Free Piano Stems for Music Production
Free isolated piano stems, AI-separated from real recordings. Jazz, classical, blues, and ragtime piano, public domain, CC0, and CC-BY, cleared for sampling.
Catalog updated August 2026
- $2,000–$50,000+ — typical cost to clear one commercial sample
- Documented terms — public domain, CC0, or CC-BY per sample
- Two evidence paths — fingerprint screening or source attestation
Featured Piano Stems
Where to use piano stems
Selekt piano stems pull from a deep well of public-domain ragtime piano rolls, vintage jazz performances, classical concert recordings, and stride-piano blues. Real piano captured on real recordings has a quality MIDI cannot reproduce: the bloom of overtones when a chord is held, the subtle pedal noise, the natural decay against the room, and the personal touch of a player's timing. Producers love sampling vintage piano for soulful hip-hop chops, lo-fi beats with melancholic chord progressions, and ambient pads built from sustained notes. The catalog spans Scott Joplin-era ragtime (now public domain), 1930s stride and boogie-woogie, classical recordings of Mozart and Chopin works performed in the early 20th century, and modern CC0 piano contributions. Producers especially favor the slightly out-of-tune upright pianos common in pre-war recordings — that natural detuning is what virtual pianos try (and usually fail) to emulate. Every piano stem ships with a license certificate showing source, license type, and any attribution required. Selekt's free copyright-check tool can screen any audio against an industry-standard database of 150M+ commercial recordings.
Piano Key & BPM Finder
Find piano stems that fit a track you are already working on. Drop the track in and this reads its key and tempo in your browser — the audio never leaves your tab — then searches only the piano stems on this page for ones in a compatible key and a workable tempo, including half- and double-time. You can also just set the key and tempo yourself. Matching uses the Camelot wheel, so it returns the relative major/minor and the neighbouring keys, not only an exact match.
- Drop in a track, or set a key and tempo by hand.
- The key and tempo are detected locally, in your browser.
- Compatible piano stems from this page are listed, with a preview player.
How every sample here is cleared
- Sourced from named, verified sources. Public domain, CC0, and CC-BY — from Freesound, the Library of Congress / Citizen DJ, Internet Archive, and Musopen. Not anonymous “royalty-free” uploads.
- Screened anyway. Samples are fingerprint-screened against an industry database of 150M+ commercial recordings (the same class of recognition behind Shazam and Deezer), and matches are rejected. The exception is recordings from before 1926, which are public domain by age — there the evidence is the documented source and date rather than a fingerprint match.
- Publicly verifiable. Every download ships with a license certificate, and each clearance record is cryptographically signed (Ed25519 + SHA-256 hash chain) — so you, a distributor, or a sync library can verify it in the browser, with no account.
How clearance works · Verify a certificate · See live proof
Screening and certificates are documented evidence, not a legal clearance opinion — confirm rights before commercial release.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes these piano stems different from regular piano samples?
They are isolated from real recordings — you get authentic tone, natural room sound, pedal noise, and the performance nuances of a real pianist. Virtual pianos sound clean; real pianos breathe. The difference is most obvious in chord work and sustained notes.
Can I use these in commercial music?
Each stem ships with its specific license (CC0, public domain, or CC-BY). Most permit commercial use. Always check the license on the sample page for the exact terms of your intended use.
What styles of piano are in the catalog?
Ragtime (Scott Joplin era), stride and boogie-woogie, classical concert recordings, jazz comping and solos, blues piano, gospel, and modern CC0 piano contributions across genres.
Are the recordings in tune?
Most are reasonably tuned. Some pre-war upright pianos in the catalog have natural detuning that gives them character — this is exactly what producers seek for lo-fi and vintage-feel productions. We label samples accordingly.
Can I get isolated piano chords vs. melody lines?
Use Describe & Find with terms like "piano chord stabs" or "piano melody" to surface relevant matches. Some recordings naturally separate chord and melody parts; others have them combined.
Related instruments
Browse Other Stem Types
Selekt's piano stems come from documented public-domain, CC0, and CC-BY recordings, with the source and terms carried into each download. Check the sample's exact license before release.
What is Selekt?
Selekt is a catalog of cleared samples and stems — every file is public domain or CC0, sourced from named archives and fingerprint-screened against commercial recordings before it's listed — paired with browser tools to chop, separate, and recombine them. Every download includes a license certificate naming the exact source and license, so you keep documentation, not just a promise. Free to start, no account needed to browse.
Who Selekt is for
Selekt is for producers, beatmakers, and composers who need source material they can legally release — on streaming, in client work, in sync and video — without chasing clearance or paying per-use royalties. It's for people who want the character of real recordings with the safety of documented provenance.
What you can do with Selekt
- Flip cleared public-domain and CC0 samples into beats you can actually release.
- Isolate stems — vocals, drums, bass, and more — from cleared recordings for remixes and edits.
- Source royalty-free audio for sync, video, podcasts, and client work, each with a license certificate.
- Combine catalog samples with your own uploads into one creation whose certificate covers the whole blend.
