Kevin MacLeod

Kevin MacLeod (/məˈklaʊd/ mə-KLOWD; born September 28, 1972) is an American composer and musician.[1][2] MacLeod has composed over 2,000 pieces of royalty-free library music and made them available under a Creative Commons copyright license.[3][4] 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.[5] His music has also been used in some commercial video games such as Kerbal Space Program,[6] as well as in a large number of YouTube videos and films.[7][8] As of 2017, his music is featured on one of the live feeds from the International Space Station, Earth From Space.[4]

For the Canadian Secretary to the Queen of Canada, see Kevin S. MacLeod. For other people, see Kevin McLeod (disambiguation).

Kevin MacLeod
MacLeod in 2016
Background information
Born (1972-09-28) September 28, 1972
Green Bay, Wisconsin, U.S.
OriginNew York City, New York, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Composer
  • music producer
Years active1996–present
Associated actsCarl MacLeod (brother), Kyle Miller, Robin Scotchman, Wyatt Johnson, Jonathan Syrupworth, Ethan Silver, Corey Surge, Eric Kelly
Websiteincompetech.com

Early life

MacLeod was born on September 28, 1972 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He went to college, where he studied music education.[9]

Career

Music distribution

MacLeod states that he releases his music under Creative Commons licenses to maximize the number of people who can use his music.[10] 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".[10][11]

MacLeod's most popular license is the CC BY; his music is free to use but must be credited.[12] 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.[12]

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.[13] 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 [on his primary website] which hinders people in finding the pieces that they may want."[14]

Subject of documentary

MacLeod is the subject of a documentary film titled Royalty Free: The Music of Kevin MacLeod.[15] 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.[16] 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.[16] The documentary has received positive reviews from critics.[17]

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.[18][19]

Discography
  • Springwell (January 1, 1999)
  • Polbain To Oranmore (January 1, 2003)
  • Dorney Rock (January 1, 2006)
  • Missing Hits 2 (April 7, 2006)
  • Cuentos de Recuperación (March 3, 2012)
  • Horror Soundscapes (January 1, 2014)
  • Highland Strands (July 28, 2014)
  • Ghostpocalypse (December 21, 2014)
  • Madness and Paranoia (December 24, 2014)
  • Hard Electronic (December 24, 2014)
  • Calming (December 24, 2014)
  • PsychoKiller (December 24, 2014)
  • Supernatural Haunting (December 24, 2014)
  • The Ambient (December 24, 2014)
  • Cephalopod (December 25, 2014)
  • Primal Drive (December 25, 2014)
  • Disco Ultralounge (December 25, 2014)
  • Polka! Polka! Polka! (December 25, 2014)
  • Islandesque (December 25, 2014)
  • The Descent (December 25, 2014)
  • Sadness (December 25, 2014)
  • Comedy Scoring (December 25, 2014)
  • Dark World (December 25, 2014)
  • Wonders (December 26, 2014)
  • Dark Continent (December 26, 2014)
  • Tenebrous Brothers Carnival (December 27, 2014)
  • Mystery (December 27, 2014)
  • Aspiring (December 27, 2014)
  • Action Cuts (December 27, 2014)
  • Light Electronic (December 27, 2014)
  • Reunited (December 27, 2014)
  • Medium Electronic (December 27, 2014)
  • Atlantean Twilight (December 29, 2014)
  • Healing (December 29, 2014)
  • Thatched Villagers (December 29, 2014)
  • Funkorama (December 29, 2014)
  • Oddities (December 29, 2014)
  • Take the Lead (December 29, 2014)
  • Latinesque (December 29, 2014)
  • Music to Delight (December 30, 2014)
  • Silent Film: Light Collection (December 30, 2014)
  • Vadodara (December 30, 2014)
  • Happyrock (December 30, 2014)
  • Silent Film: Dark Collection (December 31, 2014)
  • Bitter Suite (December 31, 2014)
  • Netherworld Shanty (July 28, 2015)
  • Christmas! (July 28, 2015)
  • Exhilarate (July 28, 2015)
  • Darkness (July 28, 2015)
  • Romance (July 28, 2015)
  • Virtutes Instrumenti (July 28, 2015)
  • Film Noire (July 28, 2015)
  • Video Classica (July 28, 2015)
  • Pixelland (December 18, 2015)
  • Ossuary (January 4, 2016)
  • Maccary Bay (April 13, 2016)
  • Mystic Force (April 28, 2016)
  • Anamalie (May 4, 2016)
  • Final Battle (May 13, 2016)
  • Carpe Diem (December 14, 2016)
  • Traveller (December 19, 2016)
  • Groovy (December 19, 2016)
  • Mesmerize (December 19, 2016)
  • Shadowlands (May 5, 2017)
  • Destruction Device (June 27, 2017)
  • Spirit (July 24, 2017)
  • Ferret (August 14, 2017)
  • Teh Jazzes (November 12, 2017)
  • Miami Nights (November 23, 2017)
  • Spring Chicken (May 10, 2018)
  • Sheep Reliability (August 5, 2018)
  • Meditation (December 14, 2019)
  • Epic (December 15, 2019)
  • SCP-XXX (October 7, 2020)
  • Relaxx (December 9, 2020)
  • Missing Hits (February 23, 2021)
  • The Waltzes (June 2, 2021)
  • Space Jazz (September 29, 2021)

References
  1. Hoffberger, Chase (March 3, 2020). "Royalty Free: Why YouTube and Creative Commons can't coexist". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  2. Pollari, Niina. "Free Music – Kevin MacLeod Composes for the Internet". Kickstarter. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  3. "Case Studies/Kevin MacLeod". creativecommons.org. Archived from the original on October 8, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  4. Tyler, Aaron (May 30, 2017). "Earth From Space & Kevin MacLeod Music". On Stage Magazine. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  5. "I am Kevin MacLeod, the composer in millions of YouTube videos, and thousands of films. AMA! : IAmA". Reddit. Archived from the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  6. "Soundtrack - Kerbal Space Program Wiki". Kerbal Space Program Wiki. Archived from the original on November 9, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  7. Silverman, Matt (October 19, 2018). "How the internet's most prolific composer makes a living by giving his music away for free". The Daily Dot. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  8. Duenas, Ulises (December 16, 2020). "'Royalty Free' Tells the Story of the Most Selfless Man in Music". High Brow Magazine. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  9. Gutelle, Sam (December 2, 2016). "Kevin MacLeod Is The King Of Royalty-Free Music, And Millions Are Listening". Tubefilter. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  10. MacLeod, Kevin. "Free downloads – Royalty Free Music". Incompetech. Archived from the original on March 23, 2015. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  11. Camarda, Ryan (January 1, 2000), Royalty Free: The Music of Kevin MacLeod, archived from the original on March 12, 2017, retrieved March 12, 2017
  12. MacLeod, Kevin. "Music License Forms". Incompetech. Archived from the original on July 29, 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  13. MacLeod, Kevin. "Public Domain Music Downloads". FreePD. Archived from the original on March 23, 2015. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  14. MacLeod, Kevin. "FreePD FAQ". FreePD. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  15. Spacek, Nick (December 2, 2020). "Director Ryan Camarda on Royalty Free, his new doc on composer Kevin Macleod". The Pitch. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  16. "Royalty Free: The Music of Kevin MacLeod by Ryan Camarda". Kickstarter.com. Archived from the original on October 30, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  17. "Royalty Free: The Music of Kevin MacLeod". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  18. "German Web Video Award Page". Archived from the original on October 30, 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  19. "Video of the German Web Video Award Being Given". Archived from the original on June 23, 2015. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
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