Freesound Forums

Greetings!

Would somebody explain me the four licences provided here in freesound.org and difference(s) between them in simple words please? I would appriciate for your kind help dear members!

Thanks in advance

Navadaux
ps: please do not forward me to other links instead of leaving any reply.1

Hello Navadaux. I hope the following helps you.

Although this information is freely available and simplified in the FAQ here, and on the Creative Commons website here, I will attempt to be helpful and briefly explain the difference between the licenses available here on Freesound.org - I can't simplify these words any more than I have done, otherwise the important info will be missed out.

Though in addition to my description, I highly recommend you spend some time going through the proper channels and skimming the detailed information because there are other CC licenses that are not options on Freesound; i'll provide links as I go along.

There are three licenses available on Freesound (at the time of writing this) which differ slightly with their conditions of use.
Note: when I say "commercial/commercially", this means using the audio material in full, or in part, for a piece of work (virtual or physical) that you distribute under a sale, therefore generating money from the use of the audio material. e.g. a released music track, a movie, an art installation that people are buying, or even a Youtube video if you are getting money from ad revenue (Monetisation).
_________________________________________________________________________________

THE LICENSES
_________________________________________________________________________________

CC-0 (Public Domain)

This is the most 'free' license you can possibly get.
• You are free to do what you want with this sound: You can treat is as unlicensed if you want, although technically it still has a license attached to it, but this is just an indicator that it's in the public domain and not restricted.
• You do not need to give attribution to the author of the sound: unless you want to.
• You may use it for monetary gain

• You can use this sound in your works, even commercially. You must however credit the author of the sound in an appropriate way*
• You can make changes and new versions (derivatives) as long as you still credit the original author in your new works.
• You may still use the sound commercially, if you give credit.
• If you publish your new version somewhere, like here on Freesound with modifications, the license must be as restrictive as the original. So that would be either CCBY or CC BY-NC.

• You must credit the author when using in your own works
• You cannot use for commercial gain (unless you have explicit written permission by the author)
• You can make new versions, again, if you credit the author.
• If you publish your new version, the license must be as restrictive as the original. So thats CC BY-NC

You should be aware that in the past there was another license available called Sampling+, which has now been removed from the lineup of licenses offered by Creative Commons. If you happen to come across a sound here with this license which is unlikely, you should treat it as CC Attribution Non-Commercial.

* Check THIS thread for details on how to properly attribute. Also qudobup created a nice tool for quick attribution of multiple sounds which can be found here: Sound Attribution Tool: Freesound Super Credits

Here is a chart I made on Google Sheets which shows the restrictions of certain CC licenses:

I hope all of this helped, and wasn't too hard to understand. If you have any questions please ask.

Regards
dp

Hello dp,

Thank you very much for your really helpful post and for the links also; all clear now.
(I wasn't expected such a brief reply when I posted my quest!)

Best regards!
Navadaux

You're welcome, it was no trouble at all.

I'm glad I satisfied you search for knowledge.

Cheers

Good info to this point, I have a more specific question regarding attribution.

Do you simply grab the URL of the page you download the link from, or do you reference the user name and profile on freesound.

I'm planning on adding reference in my podcasts show notes for each piece used, so just curios on the exact details that need to go in that attribution.

Cheers.

mattcoco35 wrote:
Good info to this point, I have a more specific question regarding attribution.

Do you simply grab the URL of the page you download the link from, or do you reference the user name and profile on freesound.

I'm planning on adding reference in my podcasts show notes for each piece used, so just curios on the exact details that need to go in that attribution.

Cheers.

Hi Matt

Yes you are right. So this would be the URL example:

https://www.freesound.org/people/erkanozan/sounds/51749/
-or-
https://freesound.org/s/51749/

With regards to the criteria for attribution, I went through an exchange with another user HERE - it's the second post in the thread where I explain in detail the requirements regarding URLs. The rest of the thread might provide some useful info too.

I mention the following wiki page, which is a good guide on the specific criteria:
CreativeCommons.org - How to Give Attribution

Cheers

Awesome thanks mate!

Glad I could be of some help to you.

Regarding the license: yes it will be CCBY (Attribution)

Please don't upload produced music tracks/songs, they won't be accepted. Short "loops" only. Please consider uploading to other sites dedicated to the archive of CC music tracks. Thanks.

You can find more information about this policy here: http://www.freesound.org/help/faq/#i-created-a-song-where-can-i-upload-it

Regards

oh the X symbol threw me off a bit there.

Yeah 10 seconds is fine. It's definitely worth while to upload loops of that nature here, users are looking for that stuff; people are looking for all sorts of stuff after all. Its funny that a sound I uploaded a few years ago had a processing error that made it silent and people still downloaded it.

I didn't want to put you off. I was just suggesting that if you want to create jingles then maybe you'd have a better success on sites dedicated for those types of things.

monsterjazzlicks wrote:
Thanks Phaze,

I am only doing this for a bit of fun and I am already a member of enough forums to want to join any more! I quite like this one because it seems friendly and not opinionated (like the 'Steinberg' boards!).

I wasn't suggesting other forums. That's quite different matter entirely. I'm talking about sites such as: CC Mixter, Free Music Archive & Open Game Art. These are sites which have a repository of Creative Commons music tracks which can be contributed or downloaded. Freesound is more sound effects for video/radio/theatre production and musical/rhythmic loops for music production; in essence the provision is more on the micro scale, that is, components for making compositions. You can upload music, but it might be rejected in moderation depending on the length and other factors.

monsterjazzlicks wrote:
Would I be better PROGRAMMING all of the sounds myself, or is it permissible for a jingle to comprise of purely FACTORY sounds (but of course the COMPOSITION be ORIGINAL)?

YES! I think it would be more appropriate to make jingles from scratch, because then they are completely original and safe to distribute. Remember that if you use CCBY samples to create music of your own, you need to give attribution to the author of said audio. You can use Creative Commons Zero to avoid this and be completely free from any necessary attribution, whereas using CCBY samples would mean you have to provide credits attached to each jingle wherever it's being publicised.

You said your tracks won't be made commercially available, or at least that's not your intention, so CC-BYNC is not applicable.

Cubase factory content is ok to use, that's what it's there for after all. That's assuming the program itself is legitimate

Good luck!

monsterjazzlicks wrote:
What would you say would be the MAXIMUM duration of an (Audio) upload before it falls into the category of being a SONG? I would estimate that anything under 30 x seconds could comfortably be classed as being 'incidental'.

I can't say exactly. It depends what it is that's being uploaded as to wether it constitutes a song at 30 seconds or less.

monsterjazzlicks wrote:
Hi HP,

Ok, let me rephrase that question please:

How long (duration) can a UPLOAD be before a Moderator deems it too long for being a jingle/incidental? For instance, you could upload a (say) 'SPACE SCI-FI' effects background soundtrack that lasts 2 x minutes, but this would definitely not be a SONG (ie. it would not conatain a Verse, Chorus, Solo's etc).

Cheers,

Paul

I understood the question the first time. And I still don't have a definitive answer for you

10 seconds or less could class as a loop and is ok. Anything more than that would depend on other factors. I have accepted 'music' that is greater than 30 seconds, but this typically has just 1 or 2 instrumentation.

Again, it depends on the make-up of the upload which determines it's classification.

Just try to upload it and see what happens

Hi, how do I actually obtain a CC-BY license??

julianewman wrote:
Hi, how do I actually obtain a CC-BY license??

The license [to use the material] is granted to you automatically when you obtain it. In this case downloading the sound file.

As long as you follow the license terms and attribution requirements then this license is valid forever, even if the author changes the license.

Hi,

If using a fraction of some of these sound clips for a personal film project, would I have to include all the url links in the film credits at the end? I’ve never seen any non commercial film credits incorporate url links like the one example given above in the thread. Is a logo / website homepage address enough?

If not, can the links be pasted into narrow text columns (So not in one long line).

Thanks : )

@desanon

You don't necessarily have to include attribution in the rolling credits at the end of the film. You could actually include a list on your website or if you are publishing on vimeo, add the credits to the description, or a link to a text or pdf document. As you can see there are many ways to do this.

Your credits should ideally include the following:

• Title of sound
• Name of author
• URL where it is published (freesound)
• License type (e.g. CCBY 3.0 )

@ The Freesound Team - thanks very much

I typically use the CC-BY-NC (Attribution; Non-Commercial) license when I upload. I do get quite a few requests for commercial use (for free) and thus far I have always said yes.

It is quite time consuming (and a bit expensive) to record and prepare files for upload. The situation I'm trying to avoid is if someone was making money off my recordings, and I was getting nothing.

However if your project is small, or is intriguing to me, I'll probably let you use my recording commercially.

I suspect that a lot of freesounders feel the same way. So don't be afraid to reach out and ask about using a CC-BY-NC recording commercially.

julianewman wrote:
Hi, how do I actually obtain a CC-BY license??