Quick Tips
Including images, music and/or videos within your course content is possible, however here are some simple steps to take to ensure copyright compliance.
In order to understand more about copyright and creative commons , we have created this page for your reference. This page contains several creative commons websites where you can easily find and source images, music and videos.
Check the license restrictions for each item that you wish to use, and ensure that you know how to legally source and attribute artist's work
Copyright
Copyright is often a prickly subject, especially in the education sector.
Understanding what is legal and what is illegal to use in course content is difficult, however we will provide you with the tools to find legal content for you to use.
According to Colleen Boyle, in the Being Reasonable about Copyright blog post, there is "no blanket exception for the use of copyright materials within an education context".
For more information about copyright, visit the RMIT University Library copyright guide
Photo by gesrey
Creative Commons
When using images, music and video content from the internet, it is important to be aware of intellectual property.
Who owns the copyright for this image? Do I have permission to reproduce it?
To put it simply, unless you have explicit written permission for you to use an asset from the intellectual property owner, you do not have permission.
Creative commons makes it easy for people to gain permission without contacting the intellectual property owner. Creative commons licences allow anyone to use an artist's work provided they follow the terms of the licence.
There are many different types of licences. The most common creative commons licences is the CC BY licence, which requires the person reproducing the work to attribute the work to the copyright owner.
Eloise Acuna provides a detailed breakdown explaining what a creative commons licence is in the blog post Creative Commons Images.
For more detailed information about the licenses available visit the Creative Commons website.
Attribution
It is important to look at the details on how to attribute the work to the intellectual property owner.
Standard practice involves acknowledging the title of the work, the artist and the creative commons licence when using work that is not your own.
For more information about how to attribute work correctly visit the creative commons website.
Legally sourcing images, music and videos
The below sites offer images with creative commons licences, however it is still necessary to check the creative commons licence and attribute the work correctly.
- The image sites have been compiled from Eloise Acuna's blog post Great sites for Creative Commons images and an article written by Thomas Oppong on Medium.
- The creative commons music websites have been compiled from Yolanda Rios's blog post Music in videos: My top 4 sites to find music.
| Title | Description | Images | Music | Video | Public Domain | Creative Commons | Copyright Restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audio Farm | Contains a variety of creative commons and copyright protected music. Check the license restrictions for each item. |  |  |  |  |
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| Free Music Archive | Contains creative commons music. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | | |||
| Gender Spectrum Collection | Contains images of a variety of trans and non-binary people. The photographs are available under a Creative Commons Attribution, NonCommercial, NoDerivatives license. |  | | ||||
| Getrefe | Contains free and paid images and image packs. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | |
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| Sound Bible | Contains a variety of music from various artists. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | | |||
| Incompetech | Contains creative commons and copyrighted music that requires attribution. Additional licenses can be purchased. | | | |
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| Creative Commons (Beta version) | Contains creative commons content drawn from a variety of sources. Check the license restrictions for each item. The previous site is available here. | | |  | | | |
| Foodie’s Feed | Contains various food related images, mainly within the public domain. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | | |||
| Archive.org | Contains images, music and videos, mostly within the public domain. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | | | | |
| Ben Sound | Contains a variety of creative commons and copyright protected music. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | |
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| Cupcake | Contains a variety of images from photographer Jonas Wimmerström. All images are in the public domain and do not require attribution. | | | | |||
| Danosongs | Contains copyrighted music that costs $10 USD per song. | | |
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| Death to the Stock Photo | Contains images that are available through a paid subscription. | | |
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| Designers Pics | Contains free images for personal and commercial work. Attribution is appreciated, however not required. | | | | |||
| Dig CC mixter | Contains a wide range of music with various creative commons licences. Check the license restrictions for each item. More music can be found on the CC mixter website. | | | ||||
| Function | Contains images from various artists and websites. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | | |
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| Gratisography | Contains public domain images. No attribution is required. Free for commercial use. | | | | |||
| HookSounds | Contains creative commons and copyrighted music that requires attribution. Additional licenses can be purchased. | | | |
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| IM Free | Contains resources for creating websites, including creative commons images. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | ||||
| ISO Republic | Contains many creative commons images, including public domain images. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | | |||
| Jamendo Music | Contains music that is available on creative commons. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | | |||
| Jay Mantri | Contains a variety of images from photographer Jay Mantri. All images are in the public domain and do not require attribution. | | | | |||
| Jéshoots | Contains a variety of images from photographer Jan Vasek. All images are in the public domain and do not require attribution. | | | | |||
| Kaboompics | Contains a wide range of photographs available for personal and commercial use. | | | | |||
| Life of Pix | Contains public domain images from a variety of photographers. Attribution is not required but is always appreciated. Free for commercial use. | | | | |||
| Magdeleine | Contains creative commons and public domain images which can be sorted by public domain and attribution required. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | | |||
| Mazwai | Contains videos that are available to use with attribution. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | ||||
| MMT | Contains a variety of images from photographer Jeffrey Betts. All images are in the public domain and do not require attribution. | | | | |||
| Moveast | Contains travel images from photographer João Pacheco. All images are in the public domain and do not require attribution. | | | | |||
| Nappy | Contains general images of people of colour. The photographs are available under the Creative Commons public domain license, no attribution required. | | | | |||
| New Old Stock | Contains vintage images that are available for personal and non-commercial use. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | | |||
| Paul Jarvis | Contains twenty images that are available through the public domain. Email subscribers receive weekly articles from Paul Jarvis. | | | | |||
| Pexels Videos | Contains a variety of videos available under the public domain license. Attribution is not required. | | | | |||
| Pexels | Contains images available under the Pexels license, which allows for commercial and non-commercial use. Attribution is not required but is always appreciated. | | | | |||
| Picjumbo | Contains public domain images from photographer Victor Hanacek. Attribution is not required but is always appreciated. | | | | |||
| Picnoi | Contains images from a diverse range or people. Attribution is not required but is always appreciated. | | | | |||
| Picography | Contains public domain images from a variety of photographers. Attribution is not required but is always appreciated. | | | | |||
| Pixabay | Contains public domain images from a variety of photographers and videographers. Attribution is not required but is always appreciated. | | | | | ||
| Public Domain Archive | Contains public domain images from a variety of photographers. Attribution is not required. | | | | |||
| Splashbase | Contains images and videos from creative commons. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | | | ||
| Splitshire | Contains images and videos that are available for personal and commercial works. The videos are hosted on other websites and contain broken links. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | | | ||
| Startup Stock Photos | Contains a variety of images available under the public domain license. Attribution is not required. | | | | |||
| Stock Up | Contains images compiled from various websites. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | | |||
| Stokpic | Contains many creative commons images, including public domain images. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | | |||
| Super Famous | Contains various images from photographer Folkert Gorter. All images require attribution. | | | ||||
| The Pattern Library | Contains patterns that are available for download without attribution. | | | | |||
| Travel Coffee Book | Contains travel images available under the public domain license. Attribution is not required. | | | | |||
| UK Black Tech | Contains images of people of colour using technology. The photographs are available under the Creative Commons Attribution license. | | | ||||
| Unsplash | Contains images from a variety of photographers under the UnSplash license. Attribution is not required but is always appreciated. Free for commercial use. | | | | |||
| Visualhunt | Contains a wide range of images with various creative commons licences. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | | |||
| YouTube Audio Library | Contains creative commons and public domain music which can be sorted with or without attribution. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | | |||
| Wiki Commons | Contains a database of creative commons and public domain images, sound effects and videos. Check the license restrictions for each item. | | | | | | |
| WOCinTech Chat | Contains stock images of women of colour using technology. The photographs are available under the Creative Commons Attribution license. | | | ||||
| PremiumBeat | Contains free, royalty-free music tracks, with certain licence restrictions. | |
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