Many indie game developers search for royalty-free music for games, only to be disappointed later when they realize that it doesn't actually mean the music is copyright-free—or even free at all. Let’s quickly clarify these terms to help you understand this topic better.
Royalty-Free: This generally means that after you pay for the license, you don’t have to pay ongoing royalties or fees to use the asset. You pay once and can use it in a single or multiple game projects, depending on what the license allows.
Copyright-Free: This refers to content that is not protected by copyright, meaning it's in the public domain, or the creator has explicitly waived their rights, allowing anyone to use it without needing permission or paying any fees. However, this is nearly impossible to find. While some people do offer music and sound effects for free, these works are still copyrighted.
Free: When we think of "free" in the context of getting sounds for our indie game, we expect a free download with no strings attached. However, the content is still copyrighted. Just like if a friend gives you a Coca-Cola bottle for free, it doesn’t mean Coca-Cola has no copyright on the bottle's shape, logo, recipe, etc.
Here at GameSFXPacks, all our music and sound effects for games are royalty-free, copyrighted by Cyberwave Orchestra or Visionary Eight Studio as authors. Our license is easy to understand and very indie-developer-friendly, with no hassle.
We also have a section on our website where we offer free sound effects and music, and we intend to grow that section over time.
One of our music packs which is free to download:
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