A friend supervises a workplace and had been playing nice music over the speaker system in the hallways and waiting rooms. But they’ve been told that they can no longer play copyrighted music of any kind, so I’m looking for alternatives that are free of cost and royalty free.

What I’ve come across so far isn’t great. On the lower end you have music that sounds like what you’d hear on an elevator, on hold on the phone or a corporate promo video. On the slightly higher end it’s still generic music that gets tedious after a half hour.

I know it’s a big ask, but does anyone have really good free music that can be played in the work place and around customers? Some customers are there for orientation appointments in the college and some are there for counselling.

My friend has their own CDs, but it’s not allowed. Youtube isn’t an option because of the ads. I assume Spotify isn’t an option for the same reason.

Update: I was having a great time with somafm.com until I realised I can’t use them for public performances / commercially. I’ve found some decent tracks at https://pixabay.com/music/search/instrumental such as this one https://pixabay.com/music/beats-lofi-instrumental-409202/ that are free of charge and allow public and commercial use.

I’ve also found (but yet to explore) Fesliyan Studios, Bensound and uppbeat.io

    • FarraigePlaisteaċ@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      9 hours ago

      I like radio garden. But it’s not permitted to play radio in a commercial setting that has visiting public. It counts as a public performance and requires a license.

  • martine@sh.itjust.works
    20·
    20 hours ago

    Classical music seems like a good choice. Not all recordings are public domain, but because much of the compositions are old as hell it’s easier to find older recordings that are out of copyright. Here’s a list!

    • FarraigePlaisteaċ@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      12 hours ago

      That’s great, thank you. The clientele here are on the younger side but I will personally get great use out of that list :)

      Edit: actually, there are some great songs there for any age group. I’ll definitely include some in the play list. Thanks again!

    • FarraigePlaisteaċ@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      13 hours ago

      Their terms don’t allow public performances, unfortunately. But I really enjoyed what I heard there so I’ll be keeping a tab open for myself. Thank you :)

    • FarraigePlaisteaċ@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      13 hours ago

      Yes, the staff and clientele would both like music. It’s not a shop as such, but a set of services. They used to have music in the past until they were alerted to the need for both a commercial license and a public performance license. So due to the budget set by senior powers, the music was dropped. They’re trying to change that now.