Freesound Forums

I didn't realise that there was such a large body of users with potential commercial usage on freesound. I personally have some issues with commercial usage, but obviously if a large number of the freesound community are pros or have commercial apps, then this should be reflected in the choice of licenses and indeed in the types of sounds in it.

Anyway, it would be interesting to know the answer to the question -

why use freesound as a pro?

does it give you something commercial sound libraries don't, and if so what?

Unlike commercial sound libraries, freesound has some issues. One is clearly the license, which is the process of being changed and you can influence that decision here. Another is the attribution issue, which probably stays in some form. It can be gotten rid of by negotiation with the sound authors, but that's something pros don't seem to want to do.

Lastly, unlike a commercial license you don't get a cast-iron guarantee of originality - the FS moderation stage can't know all the sound libraries and sources in the world.

On the face of it, if I were a professional user, I would feel there's a different strategic issue using FS sounds compared to a regular commercia lSFX library. And yet people do seem to want to use FS for commercial projects. I'm not a professional user, so I don't understand. Apart from the obvious potential cost advantage, why use FS rather a commercial sound library?

hello ermine,

watch out: many people have failed to see the true audience of freesound and made errors by assuming the audience is one or another.

some people thought the audience was only musicians and told us not to allow field-recordings.
some people thought it was only movie makers and hate all the synthetic sounds.
some people assumed the audience only downloaded wav and mp3 and hated flac.
some people assume freesound is only musicians and moviemakers. the thousands of ringtone downloaders prove them wrong.

The truth is freesound is 100% *mixed*. There is really no way you can make an assumption about our audience...

There are heaps of commercial shareware/game/movie/.... people who use freesound. The truth is that right now all of them are probably using freesound illegally.

I think that with freesound we need to have an as open as possible mind, but try not to make it too difficult. Sadly enough these two demands are contradictory, no matter how well you design the page. To tackle this problem I made the other thread... It's mainly the authors that need to decide and if choosing more choices for licensing can keep more authors in freesound I'm all for it. A sound with a relatively confusing license situation is better than no sound at all.

- bram

I understand your position, however, you are forgetting a specific class of individuals who are growing exponentially in the music/entertainment industry: the so-called prosumers.

Prosumers are those who occupy the increasingly grey field that lies between consumer and professional media creators. Since the prices of equipment have fallen, this group has grown larger, and is largely responsible for the whole podcasting/vlogging phenomenon as well, and should be nurtured.

Prosumers are not gigantic studios trying to get free stuff instead of dropping the $500 required for a Quantum Leap sample pack. Prosumer's barely can afford to buy any of their software, and often rely upon open-source alternatives to hone their chops, with hopes of being professionals looming in the future. I am sure that the majority of sound contributors here are prosumers as well: having better than average equipment than a built in PC mic and soundblaster soundcard, and being midway between seasoned pro's and novice hobbyists.

The way I see it, if you want to be marketing your sounds as professional clips that should be bought and paid for, please do not post them here. If you want to use this site as a testing ground to improve your skills or share a little of your creativity with a community, remember that we're all trying to be successful with our chosen media, and most importantly can't afford to spend large amounts of money on expensive sampling collections.

What happens if I use some of these sounds on a podcast that ends up generating some money? What if I find just the right clips to make a great beat to use at a DJ or other type of musical performance, that happens to be a paid gig? I would rather have a clear conscience that these sounds are free to use for such purposes, without tracking down and negotiating with multiple creators.

This site is for people who cannot afford the expensive sample collections, but still rely upon high quality and intersting material. If we start putting up restrictions against commercial use, much value is lost to those who are trying to make it on a shoestring budget.

Respectfully,

~Kyle

kyleklip
I understand your position, however, you are forgetting a specific class of individuals who are growing exponentially in the music/entertainment industry: the so-called prosumers.

Prosumers are those who occupy the increasingly grey field that lies between consumer and professional media creators. Since the prices of equipment have fallen, this group has grown larger, and is largely responsible for the whole podcasting/vlogging phenomenon as well, and should be nurtured.

Prosumers are not gigantic studios trying to get free stuff instead of dropping the $500 required for a Quantum Leap sample pack. Prosumer's barely can afford to buy any of their software, and often rely upon open-source alternatives to hone their chops, with hopes of being professionals looming in the future. I am sure that the majority of sound contributors here are prosumers as well: having better than average equipment than a built in PC mic and soundblaster soundcard, and being midway between seasoned pro's and novice hobbyists.

The way I see it, if you want to be marketing your sounds as professional clips that should be bought and paid for, please do not post them here. If you want to use this site as a testing ground to improve your skills or share a little of your creativity with a community, remember that we're all trying to be successful with our chosen media, and most importantly can't afford to spend large amounts of money on expensive sampling collections.

What happens if I use some of these sounds on a podcast that ends up generating some money? What if I find just the right clips to make a great beat to use at a DJ or other type of musical performance, that happens to be a paid gig? I would rather have a clear conscience that these sounds are free to use for such purposes, without tracking down and negotiating with multiple creators.

This site is for people who cannot afford the expensive sample collections, but still rely upon high quality and intersting material. If we start putting up restrictions against commercial use, much value is lost to those who are trying to make it on a shoestring budget.

Respectfully,

~Kyle

I couldn't have said it better.

Hmmm... Yeah, absolutely true.

Prosumer? Never heard this term before but it damn well captures what I feel I am. Cool notion Kyleklip! And I think your feeling that Freesound has many prosumers is quite right.

- LG

Yeah I don't consider myself a pro. I'm just trying to do a soundtrack for a start up cartoon and if the other licenses go through possibly sounds. We don't have a big budget to work with.

It bothers me a lot that people can post sounds on here from other places illegally. So I take caution. I tend to avoid anything synthetic because I'm concerned that they might just be something take from a keyboard illegally.(though that is definitely not always the case) I also look at the users lists of samples and descriptions carefully. The more detail they provide on how the sound is made the more likely it is homemade. Even little flaws in recording sound may give you a sense that its more homemade. Uniqueness of creation is a possibility too. I also look at their contribution records and maybe even their other packs.(if I find some other pack that doesn't seem homemade I may just not use anything they've made) Bram's stuff is a perfect example of someone I'd trust. After all if I can't trust his packs, then this site is in a lot of trouble.
And I will ask the user how they made the sound and if its truly permissable to use. I figure I might as well have a response as back up in case this person is intentionally trying to mislead me and get me to steal someone else's sounds. It provides a way for me to go after them for setting me up, and it also gives them one last chance to come clean with what their sound actually is.(Maybe that's harsh, but that person is screwing me over if they have tricked me into stealing someone else's sound to begin with) If I get no response I might be very hesitant to use the sound.

This method isn't 100% guaranteed to work but it does help.

I have not implemented a FreeSound yet in stuff I've made but after collecting a large amount of sound I probably will in the future.

I appreciate the time you guys have taken to explain things and enlighten me. I was unaware of the 'prosumer' section of users, and it throws a different perspective on the commercial issue. The requirements for commercial usage puzzled me, and from the current results of the poll (favouring attr-nc at the moment) they puzzle others.

Bram, you're right that the user base may be generally diverse. However, it can only help the quality of FS if the recordists/creators can picture the types of applications the sounds will be put to and how they'll be used. Any one contributor may only address a small subset of uses - for instance FS is unlikely to get samples/synthesised sounds from me because I have no skill in that area. Others do. Contributors' work will be more useful and easier to find if there's more idea of what people do with the stuff. That's not the same as trying to say 'the typical user of FS is X'