« Home | LiveLook: Tour the World through Webcams » | Better Image Search with Imagery » | Bypass Censorship: Access Flickr in Iran, China, U... » | Mahalo Pays you for Search Results ($15 each) » | MassMirror: Upload to Multiple File Hosts with One... » | Share, Rate, and Discover Beautiful Desktop Wallpa... » | Show Off Your Workspace on Deskshot » | Google Sends 24% of All Wikipedia Traffic » | Download Music from IMEEM, Pandora, Last.fm, and M... » | A Search Engine for Music Lyrics and Videos »

Thursday, June 14, 2007

The Complete Guide to Free Music Online (Legal Edition)

Free online music used to be like the Wild West of the Internet with services like Napster dominating the field during the bubble. Now, as the Internet has matured, new models for distributing music are coming together.

But who's going to pay for all this free, legal music? A common answer to this pesky question is advertising, but some justify it as a marketing cost and some are still silent on how exactly they'll make this "new" business model work.

But the important part is that you can take advantage of their generosity right now by downloading or listening to as much music as you can handle.

The Complete(?) Guide to Free Online Music

1. We7: Free downloads with a 10 second advertisement inserted at the beginning of every track. Restrictions: None. Review.

2. Lala: Listen to unlimited free music on-demand. Restrictions: None. Review. Dead for now.

3. SpiralFrog: Free, ad-supported music downloads. Restrictions: DRM, US and Canada-only.

4. Ruckus: Free unlimited music downloads. 2.5 million tracks in library. Restrictions: DRM, college students only.

5. Slacker: Play music on-demand along with music recommendations. Restrictions: US only. Review.

6. Pandora: Streaming music recommendation service. Restrictions: US only, not on-demand.

7. Last.fm: Streaming music recommendation service. Restrictions: Not on-demand.

8. eMusic: Limited to 25 MP3 downloads during free trial period. 2 million song library. Restrictions: Limited downloads.

9. Qtrax: Unlimited downloads and song plays with contextual ads. P2P-based client released, but limited download selection. Restrictions: DRM(?).

10. Playble: A free music download service from The Pirate Bay. Forthcoming. Restrictions: None. Review.

11. Broadclip: Like TiVo for Internet radio stations. Schedule recordings of your favorite music and download them later as MP3s. Free software download required. Restrictions: None.

12. iLike: Discover new music through your friends. Share your music library. Download free MP3s of new artists. Restrictions: None.

13. MyStrands: Downloadable application to tag, share, manage, and discover new music. Restrictions: None.

14. iJigg: Digg for music. Rate, stream, and download free music. Restrictions: None.

15. SoundPedia: Listen to free streaming music. Create and share playlists. Restrictions: None.

16. Haystack: Social network for sharing and discovering new music. Restrictions: None.

17. Deezer: Free streaming online music. On-demand. Formerly called BlogMusik. Restrictions: None. Review.

New!

18. Seeqpod: MP3 search engine that lets you play music that you find in your browser. Restrictions: None. Review.

19. Jango: Free site that lets you play streaming music on-demand along with related artists. Sticks to more popular music selections than Pandora. Restrictions: None. Review.

20. Jamendo: Features free downloadable music from independent artists released under the Creative Commons. Feel free to tip the artists if you like their music. Restrictions: None. Review.

21. The Hype Machine: Listen to music gathered from blogs around the world. Restrictions: None. Review.

22. Did we miss your site? Send us an email with the details or mention it in the comments below.

Labels:

Send to a Friend!       Subscribe!      

    Stumble Upon Toolbar    

Comment Archive

Reader Comments:


Wimbomedia allows users to index MP3 links of music and podcasts on the internet which other users can listen to for free.



Slacker is only available in United States.



Leech,

Thanks for catching that. Updating now.



sites like creative commons or jamendo are a great way to discover new, free, legal music.



Thanks for the reminder ~j!



What about hype machine (www.hypem.com)?



Hype Machine probably qualifies as a legal service so it can go on the list. Thanks fredvw!



archive.org

A general archive of public-domain content, including concerts from bands which have allowed free-trade of concert tapes. Massive Grateful Dead collection, among others.



archive.org is an awesome source of not just individual songs but of some really excellent radio shows like the BBC Radio Lancashire's "on the wire"
http://otwradio.blogspot.com/

Also try putting the xml rss feed of hype machine in itunes as a podcast - suck on that - jobs!



wuzam.com is a music search and download site.



Tunesquare - DRM free; advertising videos (flash) played while previewing tracks.



EZ-Tracks
is great website for getting Free Music Downloads



ccmixter.org has various music and mixes from your favorite creative commons artists. DRM free and on demand.



don't forget finetune (www.finetune.com). Make a Playlist of more than 45 songs and it'll play in random order via flash app. Has a Wii interface too!



www.projectplaylist.com lets you build streaming playlists of music on demand.



purevolume.com is good for indie/alternative music(and some pop) and is a great way to find new music. You can download some music, but can listen to all of it for free.



wolfgang's vault's "Concert Vault". Awesome collection of live tunes for streaming -entire concerts. Some for sell, as well. All sound-board quality, 1960's-2000's.



I have 2 questions:
1. Is http://www.tropicalglen.com/ a legal site? It's based in Puerto Rico and I will send them a small donation if they are legal.
2. Are there legal sites that allow playlists by artists?



According to their About Us page, Tropical Glen pays royalties for every time a song is played from their site so it looks legitimate.



SpiralFrog isn't limited to Canadian users only. I'm in the US have have been using it for the past couple of months.



what about G2P, you didn't mention that and it's a great service. You can search free music throughout Google.



Foxtunes.com offers a selection of free and legal music downloads in the genres of smooth jazz, soul and r&b.



Wow, this is an awesome list of sites. I knew of only a few of those beforehand - I shall have to spend some time checking out the rest. Thanks!

I have a blog in which I feature links to free, legally downloadable music. You can check it out at http://totallyfreemusic.blogspot.com/



Update:
Spiralfrog.com has unlimited downloads and is available in both the US and Canada.

Ruckus is not free once a college student graduates. The monthly price for a college grad is not posted on the website (obviously not one of its selling points)

Qtrax is dead. It never had any music to begin with. The company just threw a few parties with the money.



Free Music Download websites has a list of music services you might like.



Thank you for this comprehensive list.
Make sure however to include the phantastic site with excellent search capabilities:

http://freeplaymusic.com/



Don't forget CYQO.COM ... I'm on it...http://www.cyqo.com/mike



imeem is a great one.

http://www.imeem.com/



Free Tunes
Is a great high quality free music download website.
No sign-ups, no memberships, no charge. From Rock to Rap, Country to Classical, all types available.

www.freetunes.org.uk



How about AirMP3 free mp3 downloads ?



Cowbell.fm is another great music blog aggregator. Great for finding new bands and albums that are being talked about.



qtrax does not have any songs on it so it shouldnt be on the list



do you have any ideas when qtrax will be able to download songs?



Deezer takes far too long to load and buffer songs..dunno whether it's a prob with my comp or the website, but they dont have all the songs you want either.. they only give a few tracks for each album,except for new bands they are advertising but i think their smartradio is good. What's DRM?



Url - http://www.guitarlessoninsider.com/reviews/learn-and-master-guitar-review.html
Title - Review of Learn and Master Guitar
Description - Read our review of Learn and Master Guitar by Steve Krenz. Find out how is compares to other guitar lesson systems on the market. Learn how Learn and Master Guitar stacks up!



Hi,
PLease check goog content blogs.
http://firstseomaster.blogspot.com/
http://bell-phones.blogspot.com/
http://more-poker-7u.blogspot.com/
http://jobs-online-blogs.blogspot.com/
http://hindisongsdownloading.blogspot.com/
http://threx.blogspot.com/
http://mobile-phone-service.blogspot.com/
http://msfunny.blogspot.com/
http://wellcene.blogspot.com/
http://television-online-blogs.blogspot.com/
http://movies-online-blogs.blogspot.com/
http://music-online-blogs.blogspot.com/
http://business-online-blogs.blogspot.com/
http://software-online-blogs.blogspot.com/
http://gambling-online-blogs.blogspot.com/
http://hardware-online-blogs.blogspot.com/
http://computers-online-blogs.blogspot.com/
http://games-online-blogs.blogspot.com/
http://videogames-online-blogs.blogspot.com/
http://health-online-blogs.blogspot.com/
http://astrology-love.blogspot.com/
http://onlinemakefriends.blogspot.com/
http://marketingseo2008.blogspot.com/
http://mobile-phone-service.blogspot.com/
http://directorysubmissionlist.blogspot.com/
http://twenty-twenty-worldcup.blogspot.com/


Thanks
shan



Hindi songs downloading $ Bollywood hindi songs,Hindi remix songs,latest hindi movie songs



www.100legalfreemusicdownloads.com has an additional list of sites to find well over 100 legal free music downloads instantly.



desitouch.com - gotta be absolute best for Indian music & bollywood music



Hi you got a nice music site going here !!
I am just 17 and a high school babe right now.
And I read your web stuffs,when I get a chance.
Keep up the good work, I love it AAAA++++ , I am going to tell all my friends about this site !!

Oh ya - I took in a concert to see the new rock,blues guitar sensation GW Williams in Hollywood a few weeks ago, and I must say it was incredible, GW Williams has so much energy in his music, everything from the singing to the guitar is first class.The way he works a crowd and plays the guitar must be seen to be believed. AWESOME is all I can say 2 thumbs up 100%.

Thanks Sandra LaBra

P.S. Here's GW Williams rock, blues Guitar site. - GW Williams Rock,Blues Guitar



Some music download review sites worth checking out are Free Mobile Phone Downloads and Free Music Sharing.



Luxury homes worldwide



Awesome!



You should add nutsie.com. It has a large collection of music, plus music videos to go with it.



ye, good shot baby...


medikal



sharing for thanks.. i wish the successfrom now on writing

film izle



Interesting post ToM. You said, “it uses and alters the shot material of Brando without his consent or creative consultation.” That might be somewhat difficult due to Brando’s being dead.


plastik cerrahi

Estetik

göğüs estetiği

Estetik

plastik cerrahi


Previous Posts

« Home