I rolled out a music library over the weekend. You’ve now got access to more than 100 music tracks across multiple genres, selected for their suitability with audio slide shows. And every track is pre-cleared and licensed for video distribution on YouTube, Vimeo, and social media platforms.
You can access the library in two places.
- From your account’s new Music library page.
From the music library, you can preview the tracks and start a new show directly by clicking “Create new show with track”. You can also mark your favorite tracks so you can find them later.
- You can also access the music library when importing audio or images after starting a new show.
Which accounts have access to the new music library?
Everybody gets access to the music library.
Do I need to obtain permission to use any of these music tracks?
No. All of the tracks in the Soundslides Music Library are either copyright free, or have been pre-licensed by Soundslides for use in your creations. No attribution is required on any of the provided tracks.
What license are these tracks under?
Currently, all the tracks are “No Attribution Required” licensed works. I hope to expand the offerings to include a method for using CC-Attribution type licenses, but I’d like to automate an audio credits overlay before releasing that.
Why is it important to use licensed music on sites like YouTube?
Say you’re using Over the Rainbow performed by Israel Kamakawiwo`ole. This is a great song, and I’ve seen it used many, many times in slide shows (mostly travelogues and weddings).
But on YouTube, unlicensed playback of that song is blocked in New Zealand, France, Argentina, Spain, and 92 other countries. A viewer from any of those countries will see a “blocked playback” notice instead of your show on YouTube.
Here’s YouTube’s clearance search results for that song.
And YouTube’s enforcement of audio copyright is fairly opaque and mysterious. YouTube has algorithms that check audio tracks for their similarity to copyrighted works. But YouTube doesn’t necessarily check when you first upload your show to YouTube. So your show goes up on YouTube just long enough for you to send out the link, then poof, it’s blocked.
I’ve got a genre/mood request. Can you help?
I’ll try my best. I’m adding music as I find it. If you’ve got a track you think is great and it has a liberal license, by all means, send along a link or post it below.
And if you’ve got any questions, please let me know.
Joe