Web Sites for Free Music

There are many legal music hosting services that allow one to find a lot of free music all in one place. Be aware that the fact that a website offers free music does not imply the files are licensed for sharing - many sites forbid sharing in their terms of service.

At one time the largest free music repository was MP3.com. Thousands of independent artists hosted their music there for free download. But when Vivendi sold MP3.com to CNet, the largest music library in the history of humanity was taken offline. While it was compared by many to the burning of the ancient Library of Alexandria, most of the work was not lost to civilization. It just became harder to find. MP3.com now offers only paid music downloads, but many free music sites sprang up in its wake.

The Open Directory Project has Bands and Artists and Styles indices. Not all the artists offer downloads, but the site says they list 43,000 artists and I imagine many of them offer free music.

The Narcopop Independent Musicians Directory lists the websites for many artists and provides preview samples for many of them.

You can download free music from many sites. Some of them allow you to buy the band's CD from the same page as the MP3 download. Among them are:

* Ogg Frog Free Music Torrents - Bit Torrent downloads of Creative Commons-licensed music.
* Trotch - Music is Timeless. The Music Business is Not.
* Asian Classical Music in MP3 Format
* Public Domain 4U - Best in Public Domain MP3s
* kahvi collective - sound has the power to make the world a better place
* micromusic - (I'm not sure how to describe it -- Mike)
* Unsigned Band Web - We are a music portal featuring artists from all genres and all nations!
* IC-Musicmedia.com - The Interconnected Artist Community
* Motagator Music - Cajun, Zydeco, Folk, Roots and Blues music
* ACIDplanet - your world of music
* Artist Label - Artist Label offers Music Artists and Bands a Free website and mp3, wma uploads for fans to stream.
* On Classical - OnLine Classical Music Collections in MP3 and OGG Vorbis formats
* Kunst der Fuge / On Classical - The biggest Site of *FREE* Classical Music in MIDI files
* A Singular Christmas
* Piano Society - Free MP3 Recordings of Classical Music Masterpieces
* MONSTAAR Records - 75¢ song downloads from noise, experimental, darkwave etc. bands. Free samples.
* Digital Prophets
* betterPropaganda - brings you the very best of new, cutting edge music
* altsounds.com - alternative online music community
* Free Music!
* Loca Records
* Artistopia - The Ultimate Artist Development Resource
* Download.com Music - Free music downloads
* AudioStreet.net - Free Music Downloads, Free Music Hosting, Free MP3 Downloads, Home For Independent Artists.
* purevolume - we're listening to you.
* FreeMP3Mail.com - Free music download links straight to your inbox.
* A Meeting Place for Electronic Artists
* UKBassline - Drum 'n' Bass, House and Garage music by unsigned artists.
* Amazon.com - Free Music Downloads
* Glide Magazine - Free Music Downloads
* SoundShelf - You are the Music Industry
*

Would You Like Some Free Software?
Agnula Libre Music - It's Free as in Freedom
* ArtistGigs.com - Free MP3 Music Downloads featuring Independent and Unsigned Artists.
* Ampcast - free mp3 downloads, music and CDs of musical artists
* Tokyo Dawn Records - soul'n'skills.
* peoplesound - listen to new music - find and download free mp3s
*
Ogg Frog

Rippit the Ogg Frog

Why Can't I Play
the CDs That I Burn?

by Rippit the Ogg Frog
www.oggfrog.com
Out of Obscure - free electronic mp3 music download and community
* GarageBand - Discovering the Best Independent Music
* etree.org - the leader in lossless digital audio distribution on the internet
* Fair for Share - All authorized by the artist. The RIAA has no jurisdiction over this music.
* MP3 4U - Where MP3 Lunatics Run the Asylum!
* MP3 Jackpot - One Winner A Day!
* DMusic.com - Your Digital Music Oasis
* The Internet Underground Music Archives - discover unsigned artists, independent bands, local talent
* CDBaby - a little CD store with the best new independent music
* Epitonic.com - your source for cutting edge music
* Lulu - Digital Recording, Collaboration, Hardware, Software, News
* SoundClick - Free MP3 music download and much, much more
* Matador Records
* insound - indie emo garage punk noise electronic + essentials
* monotonik - online mp3 electronica label
* The Live Music Archive
* Scene.org - also see the file browser
* 8 bit recording company
* Kikapu
* octagone.net - this is a label for chosen music we call deconstructed.
* The Free Music Archive

If you know other sites I should list here, please let me know by emailing legal-downloads@goingware.com. I offer reciprocal links to individual artists' Web sites at the end of this article - if you offer downloads of your own music, I will link to your site if you link this article in return.

If you prefer the higher quality, quicker to download and patent-free Ogg Vorbis files you can find several download sites here. From the Ogg Vorbis