Lowell Telecommunications Corporation

You can't just go and use the latest hit song as the background music for your video productions. Those songs are owned by someone -- the singer, songwriter, their publishing company or record label. That entity holds the copyright to the music, and can determine how it is used. For you to use that music in your own production, you need to obtain permission, and usually pay them a fee.

Fortunately, there are alternative sources for quality, legal music that you can use without restrictions and exhorborant fees. Much of this content is released under a Creative Commons license.

• Podsafe Audio - "aims to provide a location where musicians can upload music under the Creative Commons License for use in Podcasts, Mashups, Shoutcasts, Webcasts and every other kind of 'casting' that exists on the 'net..."
• Magnatune - No paid license is required for people creating new works for non-commercial use. However to use Magnatune tracks in your production, you must also license your content under a Creative Commons license.
• CCMixter - This is a community music site featuring remixes licensed under Creative Commons, where you can listen to, sample, mash-up, or interact with music in whatever way you want.
• CCHits - CCHits is a web site that tracks popular music released under Creative Commons licenses.