Open Access Audio: Creative Commons and the Public Domain Audio

he Acoustic Atlas is curated by the Montana State University Library and includes more than 2500 recordings of species and environments from throughout the Western United States. Our collection emphasizes the strong connection between natural sounds and regional ecosystems, and features a growing number of recordings from Montana and the Yellowstone corridor. Sounds are provided with the help of volunteers, researchers, and through collaborations with agencies like the National Park Service. Advanced search provides the option to search by license type. License: Varies by creator

Music on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons license. You are free to download and sample from music on this site and share the results with anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Much the same as the Free Media Library itself, Jason McCoy’s list of 31 Creative Commons licensed music sources is curated and easy to navigate. A great place to get started with finding your next soundtrack! License: Creative Commons Various

The world’s biggest free music library. Download thousands of free MP3s, all with Creative Commons licenses so that you can modify, adapt and build on most works in your own projects. License: Creative Commons Various

This portion of moby.com, Film Music, is for independent and non-profit filmmakers, film students, and anyone in need of free music for their independent, non-profit film, video or short. The music is free as long as it’s being used in a non-commercial or non-profit film, video, or short. License: Author Defined

Freesound is a collaborative database of Creative Commons Licensed sound effects. Free registration required to download sounds. License: Creative Commons Attribution

Images, audio and video recordings related to space flight, astronomy and aeronautics created by NASA, most of which are not copyrighted. License: None (Public Domain)

SoundCloud, launched in 2008 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, is a social sound platform that gives users unprecedented access to the world’s largest community of music and audio creators. This CC licensed search will allow you to find uploads to use in your projects. License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial