Music for Video : A Portal For Filmmakers and Video Producers

Tracks to Sync is a monthly mix of music curated with the video producer in mind.

As more and more people turn to video in the digital era, they are faced with the music licensing hurdles that have hindered many a film. At the same time, the increase in video production offers new opportunities for multimedia collaboration. This series aims to unite producers with musicians who have music to share for these purposes.

The tracks is this mix are available under Creative Commons licenses that allow for "derivative works," like a video (some CC licenses specify "NoDerivatives"), while retaining the parts of copyright that the rightsholders wish to keep. Creative Commons offers a few custom license combinations, and each is hyperlinked to a human-readable license + legal code, i.e. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike, aka "BY-NC-SA". You can read more about the various CC combos here, and check out FMA's HELP & FAQ for more resources.

Before using any Creative Commons music for a project, you need to make sure you follow the track's license in order to avoid copyright infringement. If you're not sure whether your use is pre-cleared by a particular license, it's always a good idea to reach out to the artist directly. Click the "i" button below to view the license along with a URL or email address where you can secure 'more permissions.'

We always love to hear about collaborations inspired by FMA music, so if you use one of these tracks, please post a link on the track page as well as to our Video Showcase. Here's one of our favorite videos made using last month's tracks! We'll feature another video next month that uses tracks from this month's playlist.

Solo Instrumentals

1. Gillicuddy [gillicuddy.net] is Andi Rhoden, whose newest album of solo accoustic guitar instrumentals are chock full of simple harmonies and gentle sincerity. Gillicuddy has been releasing Creative Commons music online for quite some time now, so be sure to check his website for more. [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial]

2. We've already covered Kimiko Ishizaka's groundbreaking public domain recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations here, so if you are looking for a recognizable classical piano composition for your project look no further. [Open Goldberg Variations] [Creative Commons Zero (Public Domain)]

3. Mark Lejeune records under the name Circus Marcus [circusmarcus.net] and is buiding quite a catalogue of contemporary classical compositions and improvisations for piano.  Perfect soundtrack for your rainy day contemplations. [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial]

4. Stephen Siebert's piano compositions have a jazzy elegance that could pair well with a foggy film-noir or pensive character study. His diverse selections offer a wide emotional pallette, so give them all a listen to find something that compliments your project. [myspace] [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike] 

5. One last solo piano instrumental, this one from Russian composer Peter Rudenko [website]. Sparse and beautiful compositions with a strikingly cinematic quality, 15 Etudes has something for everyone. [Creative Commons Attribution] 

Alt. Instrumentals

6. The Paniks [myspace] cover a wide range of mostly vocal works informed heavily by traditional Balkan folk music. The instrumental starts with a wonderfully meandering fiddle passage, but this long-player covers a lot of ground once the ensemble comes in. [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike]   

7. This track from Pajaro [Happy Place Records] screams Spaghetti Western. Tremolo-heavy electric guitar makes way for a scorching trumpet, with a great rhthym section to back it all up - courtesty of the Budabeats label and Breitband. [Creative Commons Attribution] 

Tracks to Sync is a monthly mix of music curated with the online video producer in mind.

As more and more people turn to video in the digital era, they are faced with the music licensing hurdles that have hindered many a film. At the same time, the increase in video production offers new opportunities for multimedia collaboration. This series aims to unite producers with musicians who have music to share for these purposes.

The tracks is this mix are available under Creative Commons licenses that allow for "derivative works," like a video (some CC licenses specify "NoDerivatives"), while retaining the parts of copyright that the rightsholders wish to keep. Creative Commons offers a few custom license combinations, and each is hyperlinked to a human-readable license + legal code, i.e. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike, aka "BY-NC-SA". You can read more about the various CC combos here, and check out FMA's HELP & FAQ for more resources.

Before using any Creative Commons music for a project, you need to make sure you follow the track's license in order to avoid copyright infringement. If you're not sure whether your use is pre-cleared by a particular license, it's always a good idea to reach out to the artist directly. Click the "i" button below to view the license along with a URL or email address where you can secure 'more permissions.'

We always love to hear about collaborations inspired by FMA music, so if you use one of these tracks, please post a link to the track page as well as to our Video Showcase. We'll feature our favorite video made using this month's tracks in the next Tracks to Sync!

5. Denmark's Quantum Jazz [quantumjazz.net] released End of Line, their second and final album, via Jamendo under a CC Attribution-ShareAlike license. Jamendo PRO offers a cool way to secure more permissions directly from the group.

6. GaBlé's 2003 netaudio release le sac de l enfer 1 is a recent add from France's Los Emes De Oso netlabel. It's chock full of intriguing lofi folk-hop beats. More music available at gableboulga.com. "humm ok" is CC BY-NC-SA.

7. CBC Radio's technology program Spark first introduced us to Bulgaria's Antony Raijekov (tony.cult.bg). "By the Coast" can be found on Jazz U, a 2003-2006 retrospective [CC BY-NC]