AudioJungle
We can’t leave out one of our most useful sites on the Envato Network! It might seem like a shameless plug, but Audio Jungle, like all the other sites in the marketplace network have some of the most competitive prices in the business. The way they work, is you can deposit money into your account, and generally get files for a little cheaper than if you were to buy them outright. There is also a fantastic affiliate program that you can sign up for to earn money for all the marketplaces as well. Anyone can submit files, but only the best and highest quality get accepted.
SmartSound.com
A division of SonicFire Pro’s awesome scoring software, the SmartSound library lets you pick from thousands of songs and hundreds of albums in their library. They also offer tools to trim your tracks to a custom length and you can also utilize an FCP Plugin to do that same task of automatically fitting your timeline.
Pump Audio
The awesome thing about pump audio is that anyone can contribute to the pickings. They accept music and tracks from artists from all around the world. This is NOT stock music… these are actual songs from indie artists. The way Pump Audio sees it is, you don’t want to lay a lame, generic track over an edit you have poured your heart and soul into right? Well, then… why settle?
Shockwave-Sound.com
These guys have been around for the past nine years as one of the pioneers of the online royalty free stock music industry. They have everything here… you can go into a song, pick different lengths, versions, sound effects FROM those songs… whatever you might need. There are always new tracks added every week, and they even have a service that you can request voiceover talent.
Non Stop
Wow, Non Stop has a pretty hefty credit list when you check it out… Harry Potter, Monster VS Aliens, Wall-E, Chronicles of Narnia… the list just goes on. There is no wonder Warner/Chappel wanted to acquire them in 2007. They have over 700 in their library of music and by registering over at CUEgle you can preview every bit they have… this stuff is absolutely amazing.
Digital Juice
Digital Juice is known for having just huge deals and amazing products that you get the best bang for your buck. They have two different kinds of audio products, StackTraxx and SoundFX Libraries. First, the StackTraxx are now on their 50th volume and come with 20 music tracks at varied lengths, and are usually $50 singly, but you can get a pack of five for $80, and a pack of 10 for $150! That is insanely cheap for stock music! As for the SoundFX libraries, they only have 4 collections right now, but each collection has over 11,000 elements and only costs about $250! If you are looking to buy a large pack of music or sound effects… this is probably one of your best bets.
Video Copilot
Andrew Kramer and his team only have two products in the audio realm of things, but they are still pretty heavy hitters, and placed at a good price. The first, Designer Sound FX has been out for a couple years, and is still a pretty good package. It comes with 500 royalty free sound effects, and especially for use AE users, tutorials and project files for their killer promo video. Next, Pro Scores is more in the scoring department (hence the name) and includes orchestral music tracks and epic musical elements. There are also layered music tracks, tension building elements, and of course some killer tutorials. Both products are priced right around $100.
SampleSwap
Finally the free stuff! Now, if you aren’t big money and can’t afford large packs, you might have to grab some free elements online and create your own beats and scores. That’s where SampleSwap comes in. They have 5.5 gigabytes of sounds from techno and drum’n'bass beats, to sound effects and instrument sounds to complete whatever your task may be.
StockMusic.net
This site is pretty straighforward. $30 bucks a track, $200 for 10 tracks, pay once… use them forever. They have thousands of tracks in every single genre you could think of, and they are trusted by some big names in the industry. Chances are you have probably heard their work used somewhere on television or in the movies. I’m sure you didn’t miss the blockbuster, Black Dawn with Steven Seagal… yeah they had a hand in that one.
Royalty Free Music Clips
This guy seems like he is doing a similar thing to me with his blog, and rounding up as many free music clips, stock sound effects and whatever else he can find from around the web. This is a great site to subscribe to and grab what he has to offer as it becomes available. He takes the hassle out of searching for you and provides it one, easy to find location!
Partners In Rhyme
Partners in Rhyme have been delivering royalty free music since the AOL days… 1996! That’s a long time… and they have a collection to prove it. They have different CDs available for purchase (most from $70-$100), and they provide an awesome flash player so you can preview every track before you shell out your cash to buy.
Free Music Archive (FMA)
The Free Music Archive is an editor’s paradise. You can never have enough stock music to pick and choose from, and you can never have enough FREE files either. This site is run by the WFMU, the most renowned freeform radio station in America. They are able to stick music created by artists online for use in productions, podcasts or whatever for those of us that can’t afford to by large packs of stock music. Make sure you bookmark this page, creator or consumer… it’s a great site to be a part of!
Film Music Moby.com
You know about that musical artist Moby right? Well he has a portion of his website with free music he created for filmmakers to use in whatever they see fit, as long as it is non-commercial, and non-profit. This is obviously all professional stuff, and all you have to do to access it is create a free account on the page after the jump!
Freeplay Music
More free stuff! Man, you gotta love sites like this! FreePlay has 6339 tracks as of the time of me writing this, and is growing every day. All of the tracks are downloadable absolutely free if you are just fooling around and this stuff is non-profit/non-commercial. If it is, however you need to go about purchasing licensing, where you can find all that information on their website.
Free Stock Music
New to the scene, this site is worth a check out if you’re looking for a quick track to drop in your projects.
You can’t have video without audio… it just doesn’t work. That’s why in high school it was A/V club, not just V Club… although that does sound pretty rad. Anywho… if you want to complete an animation, short film, commercial or whatever… you have to have good audio, and that means scores and sound effects! I have found some of the best places around the web to purchase packages, find individual songs, and even snag some free tracks for you and your work!
AudioJungle
The Rest
If you enjoyed this post, please give it a vote on Digg or a stumble to say thanks!
Enjoyed this Post?
Subscribe to our RSS Feed, Follow us on Twitter or simply recommend us to friends and colleagues!
By Topher Welsh
- http://www.airbornesound.com/ Paul
- http://ketchfire.com ajlst21
- http://www.soundjig.com Joe
- http://rocksuresoundz.com Tony Koretz
- http://www.jondavis.net/ Jon Davis
- http://www.musiclib.com mhmd
- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amin-Chowdhury/188467253958 music
- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amin-Chowdhury/188467253958 music
- http://www.royaltyfreepianos.com Manuel
- http://www.freesfx.co.uk Alan McKinney
- http://www.musicscreen.be Hicham
- http://www.freesound.org Peter
- http://www.sophonic.com Ryan
- http://www.stockaudio.net Andy
- http://www.instrumentalsfree.com Ryan A
- http://www.multimediasound.co.uk Bob
- http://www.loudernoises.com Henry
- http://www.themusicase.com Royalty free music | Themusicase.com
- mouhybm
- http://www.adigoldstein.com/ Adi Goldstein
- Gaetan Asselberghs
- Luke Saint
- david edwards
- http://twitter.com/DianneGilliam18 DianneGilliam
- http://www.AGSoundtrax.com/ Adi Goldstein
- Carlos
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Gaetan-Asselberghs/1442786209 Gaetan Asselberghs
- Epic Music