Best Place for Free Music?

[finalruner]

There are various sites throughout the web for obtaining free music, I know a few. However, I was wondering which ones others know of. I've noticed responses to this have been extremely varied for this I've asked in the past.

 

[USAFRet]

I predict this thread will be shut down quite quickly.

 

[manofchalk]

Depends on how you intend to use this music.

For personal listening, Youtube and services such as Spotify are probably best, if not for "obtaining" but consuming music. Obtaining music pretty much comes down to the stuff I talk about below unless the artists involved give out their music for free (which is common among internet-based musicians)

For non-commercial use (so your putting it in a personal video or something) sites like Incomptech have a large library of non-commercial Creative Commons licenced music. Youtube and Newgrounds is also a good place to find music for this purpose, just make sure they explicitly state Creative Commons or you can find a statement by the creator that would let you use it (I have gone trawling through the musicians Youtube comments and hit gold in the past, its worth trying).

Commercial use, your pretty much limited to music where it outright states you can use it for whatever or buying it (for commercial use, which is very different to buying for personal consumption. You will probably have to contact the copyright holder, which if its a big record company you might as well not bother TBH).

 

[RazerZ]

For listening to music, not downloading it, I use Sound Cloud, Grooveshark, and Pandora.

manofchalk explained the downloading part

 

[ssddx]

as for listening to music...
a few were already mentioned but i would like to make note of tuneinradio as well as mentioning that there are many internet radio stations which are completely free to listen to.

as for downloading...
the only songs or albums which are legal to download free are those given out free by the artist (often for self promotion), free by an organization (who has already payed the royalties) or for older songs which no longer have royalties and are considered public domain (see below).

public domain:

Works created before 1923 are public domain.
Works created between 1923 and 1964 are protected for 28 years. Copyright holders can renew copyrights for an additional 67 years, but, if they don't renew, copyright protection lasts for only 28 years.
Works created between 1964 and 1977 are copyright protected for 28 years, but the 67-year renewal is automatic, for a total of 95 years of copyright protection. The earliest works under this category are in the public domain starting in 2059.
Works created after January 1, 1978, are protected for the life of the creator plus 70 years.

if you intend to use them commercially generally it is not permissable unless they are public domain unless specifically stated that the songs are free for commercial use as well.

 

[USAFRet]

Right. And as I said in the first response to this:
"I predict this thread will be shut down quite quickly. "

Took a couple of days longer than I expected, but here comes the illicit links.