Kevin MacLeod
Kevin MacLeod (/məˈklaʊd/ mə-KLOWD; born September 28, 1972) is an American composer and musician. MacLeod has composed over 2,000 pieces of royalty-free library music and made them available under a Creative Commons copyright license. His licensing options allow anyone to use his music for free as long as he receives attribution (credit), which has led to his music being used in thousands of films. His music has also been used in some commercial video games such as Kerbal Space Program, as well as in a large number of YouTube videos and films. As of 2017, his music is featured on one of the live feeds from the International Space Station, Earth From Space.
Contents
- 1 Early life
- 2 Career
- 2.1 Music distribution
- 2.2 Subject of do*entary
- 2.3 Awards and accolades
- 3 Discography
- 3.1 Albums
- 3.2 Singles and EPs
- 4 References
- 5 External links
Early life
MacLeod was born on September 28, 1972, in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He went to college, where he studied music education.
Career
Music distribution
"Monkeys Spinning Monkeys", one of MacLeod's compositions distributed under a Creative Commons licenseMacLeod states that he releases his music under Creative Commons licenses to maximize the number of people who can use his music. On his website's FAQ, he expressed disdain for the current state of copyright; he hopes to create "an alternate body of works that is able to compete with them".
MacLeod's most popular license is the CC BY; his music is free to use but must be credited. A no-attribution license is also available for people who are unwilling or unable to provide credit to MacLeod; the license costs $30 for one song, $50 for two songs, and $20 per song for three or more songs.
MacLeod has also created FreePD.com, which collects new public domain sound recordings by various artists. Rather than waiting for old copyrights to expire, he hopes to provide a quality library of modern recorded works by artists who explicitly release their music into the public domain. Some of MacLeod's own music is available on the website as well; he explains that these songs are "not commercially viable in the traditional sense, and just add clutter which hinders people in finding the pieces that they may want."
Subject of do*entary
MacLeod is the subject of a do*entary film *led Royalty Free: The Music of Kevin MacLeod. The film had a limited release in October 2020. Ryan Camarda, the film's director and producer, ran a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter with a goal of $30,000; by the end of the campaign, 524 backers had pledged a total of $30,608. According to the Kickstarter page, the amount was needed for transportation in order to conduct in-person interviews with the various subjects featured in the film. The do*entary has received positive reviews from critics.
Awards and accolades
In 2015, MacLeod was awarded the International Honorary Web Video Award at the 2015 German Web Video Awards by the European Web Video Academy for his lifetime achievement in influencing the German web video community.
Discography
Albums
- 2006: Dorney Rock
- 2006: Missing Hits 2
- 2012: Cuentos de Recuperación (with Sonia Echezuria)
- 2014: Horror Soundscapes
- 2014: Highland Strands
- 2014: Ghostpocalypse
- 2014: Calming
- 2014: Hard Electronic
- 2014: Madness and Paranoia
- 2014: PsychoKiller
- 2014: Supernatural Haunting
- 2014: The Ambient
- 2014: Cephalopod
- 2014: Dark World
- 2014: Disco Ultralounge
- 2014: Polka! Polka! Polka!
- 2014: Primal Drive
- 2014: Sadness
- 2014: The Descent
- 2014: Dark Continent
- 2014: Wonders
- 2014: Action Cuts
- 2014: Aspiring
- 2014: Light Electronic
- 2014: Medium Electronic
- 2014: Mystery
- 2014: Tenebrous Brothers Carnival
- 2014: Atlantean Twilight
- 2014: Healing
- 2014: Latinesque
- 2014: Take the Lead
- 2014: Thatched Villagers
- 2014: Happyrock
- 2014: Music to Delight
- 2014: Silent Film: Light Collection
- 2014: Vadodara
- 2014: Bitter Suite
- 2014: Comedy Scoring
- 2014: Reunited
- 2014: Funkorama
- 2014: Oddities
- 2014: Silent Film: Dark Collection
- 2015: Christmas!
- 2015: Darkness
- 2015: Exhilarate
- 2015: Film Noire
- 2015: Netherworld Shanty
- 2015: Romance
- 2015: Video Cl*ica
- 2015: Virtutes Instrumenti
- 2015: Ossuary
- 2015: Pixelland
- 2016: Maccary Bay
- 2016: Mystic Force
- 2016: Anamalie
- 2016: Final Battle
- 2016: Carpe Diem
- 2016: Groovy
- 2016: Mesmerize
- 2016: Traveller
- 2017: Shadowlands
- 2017: Destruction Device
- 2017: Spirit
- 2017: Ferret
- 2017: Teh Jazzes
- 2017: Miami Nights
- 2018: Spring Chicken
- 2018. Sheep Reliability
- 2019: Meditation
- 2019: Epic
- 2019: The Complete Game Music Bundle
- 2019: Complete Collection (Creative Commons)
- 2020: SCP-*
- 2020: Relaxx
- 2021: Missing Hits
- 2021: The Waltzes
- 2021: Missing Hits C to E
- 2021: Missing Hits N to R
- 2021: Missing Hits Calmness
- 2021: Missing Hits F to J
- 2021: Missing Hits K to M
- 2021: Missing Hits A to B
- 2021: Missing Hits S to T
- 2021: Missing Hits U to Z
Singles and EPs
- 2011: The Cannery
- 2014: Tranquility 5
- 2014: Sneaky Snitch
- 2014: Fluffing a Duck
- 2014: Orrganic Meditation
- 2014: Touching Moments
- 2014: Impact
- 2015: Somewhere Sunny
- 2015: Garden Music
- 2016: Vicious
- 2017: Ever Mindful
- 2018: Magic Scout: A Calm Experience
- 2018: Laserpack
- 2019: Dream Catcher
- 2019: Flying Kerfufle
- 2019: Le Grand Chase
- 2019: Crusade: Heavy Industry
- 2019: OnionCapers
- 2019: Envision
- 2019: Glitter Blast
- 2019: Leaving Home
- 2019: Magistar
- 2019: Midnight Tale
- 2019: River Flute
- 2019: Symmetry
- 2019: Sovereign
- 2019: Hustle Hard
- 2019: Almost Bliss
- 2019: Beauty Flow
- 2019: Half Mystery
- 2019: Past Sadness
- 2019: Raving Energy
- 2019: Rising Tide
- 2019: Tyrant
- 2019: Sincerely
- 2019: Celebration
- 2019: Deep and Dirty
- 2019: Fuzzball Parade
- 2019: Lotus
- 2019: Realizer
- 2019: Stay the Course
- 2019: Verano Sensual
- 2019: Wholesome
- 2019: Farting Around
- 2019: Aquarium
- 2019: Monkeys Spinning Monkeys: described as "flute-filled, easily meme-able". It is among the most-played songs on TikTok; from January through June 2021, it garnered 31,612,975,915 plays.
- 2019: A Kevin MacLeod Xmas
- 2019: Folk?
- 2019: Menagerie
- 2020: Worldish
- 2019: Scheming Weasel (Peukie Remix)
- 2020: What You Want
- 2020: Island Music
- 2020: On Hold for You
- 2020: Canons in D
- 2020: Project 80s
- 2021: World
- 2021: Now That's Now!
- 2021: Night in the Castle
- 2021: Adventures in Adventureland
- 2021: WOTSITS!!!!
- 2021: Space Jazz
- 2021: Ethereal Relaxation
- 2022: Journey to Ascend
- 2022: Boogie Party
References
External links
- Official website
- FreePD.com – MacLeod's library of public-domain music
- Kevin MacLeod at IMDb
- Kevin MacLeod on Twitter
- Kevin MacLeod on SoundCloud
- Kevin MacLeod on YouTube
- "Free Music – Kevin MacLeod Composes for the Internet" from Kickstarter
- Kevin MacLeod's 2013 "Ask Me Anything" Q&A on Reddit (and another AMA in 2014)
- His works on freemusicarchive