I'm producing some podcasts and am looking for some sources of
royalty-free classical music.  I think that most (if not all)
classical music is royalty free but most of the sites that I've seen
are charging an outrageous amount to use this music.  I'm looking for
a few sites and/or services that would offer a selection of classical
music that could be downloaded for free and used on podcasts.  Please
post your answer as a comment first and then I'll accept it as an
answer if it is satisfactory.

Thanks!

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Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 26 Sep 2005 23:12 PDT

Is $25 a year exorbitant? That's the cost of a subscription
to The Classical Archives:

"The Classical Archives is the largest classical music site
 on the web: 34,563 full length classical music files by 1,902
 composers. Files are offered in several formats: live recordings
 in WMA and MP3..."

"Subscribers may access 1,000 files/month (100/day) - including
 all protected files such as HiFi MP3s and concerts.
 Registered Free Users may access 5 unrestricted files/day -
 excluding HiFi MP3s and other restricted files."
http://www.classicalarchives.com/intro.html

sublime1-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 27 Sep 2005 14:27 PDT

jpbischke,

Would any of the following meet your needs?

http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/wmcstore/WMCshop.cgi?action=dbview&id=classical&list=category

http://www.archive.org/audio/audio-details-db.php?collection=opensource_audio&collectionid=Mozart__WA_-_String_Quartet_No.2_in_D_Mvmt_3_


http://www.archive.org/audio/audiolisting-browse.php?cat=198

--Bobbie7

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Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 30 Sep 2005 10:32 PDT

jpbischke,

Are any of the sites I provided of use to you or should we continue to
search for other options?


http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/wmcstore/WMCshop.cgi?action=dbview&id=classical&list=category

http://www.archive.org/audio/audio-details-db.php?collection=opensource_audio&collectionid=Mozart__WA_-_String_Quartet_No.2_in_D_Mvmt_3_


http://www.archive.org/audio/audiolisting-browse.php?cat=198


Thanks,
Bobbie7

Hello again jpbischke,

I am pleased that the classical music files at archive.org serve your purpose.

http://www.archive.org/audio/audio-details-db.php?collection=opensource_audio&collectionid=Mozart__WA_-_String_Quartet_No.2_in_D_Mvmt_3_

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=bach%20AND%20mediatype%3Aaudio

http://www.archive.org/audio/audiolisting-browse.php?cat=198

Search criteria: bookmarked website

Best wishes,
Bobbie7

This what we were looking for.  Thanks Bobbie7!!!

Even cheaper (free)http://www.classiccat.net/

These are both good sites.  The issue is that from what I understand
with both of them you have to get explicit permission from whoever
"owns" the song.  We would prefer to find a site (even if there's a
subscription fee involved) where we could use the song in our podcasts
without having to wait for someone to sign off on it.  That's
basically how the Podsafe Music Network (http://music.podshow.com)
works but the problem is that they don't have a good selection of
classical music.  Hence the reason for the question.

Any other ideas?

My apologies for the delay in responding.  It's been a bit crazy
around the office the last couple of days. :)

The first site (Partners in Rhyme) charges for their tracks and it's
pretty expensive ($59.95).  They do have a site (Tradebit.com) that
sells downloadable tracks for cheaper but I can't find info on any
copyright restrictions here.

As for the other site, there's a good chance that that might work as
an answer to my question.  I need to do a little more research into
the Creative Commons license to determine if equates to being
"podsafe."  If so, I'm good to go!

I'll post here when I know more.

Thanks!

jbischke,

Thanks for getting back to me. When you find out if the second site
meets your needs, just let me know and I will post the information as
the official answer to your question.

Thanks,
Bobbie7

It looks like the archive.org site will work for us so feel free to
post this as answer.  Thanks!!!