High quality royalty free music?

March 17, 2009 1:10 AM

I recently produced some high definition videos to use internally at work. They used music from the Iron Man OST - Suddenly my company wants these to go public on our website - help me find alternative music!

The 2 tracks I've used are "Mark II" and "Damn Kid". I've tried a few websites that offer royalty free or stock music, but they always sound cheap and nasty. Where can I find the best quality, free or royalty free music?

posted by lemonfridge to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

Also Legal Music for Videos is a collection of different creative commons licensed music sites that you may find helpful.
posted by gryftir at 3:42 AM on March 17, 2009

Rumblefish and Magnatune. I've used Rfish music for work (much more complex license than you are talking about ) and I've also used both services for podcast music.
posted by Medieval Maven at 5:25 AM on March 17, 2009

Most of it will sound cheap and nasty. Get your company to hire someone to create some music for it. Even loop-based music will sound better than the stuff you found online.
posted by nimsey lou at 6:49 AM on March 17, 2009

Most of it will sound cheap and nasty.

Yeah, but with a lot of digging and some editing, a lot of it is serviceable. You have to listen to a LOT of tracks. (Tip: jump straight to the the middle of every track you preview.) The Magnatune licenses are very workable.
posted by DarlingBri at 7:38 AM on March 17, 2009

Actually, a LOT of the music on Rumblefish, if not Magnatune, is professionally produced and sounds fantastic. The vast majority that I've listened to, in fact, is just fine to very good.
posted by Medieval Maven at 1:31 PM on March 17, 2009