Kevin MacLeod Biography
Kevin MacLeod (/məˈklaʊd/ mə-KLOWD; born September 28, 1972) is an American composer and music producer. MacLeod has composed over 2,000 pieces of royalty-free library music and made them available under a Creative Commons copyright license. This licensing allows anyone to use his music for free, as long as he receives credit for the song, and has led to his music being used in thousands of films, millions of videos on YouTube, and in video games such as Kerbal Space Program. As of 2017, his music is featured on one of the live feeds from the International Space Station, Earth From Space. One of his compositions, "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys", is among the most-played on TikTok; from January through June 2021 it was played over 31.6 billion times.
Early life
MacLeod was born on September 28, 1972, in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He went to the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, where he studied music education.
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. 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".
MacLeod's most popular license is the Creative Commons Attribution copyright license; his music is free to use but must be credited. 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.
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. 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 which hinders people in finding the pieces that they may want."
Do*entary
MacLeod is the subject of a do*entary film *led 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 with a goal of $30,000; by the end of the campaign, 524 backers had pledged a total of $30,608. 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. The do*entary has received positive reviews from critics.
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.
Discography
Albums
- 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: Double Drift
- 2014: Reunited
- 2014: Funkorama
- 2014: Oddities
- 2014: Silent Film: Dark Collection
- 2015: Christmas!
- 2015: Darkness
- 2015: Exhilarate
- 2015: Film Noire
- 2015: Fluidscape
- 2015: Netherworld Shanty
- 2015: Romance
- 2015: Video Cl*ica
- 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-*
- 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
Singles and EPs
"Monkeys Spinning Monkeys" by Kevin MacLeod- 2011: The Cannery
- 2013: Happy Bee
- 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
- 2019: 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
- 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)
References
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kevin MacLeod (composer).Wikiquote has quotations related to Kevin MacLeod.- Official website
- Kevin MacLeod on SoundCloud
- Kevin MacLeod on Twitter
- Kevin MacLeod's channel on YouTube
- Kevin MacLeod on Filmmusic.io
- Kevin MacLeod at IMDb
- FreePD – MacLeod's public-domain music library
- "Kevin MacLeod". Free Music Archive. 2014 .
- "Royalty Free Do*entary". 2022 .
- "Kevin MacLeod's 'Ask Me Anything' (AMA)". Reddit. September 17, 2013.
- "AMA". Reddit. October 14, 2014.
