I know there are a lot of our radio friends out there who are looking for free radio promo beds. Gone are the days when imaging directors would scour their library of CDs hoping they could find a neat techno track from a CD sampler. Most of the radio promos and commercials ads we hear in radio before and even until now use beds that are lifted from popular songs, which is typically not good because, in the copyright world, it’s not good to use somebody else’s work for another purpose, especially if it’s commercial.

So how do you find free radio promo beds without getting the risk of legal entanglements? It’s so easy however to key in the words free radio promo beds on Google. When I wrote this article, I got 1,340,000 results from my Google search. Unfortunately, most of the results have something to do with royalty free music libraries. And they are not free.

Actually, getting free radio promo beds entails just a little creativity and some rules to follow. I’ve listed here no-no’s and some misconceptions about getting “FREE” radio promo beds.

Free radio promo beds are not found on your library of CD samplers.

Free radio promo beds are not found on demo CDs you have in your drawer. I know program directors and DJs love to grab demo CDs from jingle companies like Jam Creative Productions or Reelworld, but please do not use the instrumentals on the ramps, weather cuts and news cuts from these jingle packages.

Free radio promo beds are not lifted from purchased production music libraries, otherwise, it’s not free!

Here are tips on how you can get free radio promo beds. The internet is home to hundred of resources. But you may need to be really resourceful and friendly. I know a lot of musicians and composers that share instrumental tracks on their website. One great way to find these people is MySpace. If you are lucky, they will give you tracks for free and with no strings attached.

You may also want to contact production music companies on the internet to get free radio promo beds. I was lucky enough to grab a CD of full of useful instrumental tracks from KillerTracks.com. The sales rep said I can use the cuts for own productions, no strings attached, there are no licenses or renewal fees, whatsoever. But I tell you, not all companies do this. So you may have to contact virtually every production music company on the web.

Another great way to get free radio promo beds is to swap materials with those who have, in other words, barter. This way you will be able to expand your library of promo beds, so you don’t have to use the same beds for your commercials again and again.

The guys at RadioJingles.co.nr have also made a section where they post free radio promo beds. There are currently five cuts posted on the Download section. Once there, input your email address, name and message on the Form below the article to request a copy of the promo beds.

So, there you have it. If you have any suggestion on how to get free radio promo beds without stumbling on legal issues, your comments are very much welcome.