an index of memes, memeables, and pop culture items, under public licenses such as creative commons or in the public domain
most of the time this doesn't matter because youtube has contracts for most of the world's music and the other companies know better than to sue random memesters for giving them free marketing
but if you're publishing something commercially (or if your teacher insists on properly licensed material for your slideshow) and you wanna put a haha funny in it then this might be helpful
ctrl+f is your friend here
a quick rundown of how the license column works:
pd(public domain) means it's too old for copyright so do Literally Whatever; this may vary depending on your country0means much the same but applied intentionally, so the work is probably more modernbymeans credit (e.g. link in the description, maybe a sneaky watermark if in an image); however it also usually means no drm which might be an issue if you're developing for iossameans if you publish edits of it (or things synced to it if music) you have to release them under the same licensendmeans don't you dare publish edits of itncmeans non-commercialidmeans it's only for individuals (or sometimes co-ops, small businesses, etc), sometimes de facto so by being explicitly informal; sure it kinda goes against the point of the list but not entirely i don't think*means there's a catch because copyright is often not as shrimple as that?means i'm kinda sure but not entirely sure so if you need utter safety then avoid it (and if you have information then tell me)
very lacking as of current; if you have any suggestions then contact is appreciated
see also:
- the "Internet memes" category on wikimedia commons
- some works on newgrounds (license search only on music) and a few on deviantart (no reliable license search at all afaik)
images
| name | license | notes |
|---|---|---|
| crypton vocaloid illustrations | by-nc | specifically: hatsune miku, kagamine rin and len, megurine luka, kaito, and meiko |
| historic tale construction kit | pd? | i mean i assume it's public-domain since the source material is, unless cutting characters out of it is copyrightable |
| bluemoji | by | aka that one blue smiley with puffed-up cheeks laughing about spreading misinformation on the internet |
| twemoji | by | used on twitter and discord; gallery here |
| galaxy brain template recreation | by | it says cc0 but it uses cc-by content |
| awesome face | by-sa | |
| it ain't much but it's honest work | 0 | us government work; captionless version |
| xkcd | by-nc | "there's an xkcd for everything", at least in terms of hard sciences; the categories in explainxkcd might be of use when searching; the "citation needed" comic and a couple others are also available as by or by-sa |
| celeste box art | by-sa | cutouts and a few extras here |
| illuminati eye (eye of providence) | pd | it's on united states dollars; the popular version was either vectorized or had a threshold filter applied to it |
| studio ghibli screencaps | id | "freely within the scope of common sense" (per) |
| freedom planet press kit | by-sa | especially freedom planet 2; mostly screenshots, some isolated character art |
music
| name | license | notes |
|---|---|---|
| music by patricia taxxon | by-sa | best known for sd_bbb aka EEEAAAOOO (technically the video must be by-sa too but it's not explicitly stated to be such so eh); you might wanna watch out for samples from copyrighted music (sometimes noted in the lyrics) |
| music by kevin macleod | by | there used to be a way to see the most popular songs but it seems to be gone now; "carefree" is the infamous royalty-free ukulele song |
| music by tom lehrer | 0 | known for e.g. "New Math" |
| tay zonday - chocolate rain | by-nc-nd | |
| lud and schlatt's musical emporium | by | of most interest are the animal crossing and wii shop channel soundalikes (the former now being a whole album) |
| little women (1933) theme song | pd | famously remixed in the opening cutscene of hotel mario (1994) |
| undertale shop theme soundalike | 0* | it might be that the samples are copyrighted, but if toby fox could get away with yoinking them from the internet then you probably can too |
| mitchie m - freely tomorrow (feat. hatsune miku) | by* | technicality because the attribution marking was removed but cc-by is irrevocable |
| ievan polkka | pd | not the vocaloid version mind you, just the lyrics and notes, and i'm not aware of any freely-licensed recording (except i guess this by-sa thing) so you might have to make it yourself |
| korobeiniki | pd* | also known as the tetris theme; the link is to a midi, here's an mp3 rendering of it; here's a cc0 synth cover; the melody is trademarked so you'll have to make it clear you're not affiliated with tetris holding llc |
| king gizzard and the lizard wizard - polygondwanaland | 0? | "This album is FREE. Free as in, free. Free to download and if you wish, free to make copies. Make tapes, make CD’s, make records...We do not own this record. You do. Go forth, share, enjoy." |
sounds
| name | license | notes |
|---|---|---|
| bruh sound effect #1 | 0 | not the original but still good imo |
| various minecraft sounds | 0/by | here's the old hurt sound |
| dialup noise | by | (though personally i don't think the uploader has copyright on it so maybe pd?) |
| wilhelm scream | pd |
speech
| name | license | notes |
|---|---|---|
| the missile knows where it is at all times | pd | knowyourmeme says it's from a us air force training video, so assuming it's a government work it'd be public-domain |
| text2speech.org | 0? | "Female US" is the voice of remote from bfdi:bfb, "Male US" and "Male US (Scottish accent)" were used by e.g. timotainment (the latter is now also the voice of tv in bfdi:tpot); it's theoretically downloadable here but you need to compile it |
videos
| name | license | notes |
|---|---|---|
| it's okay to not like things | by | also on commons for easier downloading |
| me at the zoo | by* | commons says it was once tagged as by but isn't anymore but the license is irrevocable |
| jocat | by* | since 2021-04-08; note that many of his videos contain copyrighted stuff; unsure if intentional |
games
| name | license | notes |
|---|---|---|
| i wanna be the guy | id | per faq 2.4 |
| friday night funkin' | id | per readme: "Little info, you have FULL PERMISSION to stream, letsplay, meme, shitpost, do WHATEVER you want with the game. Use the music in videos you do, use art, ANYTHING. GO CRAZY BRO." |
| touhou | id | guidelines |
other
| name | license | notes |
|---|---|---|
| scp wiki | by-sa | with the notable exception of scp-173's former visage (nicknamed "Peanut") |
| scratch | by-sa | 2.0 per terms of service, though watch out for third-party content that remains copyrighted |
| the works of nicky case | 0 | as a furry i'm biased toward adventures with anxiety and femboy hooters (nsfw) |
| reimagine :the game: soundtrack | 0 | related to the above because the game was made by nicky, though the music wasn't |
| 1984 by george orwell | pd* | except in the us where it's copyrighted until 2044 |
| minecraft end poem | 0 | proof and reasoning |
| mickey mouse (initial version) | pd* | in the usa at least, and steamboat willie is trademarked so be careful; link is to a color version which is actually public-domain, though the clothing colors are different |
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non-meme freebies
| name | license | notes |
|---|---|---|
| typodermic public-domain fonts | 0 | not really pop culture but i've nowhere else to share these |