The last couple of days I have spent looking for just the right image or just the right music to fit the web sites that I am building. As you’re aware, it is a REALLY BAD IDEA to steal artwork or music from another website. People frown upon you stealing their work… So, I spent the better part of today and yesterday looking for royalty free stuff. It can be really tough to look for just the right piece.

I have to explain to people that I build websites for, and to those that I just consult that it is very bad form to right click on an image and save it for use at a later date. Now, there are a lot of websites out there on the Internet that allow you to use their clip art, but you have to be very careful to read the disclaimers on the sites.

This time, I had to search for music. You can’t just use music off your CD without the artist’s permission… So, I decided to browse some “Royalty Free” websites that will sell you their music clips for a reasonable price. No problem there. I started with Google to give me a list of sites to browse, and as I began my search, I tweeted about what I was doing. I received multiple tweets back from people who either shop for royalty free stuff or they own the sites… but it was cool to find all these sites to peruse. (You can follow me on Twitter.)

Here are some sites that I visited and found some very useful, royalty-free stuff. This is not free stuff… you still have to buy it, but the license allows you to use it on your websites.

iStockphoto
Audio Micro
Premiumbeat
Freeplay Music
Music Bakery
Accent Music Productions

Well that’s just a few… Have fun!

– More Later!

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