• Materials which are in the public domain  
• Materials for which the use can be identified as "fair use"  
• Materials licensed as Open Access  (Creative commons, etc.)                                                             
• Links to items held in the libraries' or Blackboard electronic collections
• Items that or linked or which have been purchased for course reserve through the libraries
• Works for which you have received permission from the rights holder

Audio items, whether spoken language, sounds or music, require care in offering them in online classes. Generally speaking, no more than 10% or 30 seconds of a copyrighted recording is considered permissible under Fair Use.

In general:

• Audio recordings have many levels of rights, both for the recording (performance rights - the rights of the performer who obtained rights from the composer and lyracist) and the underlying composition (copyrights - the rights of the composers, lyracists, etc.).
• Use of recordings may follow state or federal laws depending on when the recording was issued.
• Owning a copy of music on a CD or as a MP3 does not allow you to post it online.
• Student downloading is not allowed.
• Whole dramatic works will probably need a streaming license.
• Frequently the use of an entire work will fall outside of fair use.

• Check to see if there are audio files on your textbook's website. Note that many music books do NOT allow sharing of their audio files.
• Do not reformat audio unless permission is clearly stated in the textbook.
• Do not use materials from a textbook that is no longer used in your class.

Check the sites listed here for details of whether you can link or copy audio files into your class. Music databases also allow you to create common playlists for your classes.

Many audio files on the web are under copyright. Audio clips from commercial recordings are also copyrighted.

Search Creative Commons sites for any media materials that have been licensed for reuse.