royalty necessary for commercial use. No redistribution, reselling, or directly linking to the sound files. Use alongside illegal material not permitted.
4	魔王魂	Maou Damashii	http://maoudamashii.jokersounds.com/	Free to use, no permission necessary, no royalty necessary for commercial use. Must credit except in limited cases like school events where crediting is impractical. No reselling the sound files themselves. No implied or expressed authorship over the music. Works made must not be registered with JASRAC or any other copyright collection agencies.
5	Music is VFR		http://musicisvfr.com/free/index.html	Creative Commons licence: CC BY 4.0. Free to use, no permission necessary, no royalty necessary for commercial use. Must credit. Paying royalties allows you to use the music without credit (beyond the scope of this thread). Resources available from the author's Niconi Commons may only be used within Niconico, but crediting isn't necessary.
6	音楽の卵	Ongaku no Tamago	http://ontama-m.com/	Free to use, no credit or permission necessary, no royalty necessary for commercial use. Recreated game BGM available on the site isn't considered music resources and thus not allowed for reuse or redistribution. No redistribution, reselling, or directly linking to the sound files. Redistributing rearranges and covers requires permission. Use alongside illegal sites, illegal literary works, and porn "restricted by applicable law" not permitted. Videos made must not be registered with YouTube's ContentID system.
7	ポケットサウンド	Pocket Sound	https://pocket-se.info/	Must credit and link to the site except for personal use. Crediting only by name where linking is impractical is permitted only for use within educational institutions. Use with neither credit nor linking counts as commercial use and necessitates payment (beyond the scope of this thread). No redistribution, reselling, or directly linking to the sound files.
8	Presence of Music		http://www.presence-of-music.com/index.html	Free to use, no permission necessary. Must credit and state clearly the source of the music. Free resources allowed only for non-commercial use. No redistribution, reselling, or directly linking to the sound files. No post-processing or altering the music. Use alongside illegal sites, illegal creative works, or anything else "in violation of public order" not permitted.

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