Free Music for Your iPod - How to Download Free and Legal MP3 Files
By Emma Martin
If you're looking for free music mp3 files for your iPod or another mp3 player, but you don't want to break the law, there are definitely other options for you besides just waiting for iTunes to release their weekly free song. You don't need to resort to ignoring copyright and brazenly using file sharing networks. There's actually plenty of free music out there for the taking. You just need to know where to look for it.
One great source of free and legal music is creative commons licensed songs. A lot of new artists make their music available available for free download in the hopes of finding themselves some new fans. And you don't have to wade through thousands of bad songs looking for the good stuff. Other music lovers like yourself take the time to review new music and either post both the mp3's and their reviews on blogs or in music podcasts where you get to hear the songs and possibly interviews with the bands.
There's actually plenty of great stuff out there to listen too and I find myself stumbling across new artists all the time. MySpace and/or Facebook are also some great places to look for new artists. Many musical artists will have a MySpace page with an audio player so you can listen to their music online and then you can visit their official website to see if they also make some of their songs available to download so you can actually listen to them on your mp3 player.
So how does this all work? In a nutshell, Creative Commons is an alternative to the standard copyright formulation of "All Rights Reserved." Instead, artists may choose to license their work with "Some Rights Reserved". With several licensing options to select from, Creative Commons represents a compromise between "All Rights Reserved" in which all artistic output is subject to bureaucracy, lengthy negotiations and financial arrangements in order for someone else to make use of it, and "Public Domain" which represents a free-for-all environment of no rights whatsoever.
Many music podcasts make use of creative commons licensed music and song to bring listeners some of the newest cutting edge music and it makes it so much easier to find good stuff to listen to if you have someone doing a lot of the sifting for you. And let's face it, even the big name artists started out unsigned and unpromoted. If you've ever met someone who got to see a big name band and some small night club before they hit the big time and felt guilty, discovering new music is your chance to be the first to discover the next big hit.
Looking for new music to download for free? Check out my top pick blogs and podcasts where you can download free legal mp3 files to listen to on your iPod or mp3 player.
