HELP: songs in websites

[pancito]

(i really hope i didn't mess up and this post is in the right board!!)

i was doing some brainstorming about my (hopefully) future website, and i ended up with a doubt related to music and the web revival movement. is there any kind of code or unspoken rule when it comes to putting songs on your website? like, for example, only using non-copyrighted music and stuff you've made.

[Melooon]

(Yep this is fine, Is there anything I can do to make the boards purpose more obvious??)

Oh thanks for asking, this is quite a common topic Iv seen come up. In short, no there is no unspoken rule, it comes down to personal choice.

Websites are not like YouTube, if you put Sk8ter Boi as your background music Avril Lavigne is not gonna show up at your house and bully you into deleting your website :omg:k: Neocities does not delete or punish sites that have copyrighted stuff (Unless you're like running and entire piracy site).

However the question I'd ask is.. how "Serious" is your site? Is it a personal site for your hobbies? Or is your site part of a larger project that sells your art or games etc?
* If its a personal site - don't worry about it, you can do anything.
* If its a more serious site you might want to be a little more careful about what you use.

My site is a little more "serious" because I use it has a hub for my work, and this community etc. So my rule of thumb is this:

• I try to use copyright free music and assets when possible.
• I try to link back to music creators on my hyperlinks page.
• If I use a copyrighted song, I use a cover or a midi version of it, not the original.
• I try and avoid songs that are too intrusive/loud on important pages.

So ultimately its about what feels right to you. Often when I'm picking songs for my site, I will try like 10-100 different songs before I find one that suits the page and I'll look at a lot of different sources for that music!

Also general tips for songs on sites:
* Import the song to Audacity, trim off any silence or excess sounds.
* Lower the volume by 2dB, that makes it less intrusive.
* Export it as an mp3 between 48-64 kbps depending on its length. (Aim to keep the file under 1mb when possible)
* Optionally export it as an ogg as well, with low quality. OGG files sound better, but don't work in some browsers like Safari. You can put both in an <audio> tag, and the browser will pick the one it can use.