License

Which licenses we offer

• CC0 1.0: no credit needed.
• CC BY 3.0 and CC BY 4.0: credit required.
• CC BY-NC 3.0 and CC BY-NC 4.0: credit required; non-commercial use only.

We offer CC BY-NC 3.0 and CC BY-NC 4.0. We do not offer ShareAlike (SA), NoDerivatives (ND), or other licenses. If a source says a track is under one of those, we leave the track out.

What CC0 means

CC0 1.0 Universal is a public domain dedication from Creative Commons. The maker of a track gives up their copyright and related rights as far as the law allows. You can copy, change, share, and use the track for any purpose, commercial work included. Read the CC0 1.0 deed.

What CC BY means

Creative Commons Attribution lets you copy, change, share, and use a track for any purpose, commercial work included, as long as you give credit. The maker keeps their copyright. Read the deeds: CC BY 4.0 and CC BY 3.0. The track page tells you which version applies.

To give credit, do all of these:

• name the maker;
• give a link to the source;
• name the license and link to it;
• say if you changed the track, for example that you trimmed, looped, or edited it.

Many clips come from the BSD10k dataset, which cropped each clip to 30 seconds or less. If you use one of those clips, say that it was cropped to 30 seconds or less. The track page shows this note.

What CC BY-NC means

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial lets you use and change a track with credit for non-commercial purposes only: not in monetized videos, paid games, client work, or ads. Read the deeds: CC BY-NC 4.0 and CC BY-NC 3.0. The track page tells you which version applies.

Using a track

CC0 tracks need no credit and no permission. We credit every source anyway, because the people who made and kept these collections did the work, so using the credit line on a CC0 track is a courtesy, not a requirement. CC BY and CC BY-NC tracks require credit: paste the credit line where you publish your work, such as a video description, podcast notes, or game credits. CC BY-NC tracks are not for monetized videos, paid games, client work, or ads.

Each track page gives a ready-made credit line. For a CC0 track it reads: "Title" by Artist, via Source (CC0 1.0), with a link to the source page. For a CC BY track it reads: "Title" by Maker, via Source, licensed CC BY 4.0, with a link to the license and to the source page. Where a source asks to be credited in specific words, we show those words on the sources page.

Clips and loops you export from Uncommon Ear carry the credit line in their file tags, along with the license and its terms. Tags do not replace credit, because your audience does not see them. The original download is the source file as is, so copy the credit line from the track page.

What neither license can do

CC0, CC BY, and CC BY-NC cover only the rights the maker had and chose to license. They cannot:

• give you rights the maker never had, for example if they used a sample or melody that belongs to someone else;
• grant trademark or brand rights, such as using a name or logo mentioned in a recording;
• cover a person's voice, name, or likeness, or their privacy, which can carry their own rights;
• cover third-party content inside a recording, such as a song playing in the background;
• stop Content ID or similar automated claims. A video platform can flag a track that someone else registered, or that sounds like another recording, even when you have the right to use it.

If you use a track in a way that could touch any of these, check it yourself first. If a platform flags your video, keep the track page link and its credit line, and use them when you dispute the claim.

No warranty

We provide tracks as is, under their stated license. We cannot promise that a source's CC0, CC BY, or CC BY-NC claim is correct, that the maker owned every right in the recording, or that a track suits your purpose. Those license texts also disclaim warranties. See the terms.

How we check license status

Each track carries one of two statuses, and the track page always shows which:

• Verified: we checked the track's source page, and it states the license we show (CC0 1.0, CC BY 3.0 or 4.0, or CC BY-NC 3.0 or 4.0). We record the date of the check and a fingerprint (hash) of the page. Only verified tracks get the verified check mark.
• Listed: the license is copied from the metadata of the collection or dataset we took the track from, and we have not checked it at the source. This happens when the source page is missing, unreachable, or not yet checked. The track page says "The collection lists this as" followed by the license, and "we have not checked the source page yet". We plan to re-check listed tracks over time.

For many tracks, the license is copied from the BSD10k v1.2 dataset (April 2026), which copied the license field from Freesound. It is not yet checked on the sound's own Freesound page, so those tracks are listed, not verified.

If a source page names a license we do not offer, such as ShareAlike, NoDerivatives, or the Public Domain Mark, or names none, we do not include the track. If a source page later changes to another license, we drop the track from the next catalog build. These checks come from the sources themselves, so they cannot guarantee a claim is right.

Report a problem

If a track should not be here, for example because it is not under the license shown, you own it, or it contains your work, write to legal@uncommonear.com. Include the track page link, who you are, why the track should be removed, how we can reach you, and a statement that you are acting in good faith. While we review a report, we can hide the track from search and its page. Then we either restore it or remove it for good.