You should probably look at buying some of the original music downloads from the sites that sell them for this purpose.

There are several sources of legal free music clips available online, most require attribution which is only right. You have better choices for a small fee. Be aware of the bandwidth costs that come with offering it, too.

One thing to be careful of, when you embed background music, be sure to make it optional so it needs the viewer to activate it - and let them know an idea of what you're offering or offer choices. There are sites where it works fine.

Few things are more annoying than opening a site just after you get the baby to sleep and having music start playing from nowhere...or browsing at work and notifying all the surrounding cubicles of your browsing. I still run across sites that make me sorry I visited.

I can't speak for most web surfers, but I find music that automatically starts when I visit a website to be distracting. It's one thing to have a music player where people have the option of sampling audio because it's related to a product or service.

But it's been at least five yeras since I've actually had a client's web page automatically play music. If I forget how loud my speakers are on, it's an easy way to get me to back-click or close out a new tab if I hear music or a virtual "host" speaking when I visit a site.

I'll chime in with the "don't want to hear noise of any kind" crowd when visiting a website. Personally I consider it rude behavior on the webmaster's part. :)

I do, however, visit many sites that offer audio/video content and expect that some will do this. If, on the other hand, your site is info/article type and you just want to provide amusement audio, thing offer a button to turn it on.

As noted above, there are costs related to this perk in bandwidth you will ultimately pay for.

I see, I get your point guys, I want to design web-sites for people and the website Im going to make is going to be about me and my work etc. so it has to be a little artistic I assume, some slow/lounge/peaceful music shouldnt disturb people, but on the other hand you never know, first I can make it with a turn On/Off button.
But my main question is where can I find "free music" that I can use on my website, most say we are free but charging a one time for their database or monthly... I really dont want to give even 1 dollar, it is not worth the time for me to type in my billing details etc. I believe there has to be really free music to use on websites/projects.

Look for public domain, by artist, date, or performance. There's hundreds to hundred thousands of those tune available, no fee required. Might not have your desired sound, but if you listen long enough and often enough you might find a dozen or so tunes that work.

True, there are entire libraries of music put up for use, most do request attribution which is only fair so your visitors could find more of the same if they were to want it. Yes, there is some awful stuff in there, I haven't seen a library of known music where you could just look for the titles you want to use and use it free, but there is some good music that can be just what you wanted and introduce listeners to new groups. As tangor said, it can take a good deal of time to sift through it all. There are some performers who offer their music for free use also, again - with attribution - so you could search for the performers or genre you are interested in. It is time consuming to sort through.

I can't speak for most web surfers, but I find music that automatically starts when I visit a website to be distracting.

I find it way more than that. People surf in libraries, at work, on public transportation, or other "quiet" places and having music unexpectedly play can be annoying to the user as well as everyone else arund him/her.

it is not worth the time for me to type in my billing details

The time spent entering your billing details could pale in comparison to the time spent having to deal with a licensing/copyright complaint for using music that you didn't properly license. I'd be wary of most "free" music sites. Do it properly and save yourself a lot of hassle in the future.

Remember- the music industry has much deeper pockets than you. Their lawyers have no problem going after teenagers who download songs illegally. They'd have no problem going after someone who doesn't want to spend a few minutes to enter billing information.

I would definitely stay away from the run of the mill free download sites, the type of sites I do recommend are like the Free Music Archive for one example. You can read more at wikipedia. Their usage rights really are free and set by the rightsholders themselves.

Music on websites is so 1999. Don't waste your time.

The amount of time I spend on a website that plays music, can be measured in small increments of Planck Time.