Surely you’ve all heard a tune by Kevin MacLeod at some point. Its catalog of over 2,000 royalty-free songs is almost unmissable on the internet.
His songs accompany millions of videos on YouTube or TikTok, thousands of movies and hundreds of video games.
Who is this bald, shy man who changed the face of the internet forever?
Year 2000 error
Kevin MacLeod had a perfectly normal childhood in the US state of Wisconsin. Born in 1972, he was interested in music and computers at an early age. He starts composing music after buying a small electronic keyboard.
After studying music at the University of Wisconsin in Green Bay, he got a job as a computer programmer. He continued to make music and upload his creations to the internet until the birth of video sharing platforms like YouTube in the early 2000s.
In its early days, YouTube was like the Wild West. Nobody respected the concept of copyright and the platform had to act quickly. Videos that used songs without their authors’ permission have been removed from the site.
Faced with this problem, MacLeod decided to open his catalog to everyone.
“Because I was almost one of the only ones composing free titles, people started using them. The only condition was that they give me a loan,” MacLoed explained in an interview.
Anti-Copyright Activist
Kevin MacLeod’s music quickly went viral. Those who describe themselves as radical militants advocate the abolition of copyright. MacLeod wants music to circulate freely to encourage creation.
“Back then, if you wanted to find royalty-free music for your productions, you had to buy CDs, which sometimes cost hundreds of dollars. I thought it would be a good idea for a lot of people if I gave my music to everyone. he explained to the DNA media.
His name started circulating on the internet and many people approached him to work with him.
The composer even caught the attention of a certain Martin Scorsese. According to the documentary Royalty Free: The Music of Kevin MacLeod, one of the legendary director’s assistants approached him about using one of his compositions.
“I just said that the condition of using my song is to give me credit,” he explained. The production hallucinated and offered me money. I then asked them for $30, which is the price I sell the licenses for my compositions on my website.”
The man who could destroy YouTube
It’s impossible to know how many times Kevin MacLeod’s music has been used on YouTube. If he decided to monetize his production, the musician would become “the most hated man on the internet”. He estimates that he could make between $40 million and $50 million a day.
“It’s like having YouTube’s ‘kill switch’. But I assure you I will never push that button,” he said.
The musician, who values his anonymity, doesn’t seem to care about the number of downloads on his platforms.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” he explains. I don’t really look at the stats.”
With information from Nova.fr and Jack Canal +