"Royalty-free" often gives off a negative connotation when it comes to music. You immediately think of cheesy corporate music or low-quality pop music that you put in the background of a video. Well, those days are over.
Thanks to a plethora of sites curating and producing high-quality samples from extremely talented professional musicians from all over the globe, it's never been easier to incorporate professional sounds into your own productions without having to go through the pain of clearing a real sample. In this guide, I will go over the 5 best sites for royalty free samples to help take your productions to the next level.
What Are the Best Sites for Royalty Free Samples?
There's tons of sites out there competing to provide the best samples for us producers to use in our tracks. Some of the sites with the best quality samples at reasonable prices are Splice, Cymatics, Loopmasters, Tracklib, and Arcade. We'll dive into each of these companies to explain further what they each bring to the table.
All the sites listed below also offer some sort of free trial, so definitely take advantage of those to get a good feel for which site you like best.
With all that out of the way, let's get into our list of the best sites for royalty-free samples.
Cost: $9.99/month for 100 download credits
Free Trial: 14-day free trial
Splice is a website that offers a huge library of professional-quality royalty-free samples that you're able to freely use in your tracks. From one-shot percussive elements to melodic loops in every genre you can think of, it's an endless source of utility and inspiration for any producer.
They also frequently collaborate with big name producers (Lex Luger, jetsonmade, Terrace Martin, The Kount, and many more) to produce Splice-exclusive packs, giving you access to some of your favorite producers' sounds.
The monthly credits payment model is amazing as it allows you to only download the specific samples you want instead of having to dish out money for a whole pack of samples when you might only end up using a few samples from that pack. The credits also rollover to the following month if you don't use them all, so there's no time pressure either.
Overall, Splice is our favorite option for royalty free samples due to the massive library, artist-exclusive sample packs, and the download credits payment model.
Cost: Various prices for individual sample packs
Free Trial: Offers select packs/plugins for free
Cymatics is another great site for sample packs. They offer high-quality samples across many different genres and often have many packs/plugins available for free. Another plus is Cymatics sample packs often come with MIDI files in addition to .wav files, giving you more options on how you want to incorporate the samples into your projects.
Unlike Splice (which offers a monthly subscription payment model), with Cymatics you have to purchase individual sample packs, which typically range between $10-$20 each. They do offer some sample previews on the purchase page so you can get a feel for what the pack sounds like, however you're unable to preview the whole pack before purchasing.
Overall, Cymatics is a great site with high quality and affordable samples. The payment model is not as optimal as Splice, but it's still a great option for the occasional sample pack purchase if you need a new source of inspiration.
Cost: Various prices for individual sample packs
Free Trial: Offers free "Taster Packs"
Loopmasters is a somewhat under the radar sample library, but the quality of the samples and variety of genres is top notch. There's a huge selection to choose from and often a lot of the packs are on sale/discounted.
Similar to Cymatics, you have to purchase whole sample packs instead of downloading individual samples. However, the prices are reasonable and the samples are unique and high quality. They also offer previews of the samples on the purchase page and allow you to download a "Taster Pack" which includes a few samples from the pack, so you're able to get a good sense of the vibe of the samples before you buy.
Overall, Loopmasters wouldn't be my first recommendation for sample libraries, but it's a great resource to find more unique and different samples to add to your sound collection.
Cost: $5.99/month for 25 downloads, $13.99/month for 60 downloads, and $29.99/month for 135 downloads
Free Trial: 14-day free trial (15 free track downloads)
Tracklib is a really unique sample library in the sense that it offers real, original music to sample instead of creating new loops specifically for sampling. From vintage soul records to modern orchestral music and everything in between, you can download music from real artists to use in your own productions.
In many cases you're also able to download the multitracks/stems of the samples, which is a really cool feature that lets you decide which layers of the sample you want to use and/or process the layers differently when you're mixing. The pricing starts at $5.99/month for 25 downloads, however there are additional costs to consider if you actually want to release your track.
Since these are original samples from real artists, if you release a track using the sample you downloaded you need to purchase a sample license. While Tracklib makes this process really easy, it can get a bit expensive depending on which "Category" your sample is and how many seconds of the sample you use in your track.
While Tracklib offers a really cool and unique sampling experience, the added headache of dealing with the licensing and revenue-share aspects are definitely something to consider when deciding where you want to get your samples from. However, there's really no substitute for sampling real original music!
Cost: $10/month
Free Trial: 30-day free trial
Last but certainly not least, Arcade is another really unique sample library in the sense that it's not just a folder with a bunch of audio files inside. Instead, it's a plugin/VST you install in your DAW that locks to your project's tempo and key and allows you to play in various royalty-free sample segments using MIDI.
Here's a video that briefly shows how it works:
There's a ton of different "lines" which are basically different moods/themes, and within those lines are a plethora of different "kits" with their own unique samples. There are lines that specialize in percussion samples, while others focus on instruments and others focus on vocals and FX.
Similar to Splice and Tracklib, Arcade has a monthly (or yearly) pricing model which allows you to access their entire library of samples instead of having to pay for individual packs. The monthly price is $10/month, but if you pay for the whole year upfront you get a bit of a discount. There's also a free trial so you can try before you buy.
Arcade is an amazing tool to add some extra sauce to your projects. It's pretty different from the other sites on this list, but that's what makes it unique and a valuable addition to your producer toolkit.
I hope this guide helps you understand all the different sites/resources you can use to find high-quality royalty free samples! Enjoyed this guide? Make sure to check out our Bedroom Producer Essentials Guide or some of our other reviews/buyer's guides.
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