How to Find the Best Royalty-Free Samples (Practical Guide)

Avoid copyright issues

The benefits of royalty-free samples go far beyond the wide range of sounds: by using sample packs and loops made available as royalty-free, you avoid copyright issues. At the same time, this gives you creative freedom: by accessing an extensive library of sounds and genres, you’re guaranteed to work without limitations—either creatively or legally.

However, it’s worth noting that there’s a nuanced take on definitions like royalty-free, direct licensing, fair use, and other legal and ethical considerations. Read A Full Guide to Royalty-Free Music to learn more about that.

Ready to use & affordable to get

Because royalty-free sounds are pre-made for sampling, the audio files are typically ready for use in any genre. The best of all: royalty-free samples are affordable or even free to download. For example, take Tracklib Sounds: the extensive library of royalty-free sounds, one-shots, FX, and exclusive sample packs is available as part of a friendly-priced subscription, less than what you pay for your go-to streaming service!

Wide range of genres

Loop packs and drum kits are known to be suitable for many popular genres including house, hip-hop, electronic music, and R&B/soul. See it like this: the original creator of royalty-free samples knows how to compose material for various genres, and experienced music producers know how to flip the music to their own style and sound.

High-quality sounds

Finding the best royalty-free samples can be overwhelming with so many providers and websites available. Focus on libraries offering professional-grade samples (e.g. drum samples, vocal loops, or high-quality sample packs). Cherry-picking the most authentic, carefully curated, and trustworthy platforms, saves you hassle and headaches later. That’s what Tracklib Sounds is all about: the selection by in-house producers and record collectors beats thirteen-a-dozen quantity.

Easy to use

An easy-to-navigate library is key to making the searching process more efficient than endless clicking and scrolling for that nugget of a drum hit—that you sometimes don’t even end up using after an evening’s worth of digging.

Renowned artists and producers

Keep your eyes open for production credits. Original creators of royalty-free samples and packs are often associated with production work for well-known artists such as Billie Eilish, Pino Palladino, and Rick Rubin. The spotlights of top producers on Tracklib Sounds list credits for Eminem, Busta Rhymes, Chance the Rapper, Logic, Joey Badass, Denzel Curry, Kanye West, Anderson .Paak, Wun Two, and many others.

Subscription Services versus Pay-per-Sample

One word of advice: weigh the benefits of monthly subscriptions versus buying individual sample packs. Depending on your skill level, amount of releases, and your existing library of samples, this can make a huge difference. While looking into that, also don’t forget to pay attention to the terms of usage. For example, read our explanation about the difference between royalty-free music and copyright-free music, or go specific and in-depth with Splice VS. Tracklib VS. Sample Focus: The Pros and Cons of Three Sample Libraries.

Tracklib

The platform offers the best of both worlds: Songs of all genres and decades to sample, and Sounds as a complete library of royalty-free material. The latter comes with free usage, and with Songs—including stems and multitracks for many—producers even get unlimited sample clearances for whatever they want to sample from the 100K+ songs on the site. That’s like a buffet of loops at an all-inclusive sampling resort!

ModeAudio

The selection of synth presets, patches, and MIDI files range from industrial drum samples to ambient downtempo loops, catering to a crowd of electronic music producers.

Native Instruments

Aside from their software (e.g. KOMPLETE) and hardware (e.g. Maschine MK3), Native Instruments also offers royalty-free samples and live instruments.

MSXII Sound Design

In their own words, MSXII makes "music tools to inspire." As part of Image-Line, the platform teamed up with FL Studio to create even more sample packs and tools for producers.

Crabtree Music Library

This sample library by producer MTK has been used by Timbaland, Conway the Machine, Nipsey Hussle, Madlib, Pierre Bourne, A-Reece, and many other big-time producers.

Consider the genre you're working in

As highlighted before, some platforms for royalty-free samples cater to certain styles of music. Aside from that, electronic music producers typically look for other types of material and sonic qualities than hip-hop beatmakers.

Think about your production software

Are you working in FL Studio, Ableton Live, or Logic Pro? Or if you’re not sure which digital audio workstation (DAW) to choose to best fit in with your sampling workflow, let this guide be of help.

Look for samples from award-winning sound designers

By selecting the right original creator of royalty-free music, you can align with your favorite producer’s style.

Explore different types of samples

The best part of royalty-free samples is that they’re available in a wide range of different formats: loops, effects (FX), one-shots, drum kits, and full sample packs. Use the filtering options of a service like Tracklib Sounds to the fullest to find what you’re looking for.