Why do I need special images and recordings for my projects?
Whenever anyone creates anything, it is copyrighted and the creator can determine how the thing can be used and distributed.
In order to avoid copyright infringement, you need to look for items that have licensing that allows for use and adaptation, usually with attribution to the creator.
Key terms to look for include
Creative Commons
Public Domain
Royalty-free
What are Creative Commons licenses?
Creative Commons licenses are a way of licensing materials on the Internet so that they may be easily copied or reused by others.
There are several different levels of Creative Commons (CC) licenses, each of which permits specific types of reuse.
Materials that have a CC license can be copied without obtaining permission, provided you credit the creator of the work, and adhere to any conditions specified by the license.
This resource explains what public domain means and includes tools to help authors and copyright owners dedicate their works to the worldwide public domain.
What does royalty-free mean?
Some websites or library resources offer "royalty-free" photos, videos and music.
Access to the content must first be purchased; however, the license granted with the purchase usually permits unlimited use of the content, within the parameters outlined in the license.
Royalty-free in this case simply means that once purchased, subsequent uses of the content do not require additional royalties to be paid.
Use music in your videos under Creative Commons License as long as you provide credit with a link to the Website.Cannot use in podcasts, audiobooks, song making or remix.
Items in the collections are reviewed and labelled with statements that indicate how you may reuse them, and what sort of permission, if any, you need to do so.
Photos published on Unsplash can be used for free. There is a paid version, so narrow your search to free. While not required, you can provide credit to the photographer or Unsplash.
You can copy, use and modify any files here freely as long as you follow the terms specified by the author; this often means crediting the source and author(s) appropriately and releasing copies/improvements under the same freedom to others. The license conditions of each individual media file can be found on their description page.
A library resource that provides royalty-free access to millions of professional images for educational use in academic papers, projects, and presentations.
A diverse collection of royalty-free icons available for download for inspiration, a presentation, art project, website. Icons are black and white and unable to be customized on the free version.
Collect freely licensed and Creative Commons 0 licensed materials from Pix Wizard's stock image library. Adhere to the use restrictions and attribution guidelines found on the download page for each image.
