Download It

If you go around talking about downloading music for free on the Internet, somebody's bound to eventually chime in with, "Well, if it was free, then it would have to be illegal!" Some people just don't get the Internet. For instance, did you pay anybody to read this webpage? So, if people can give writing away for free, why not music? For that matter, there's this thing called Free/Open Source Software where you get the whole operating system and all the programs on it free, but we digress...

Before we get started, it's worth mentioning that "legal" changes from country to country and sometimes from state to state. Also, where one band is permissive, another band will be restrictive. And there's an array of licenses for music, where even though you can listen to something free and even transfer it for free, you can't resell it for money, and so on. So apply some prudence and common sense to every example here.

There's dozens of different sources both online and offline for free music. Here are some of the standard sources:

YouTube. With a simple Firefox plug-in, any song on YouTube (or, indeed, any Flash file with a song embedded in it) becomes a potential acquisition. Remember, if it's legally posted on YouTube for you to listen to whenever you want, then it should be legal to save the sound recording for the same purposes. However, it may not be legal to redistribute music obtained this way. You can always send the YouTube link to whoever you want to share it with, however. Mashable also has a list of 23 ways to download YouTube videos.

Yay for the Indies! Even bands that get well-known are sometimes turning to alternatives to the record industry to sell their work. Frequently this involves giving a way a sample track or two, with an option to buy the album directly from the website. Sites like GarageBand, Indie Rock Cafe, and DMusic offer Indie bands a chance at exposure and even to get reviewed by fans, and of course offer free MP3s as well.

Public Domain and Creative Commons Music. You're probably already a fan of some public domain music and don't realize it. Music genres such as classical and jazz have many public domain works which are used all the time in commercials, films, and video games, which will lead to a high "Aha! I've heard this before!" ratio. These sources include Jazz Online, and Wikimedia Commons, while Creative Commons licensed music can be found at sites like Jamendo.

The Internet Archive. One place nobody thinks to look. This is the same organization which brings us the "Wayback Machine", a cool gizmo which views any archived website as it appeared in past years. Well, the Archive also hosts music downloads - thousands of them! Including 6,556 recordings of the Grateful Dead! Also an archive of live music, audio books, podcasts, radio broadcasts... the list goes on.

Google Sniffing: this last is a general method for locating sites which have MP3 recordings generally available. To search Google for MP3 directories, type:

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:"index of" +"last modified" +"parent directory" +description +size +mp3 "dead kennedys"

...given that you're searching for tracks by the Dead Kennedys. What this does is find raw index directories. When you find such a link, go to the "parent directory" and so on up to the top-level domain, and check it out to make sure that it's a reputable website that is offering the downloads legally. This is a great way to find new sites as they come along, but beware of imitations, foreign sites, and outright malware tricks when using this method - it's a very different way to search the web.