Freesound
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2005
- HeadquartersBarcelona, Spain
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
Freesound firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Freesound
- Legal name
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra
- Website
- https://freesound.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2005
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Freesound industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Creative Commons Audio Samples Database
- NAICS
- Sound Recording Industries (5122), Broadcasting and Content Providers (516)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Creator Music/SFX Asset Libraries & Licensing Platforms (MPACABAM)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Open Multimedia OER (video, audio, podcasts, animations) (EDAGAJAF), OER Licensing, Rights & Open Policy Support (Creative Commons) (EDAGAJAO)
Keywords
Where Freesound is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Barcelona
- HQ country
- Spain
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Freesound business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Others
Revenue model
- Donations: Freesound relies primarily on voluntary donations from users to sustain operations. The platform is ad-free by design, choosing donations as the sustainability model aligned with their openness philosophy. Donations are managed through the Phonos Foundation.
- AI Training Data Licensing: Freesound sounds are used as training data for AI music generation models (e.g., Stability AI's Stable Audio 3.0 used Creative Commons recordings from Freesound). The platform provides data access to model developers while respecting uploader preferences.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free access to all sounds and features |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels6 records
Freesound product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Freesound is a collaborative web platform where a global community of sound creators upload, share, and download audio snippets, samples, and recordings released under Creative Commons licenses. The platform offers advanced keyword/sounds-like search, an interactive geotagged sound map, organized sound packs, user ratings, comments, and timestamped annotations. All 728,276+ sounds are freely downloadable; sustainability is funded by voluntary donations managed through the Phonos Foundation and institutional support from Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
Product overview
Freesound is a single unified platform — a collaborative audio database operated by the Music Technology Group at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. The core offering is the freesound.org website, which provides access to over 728,000 free sounds organized through search/browse, packs, geotagged maps, forums, and a public API. The platform celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2025 and released a major UI overhaul ('Beast Whoosh') in 2023. Freesound also maintains Labs, a showcase directory of third-party projects built on its data.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Freesound Platform A web-based collaborative audio database enabling users to browse, upload, download, and share sound snippets, samples, and recordings under Creative Commons licenses. Provides keyword search, sounds-like browsing, geotagged maps, organized packs, ratings, comments, and timestamped annotations. Aimed at sound artists, filmmakers, musicians, game developers, and audio researchers worldwide; all 728,276+ sounds are free to download and the platform is sustained by donations.
Quantifiable outcome
- 728,276 sounds available for free download
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Freesound
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Freesound technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Freesound partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Stability AIcoreStability AI used Creative Commons recordings from Freesound as part of the training data for Stable Audio 3.0, alongside licensed audio from AudioSparx (800,000+ audio files). This represents Freesound being utilized as a data source for AI music generation model training.
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF)coreFreesound was founded in 2005 at the Music Technology Group of UPF and is currently maintained and developed by the Freesound team at MTG. UPF provides institutional support and academic research integration.
- Phonos FoundationcorePhonos Foundation, linked to the Music Technology Group at UPF, manages donations for Freesound and supports the platform's sustainability. Freesound is part of the foundation's initiatives for social and cultural promotion.
- Freesound Community ModeratorsminorVolunteer community moderators help maintain content quality and assist with support requests. The platform also credits Sam Headphaze for handling support requests.
- AudioSparxminorAudioSparx is mentioned alongside Freesound as another source of licensed audio for Stability AI's model training. While not a direct Freesound partnership, AudioSparx represents a comparable platform in the licensed audio ecosystem.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Freesound competitors and assessment
Company assessmentMarket position
Competitive moat5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Freesound social profiles
Digital presenceFreesound financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Freesound leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles9 records
Freesound funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Freesound M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Freesound
What does Freesound do?
Freesound is a collaborative web platform where a global community of sound creators upload, share, and download audio snippets, samples, and recordings released under Creative Commons licenses. The platform offers advanced keyword/sounds-like search, an interactive geotagged sound map, organized sound packs, user ratings, comments, and timestamped annotations. All 728,276+ sounds are freely downloadable; sustainability is funded by voluntary donations managed through the Phonos Foundation and institutional support from Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
Is Freesound a public or private company?
Freesound is a private company. It is classified as state government owned and is currently operating.
When was Freesound founded?
Freesound was founded in 2005. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Freesound based?
Freesound is headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, in the Europe region.
How does Freesound make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Donations are the primary driver. The others are AI Training Data Licensing.
Does Freesound have an API?
No public API is recorded for Freesound.
What industry is Freesound in?
Freesound's product category is Creative Commons Audio Samples Database. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPACABAM, Creator Music/SFX Asset Libraries & Licensing Platforms, with a secondary code of EDAGAJAF, Open Multimedia OER (video, audio, podcasts, animations). Its NAICS code is 5122 and its SIC code is 7372.