Creative Commons Search
If you're looking for Creative Commons (CC) materials, the first
resource to consult should be the search engine at creativecommons.org.
This search engine will mainly locate Creative
Commons-licensed materials. It's not perfect since it will sometimes
retrieve items that may not be covered by a CC license, and you
should always verify the status of the work just to be sure.
With this in
mind, it is still a good tool for getting started. The
Creative Commons Search will search for web sites, images, videos, music
tracks, and other online media that are covered by CC licenses by searching
other search engines and tools like Google, Google Image Search, Yahoo, Flickr, Jamendo,
Blip.tv, SpinXpress,
and Wikimedia Commons.
Enter your search terms and then select the tab for the kind of material you
need.
Another helpful resource for educators is MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching). Some of the material found there is covered under CC licenses.
Mutopia
In addition to providing access to pre-19th century music, you can also find some 20th and 21st century compositions here that are covered under CC licenses.
This guide on using public domain materials, Creative Commons licensed materials, and copyright law is provided for informational purposes only. I am not a lawyer and cannot provide legal advice. None of what you read in this tutorial should be construed as legal advice. Should you require legal advice, please contact an attorney.
This guide is based on a guide orginally created by Tammy Ravas, Visual and Performing Arts Librarian and Media Coordinator of the Mansfield Library at the The University of Montana. All errors are, of course, my own.
Carpictures.cc
Need CC pictures of cars? You can find such images through an index by car make as well as a search box.
Creativity103.com
This site provides access to some very interesting CC-licensed background images.
While not exactly CC images, these images (millions of them from one of the largest photograph suppliers in the world) are now available without fee for non-commercial purposes, as long as you use this embed feature that enables you to embed the image and appends a footer with credits and licensing info.
OpenClipArt.org
In addition to locating images through the Creative Commons Search, Google Images, and Flickr, this site provides access to tens of thousands of images that are free to use under a Creative Commons Public Domain license.
PhotoEverywhere.co.uk
This site provides access to Creative Commons-licensed images with a travel theme.
Pictures of Animals: Animal Photos
Use this site to find CC-licensed animal pictures.
Wikimedia Commons
Helpful resource which contains Creative Commons licensed and Public Domain images and other media. One of the most helpful things about Wikimedia Commons is the Open-Source Ticket Request System (OTRS) which tracks the permissions to freely use media sources posted to the site.
Moving Image Archive (Archive.org)
http://archive.org/details/movies
This site allows you to either stream or download film materials from a variety of sources. Movies you'll find on this site are either covered under Creative Commons licenses or are in the public domain. Please double check to be sure.
Prelinger Archives: Free Movies
This collection contains downloadable films that are covered under a Creative Commons 0 license (Public Domain). You can find, commercials, educational films, industrial films, some stock footage, and amateur films here.
Many of the tracks available on this site are covered by CC licenses. This portion of the site allows you the ability to filter tracks according to different kinds of CC licenses.
YouTube makes some music available, some with and others without attribution, for use with YouTube videos. there are limits on these works. Make sure you read the all terms and conditions before deciding whether or not to make the specific work.
An individual artist, Jason Shaw, has released tracks on this site under a CC 3.0 license (attribution only).
Tracks contained within this site are covered by CC licenses. Search function may not be the greatest, but they do have a large library of music to browse.
This is one of several music/audio projects hosted by the Internet Archive. Material can be downloaded under different Creative Commons licenses. Please be sure to double check what the license allows.
The Free Music Archive allows legal downloads of Creative Commons-licensed music. The lists of music are curated by independent labels, terrestrial, and Internet radio stations.
Need some sound effects? You may be able to download and use some from this site. Please be sure to carefully read the CC license accompanying each file to see what uses are permitted.
You may use these Instrumentals for educational and non-commercial projects (SONG/VIDEO/PODCAST/ETC) and may distribute unlimited copies of your production. Written credit must be given to worldhiphopbeats.com (Beat by WorldHipHopBeats.com) For full license details read the license information.
Internet Archive Live Music Archive
A fairly long list of artists and bands are making live recordings of their music available for download on this site. The tracks are covered by a "trade friendly" which essentially means that they may only be used for non-commercial purposes. Please be sure to check the "Trade Friendly" page by EtreeWiki for further information.
This site allows anyone to contribute sound files under a Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike license.