Kevin MacLeod ( ; born 1972) is an American composer and music producer. Described by the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

as "arguably the most prolific composer you’ve never heard of", MacLeod has composed over 2,000 pieces of royalty-free library music and made them available under a

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. One of his compositions, "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys", released on February 3, 2014, is among the most played on

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; from January through June 2021, it was played over 31.6 billion times. The wide availability and freeness of his work have made it featured in thousands of films, video games and millions of videos on

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. These include

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

's 2011 film '' Hugo'' and the video game ''

Kerbal Space Program ''Kerbal Space Program'' is a 2015 Space flight simulation game, space flight simulation video game developed by Mexican studio Squad for Linux, macOS, Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. In the game, players dir ...

''. As of 2017, his music is featured on one of the live feeds from the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

, ''Earth From Space.'' A documentary charting his career, '' Royalty Free: The Music of Kevin MacLeod'', was released in 2020.

Early life and education

Kevin MacLeod was born in

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in Brown County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the head of Green Bay (Lake Michigan), Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the F ...

in 1972. He began

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

lessons at a young age: "as a 4-year old or whatever it was". where he initially studied

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

; however, amid a distaste for

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

requirements, he switched to

music education Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as primary education, elementary or secondary education, secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a rese ...

after his first month. MacLeod never graduated from UWGB; he had a brief stint as a

computer programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles ''software developer'' and ''software engineer'' are used for jobs that require a progr ...

during the

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (or dot-com boom) was a stock market bubble that ballooned during the late-1990s and peaked on Friday, March 10, 2000. This period of market growth coincided with the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web and the Interne ...

. He had colleagues in the

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...

world struggling to find music, so he began composing and sharing his works online, particularly on

. During this time, he created his website, ''Incompetech.com'', which initially generated

ad revenue Advertising revenue is the monetary income that individuals and businesses earn from displaying paid advertisements on their websites, social media channels, or other platforms surrounding their internet-based content. In September 2018, the U.S In ...

from a

PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...

generator of

graph paper Graph paper, coordinate paper, grid paper, or squared paper is writing paper that is printed with fine lines making up a regular grid. It is available either as loose leaf paper or bound in notebooks or graph books. It is commonly found in mathe ...

Career

MacLeod, a

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

music producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

, has been described as "arguably the most prolific composer you’ve never heard of – although it’s very likely you’ve heard his music" by journalist

Glenn Kenny Glenn Kenny (born August 8, 1959) is an American film critic and journalist. He writes for ''The New York Times'' and '' RogerEbert.com''. Biography Kenny attended William Paterson University, where he majored in English literature.The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. Kenny further describes him as "a pioneer both of digital production and distribution", while the critic Justin Curto notes that he is "a bit of a legend in the space f royalty music. Starting on January 1, 1998, MacLeod posts

royalty-free Royalty-free (RF) material subject to copyright or other intellectual property rights may be used without the need to pay royalties or license fees for each use, per each copy or volume sold or some time period of use or sales. Computer standards ...

music on his website, ''Incompetech.com'', which is essentially "for anyone who wants to use them, for any project whatsoever". His music is free to use but requires formal

credit Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt) ...

, per the Creative Commons Attribution copyright license. Instead of crediting him, parties can pay a fee for a no-attribution license, which starts at for one song, for two songs, and $20 per song for three or more songs. MacLeod receives some advertising revenue from

music streaming service A music streaming service is a type of online streaming media service that focuses primarily on music, and sometimes other forms of digital audio content such as podcasts. These services are usually subscription-based services allowing users to s ...

s but "otherwise relies on donations via

Patreon Patreon (, ) is a monetization platform operated by Patreon, Inc., that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service and sell digital products. It helps artists and other creators earn a recurring income by provid ...

". On September 12, 2011, MacLeod became able to assign

ISRC The International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) is an international standard code for uniquely identifying sound recordings and music video recordings. The code was developed by the recording industry in conjunction with the ISO technical committ ...

codes for his music. The wide availability of his music has led to it being used in thousands of films and millions of videos on

and other social media sites. As of 2017, his music is featured on one of the live feeds from the

, ''Earth From Space.'' The media that featured his music varies much, from

's 2011 film '' Hugo'' to

pornographic film Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, adult films, blue films, sexually explicit films, or 18+ films, are films that represent Human sexual activity, sexually WIKT:explicit, explicit subject matter in order to sexual arousal, arouse, fasci ...

s. The video game ''

'' also included his compositions. One of his songs, "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys", released on February 3, 2014, is among the most played on

; from January through June 2021, it was played over 31.6 billion times. When

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for his leading man roles in comedy films and for his work as a television producer. Ferrell received various accolades, including ...

and

Kristen Wiig Kristen Carroll Wiig (; born August 22, 1973) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. First breaking through as a performer with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Wiig achieved stardom in the late 2000s for her ...

presented an award at the

2024 Golden Globes The 81st Golden Globe Awards was an awards ceremony for film and American television productions of 2023. It was broadcast live on January 7, 2024, from The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, beginning at 5:00 p.m. PST / 8:00 p.m. ...

, their use of MacLeod's 2010 song "Fluffing a Duck" was widely noted and gave him considerable attention. MacLeod states that he releases his music under

licenses to maximize the number of people who can use it. On his website's FAQ, he expressed disdain for the current state of

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

; he hopes to create "an alternate body of works that is able to compete with them". MacLeod has also created FreePD.com, which collects various artists' new

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

sound recordings. 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. Some of MacLeod's music is also available on the website; he explains that these songs are "not commercially viable in the traditional sense, and just add clutter n his primary websitewhich hinders people in finding the pieces that they may want." Recently, MacLeod has started using

Suno AI Suno AI, or simply Suno, is a generative artificial intelligence Music and artificial intelligence, music creation program designed to generate realistic songs that combine vocals and instrumentation, or are purely instrumental. Suno has been wi ...

to make new music, including for the game Cloudpunk.

Documentary

MacLeod is the subject of a documentary film titled '' Royalty Free: The Music of Kevin MacLeod''. The film had a limited release in October 2020. Ryan Camarda, the film's director and producer, ran a fundraising campaign on

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

with a goal of $30,000; by the end of the campaign, 524 backers had pledged $30,608. According to the Kickstarter page, the amount was needed for transportation to conduct in-person interviews with the various subjects featured in the film. The documentary has received positive reviews from critics.

Awards and accolades

In 2015, the European Web Video Academy awarded MacLeod the International Honorary Web Video Award at the 2015 German Web Video Awards for his lifetime achievement in influencing the German web video community.

Discography

Albums and compilations

* 1999: ''Springwell'' * 2006: ''Dorney Rock'' * 2006: ''Missing Hits 2'' * 2012: ''Cuentos de Recuperación'' (with Sonia Echezuria) * 2014: ''Horror Soundscapes'' * 2014: ''Highland Strands'' * 2014: ''Ghostpocalypse'' * 2014: ''Calming'' * 2014: ''Hard Electronic'' * 2014: ''Madness and Paranoia'' * 2014: ''PsychoKiller'' * 2014: ''Supernatural Haunting'' * 2014: ''The Ambient'' * 2014: ''Cephalopod'' * 2014: ''Dark World'' * 2014: ''Disco Ultralounge'' * 2014: ''Polka! Polka! Polka!'' * 2014: ''Primal Drive'' * 2014: ''Sadness'' * 2014: ''The Descent'' * 2014: ''Dark Continent'' * 2014: ''Wonders'' * 2014: ''Action Cuts'' * 2014: ''Aspiring'' * 2014: ''Light Electronic'' * 2014: ''Medium Electronic'' * 2014: ''Mystery'' * 2014: ''Tenebrous Brothers Carnival'' * 2014: ''Atlantean Twilight'' * 2014: ''Healing'' * 2014: ''Latinesque'' * 2014: ''Take the Lead'' * 2014: ''Thatched Villagers'' * 2014: ''Happyrock'' * 2014: ''Music to Delight'' * 2014: ''Silent Film: Light Collection'' * 2014: ''Vadodara'' * 2014: ''Bitter Suite'' * 2014: ''Comedy Scoring'' * 2014: ''Reunited'' * 2014: ''Funkorama'' * 2014: ''Oddities'' * 2014: ''Silent Film: Dark Collection'' * 2015: ''Christmas!'' * 2015: ''Darkness'' * 2015: ''Exhilarate'' * 2015: ''Film Noire'' * 2015: ''Netherworld Shanty'' * 2015: ''Romance'' * 2015: ''Video Classica'' * 2015: ''Virtutes Instrumenti'' * 2015: ''Ossuary'' * 2015: ''Pixelland'' * 2016: ''Maccary Bay'' * 2016: ''Mystic Force'' * 2016: ''Anamalie'' * 2016: ''Final Battle'' * 2016: ''Carpe Diem'' * 2016: ''Groovy'' * 2016: ''Mesmerize'' * 2016: ''Traveller'' * 2017: ''Shadowlands'' * 2017: ''Destruction Device'' * 2017: ''Spirit'' * 2017: ''Ferret'' * 2017: ''Teh Jazzes'' * 2017: ''Miami Nights'' * 2018: ''Spring Chicken'' * 2018. ''Sheep Reliability'' * 2019: ''Meditation'' * 2019: ''Epic'' * 2019: ''The Complete Game Music Bundle'' * 2019: ''Complete Collection (Creative Commons)'' * 2020: ''SCP-XXX'' * 2020: ''Relaxx'' * 2021: ''Missing Hits'' * 2021: ''The Waltzes'' * 2021: ''Missing Hits C to E'' * 2021: ''Missing Hits N to R'' * 2021: ''Missing Hits Calmness'' * 2021: ''Missing Hits F to J'' * 2021: ''Missing Hits K to M'' * 2021: ''Missing Hits A to B'' * 2021: ''Missing Hits S to T'' * 2021: ''Missing Hits U to Z'' * 2023: ''Over The Moon'' * 2023: ''Changes'' (with ON THE TRACK) * 2023: ''Robotik Party'' * 2024: ''25 Years (Volume 1)'' * 2024: ''25 Years (Volume 2)'' * 2024: ''Bops, Famous Ditties & Instrumentals'' * 2024: ''Purple Galaxy''

Singles and EPs

* 2011: "The Cannery" * 2013: "Cipher" * 2014: "Tranquility 5" * 2014: "Sneaky Snitch" * 2014: "Fluffing a Duck" * 2014: "Orrganic Meditation" * 2014: "Touching Moments" * 2014: "Impact" * 2015: "Guts and Bourbon" * 2015: "Somewhere Sunny" * 2015: "Garden Music" * 2016: "Vicious" * 2017: "Ever Mindful" * 2018: "Magic Scout: A Calm Experience" * 2018: "Laserpack" * 2019: "Dream Catcher" * 2019: "Flying Kerfufle" * 2019: "Le Grand Chase" * 2019: "Crusade: Heavy Industry" * 2019: "OnionCapers" * 2019: "Envision" * 2019: "Glitter Blast" * 2019: "Leaving Home" * 2019: "Magistar" * 2019: "Midnight Tale" * 2019: "River Flute" * 2019: "Symmetry" * 2019: "Sovereign" * 2019: "Hustle Hard" * 2019: "Almost Bliss" * 2019: "Beauty Flow" * 2019: "Half Mystery" * 2019: "Past Sadness" * 2019: "Raving Energy" * 2019: "Rising Tide" * 2019: "Tyrant" * 2019: "Sincerely" * 2019: "Celebration" * 2019: "Deep and Dirty" * 2019: "Fuzzball Parade" * 2019: "Lotus" * 2019: "Realizer" * 2019: "Stay the Course" * 2019: "Verano Sensual" * 2019: "Wholesome" * 2019: "Farting Around" * 2019: "Aquarium" * 2019: "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" * 2019: "A Kevin MacLeod Xmas" * 2019: "Folk?" * 2019: "Menagerie" * 2020: "Worldish" * 2020: "Scheming Weasel (Peukie Remix)" * 2020: "What You Want" * 2020: "Island Music" * 2020: "On Hold for You" * 2020: "Canons in D" * 2020: "Project 80s" * 2021: "World" * 2021: "Now That's Now!" * 2021: "Night in the Castle" * 2021: "Adventures in Adventureland" * 2021: "WOTSITS!!!!" * 2021: "Space Jazz" * 2021: "Ethereal Relaxation" * 2022: "Journey to Ascend" * 2022: "Boogie Party" * 2022: ''I Got A Stick'' * 2023: "Paradise Found" * 2023: "Goblin Tinker Soldier Spy" * 2023: ''The August Album'' * 2023: "Brain Dance" * 2023: "Cloud Dancer" * 2023: "Equatorial Complex" * 2023: "Galactic Rap" * 2023: "Lord of the Rangs" * 2023: "Mesmerizing Galaxy" * 2023: "Sergio's Magic Dustbin" * 2024: "That Zen Moment!" * 2024: "90mh (Sped Up)" * 2024: "Bush Trek" * 2024: "Mystic Australia" * 2024: "Outback Call" * 2024: "Sneaky Snitch Breakcore" * 2024: "FOUR*" * 2024: "shadows of the soul"

References

External links

* * :Music
FreePD
– MacLeod's public-domain music library
Musical analysis
on Hooktheory :Background *
Royalty Free: The Music of Kevin MacLeod
' – Documentary on MacLeod, 2022

014 014 may refer to: * Argus As 014 The Argus As 014 (designated 109-014 by the Ministry of Aviation (Germany), RLM) was a pulsejet engine used on the German V-1 flying bomb of World War II, and the first model of pulsejet engine placed in mass pr ...

Q & A session with MacLeod
on

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's AMA (Ask Me Anything), September 17, 2013
Q & A session
October 14, 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:MacLeod, Kevin Living people Musicians from Green Bay, Wisconsin American film score composers Musicians from New York City 20th-century American composers 21st-century American composers 1972 births Date of birth missing (living people) Creative Commons-licensed authors American male film score composers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians Production music