Hey folks, in case you haven't had your ear to the pavement, WFMU recently launched a new site, the Free Music Archive!
The FMA is a fantastic resource of free, legal, and (most importantly) good music downloads. WFMU teamed up with audio curators like KEXP, Dublab, KBOO, CASH Music, Issue Project Room, Phoning It In, and even a fantastic internet radio station in Israel (Halas.am) to offer up wonderful and free music for the masses, and we expect the site to grow even larger and better with time.
Most of the songs offered on the Free Music Archive are licensed using Creative Commons, which is a more flexible version of copyright. The CC licenses used in the Free Music archive allow for non-commercial use with attribution (by-nc). This means you can download songs for free under two conditions:
1. You aren't making any money off of whatever you use the song for (listening on your ipod = ok, e-mailing the song to a friend or posting on your non-ad-driven blog/podcast = ok, using the song in your company's shoe commercial = not ok).
2. You credit the artist.
Some songs even allow for remixing (under the share-alike clause). Anyway, enough about the rules, go forth and explore!
As I was poking around on the site, I came across a great live set by the band Weave, which I found in Dublab's portal of the Free Music Archive. Since I originally hail from the northern sector of California, I am by nature skeptical of anything to make a peep from the state's lower half. I swallowed my pride and took a listen to Weave anyway, and loved what I heard: melodic yet slightly dissonant and hopping post-punk tunes with fun sing-along multi-lady vox. Fans of Liliput, the Slits, the Shaggs, Vivian Girls, and early B-52s, take note! Take a listen to Weave's live set right here, and download away!
Do I need to be approved? I created an account but still don't have access.
Posted by: Dale | April 15, 2009 at 09:17 AM