Finding enjoyable music under the CC BY-NC-SA license can be a bit of a pain. This post serves to showcase some links and resources one can use in finding new BY-NC-SA music with relative ease. This list is incomplete, and will grow over time with suggestions from the community, so please feel free to bring forward any resources if not currently included in the list!

  1. SoundCloud - While searching for music under specific licenses is unfortunately not currently possible on SoundCloud, one can find BY-NC-SA licensed music with relative ease using the SoundCloud search function. In order to do so, make a regular search in the search bar, and filter the results to only show “Tracks” by clicking the button on the sidebar. This should show more search filter options, including a copyright setting. Setting this to “To share” will bring up music under numerous CC licenses including BY-NC-SA.

  2. MusicBrainz - MusicBrainz is a database of music information and metadata, with an ambitious stated goal of becoming the ultimate source of music information. As part of the documentation of music, MusicBrainz allows for license URLs to be attached to releases. While following URLs below are far from complete and may lack the selection available elsewhere, they are likely to grow as the MusicBrainz database (made by volunteer editors) grows and improves. 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0

  3. Free Music Archive - The Free Music Archive at the page linked contains over 44,000 tracks licensed specifically as BY-NC-SA. These results can be further filtered down by Genre, Length, and to only include instrumental results.

  4. Europeana - Europeana was created by the European Union to digitally store and make available a wide variety of cultural heritage materials. Most if not all of the music found in the attached link will be older, traditional music as opposed to anything newer with mainstream appeal.

  5. Ektoplazm - Specializing in Psytrance, Techno, and Downtempo music, Ecktoplazm is an amazing resource for BY-NC-SA licensed tracks, taking no effort at all to find tracks and albums licensed as such. Consider supporting them if you like what you find there, as they are 100% community funded.