A-Z sites to download music legally
It wasn't that long ago that downloading music from the internet looked like it would finally ruin some of the mainstream recording companies. Napster (the old version) and the music download software Kazaa were gaining in popularity, and notoriety. Every country with interests in copyright wanted them shut down and every week a new article would appear concerning a new legal battle.
That was then, this is now. Napster is now just another music downloading site among the plethora.
So, in an age where music, video and any other media is virtually on demand how do we go about obtaining it legally. For starters, if it's mainstream and popular and you can get if for free - chances are that it's probably not legal. Secondly, if you don't have to agree to the site's registration agreement then it's most likely that the media has been copied.
Having said that, there are many sites which do offer free music and video that don't require payment or registration. However, these usually offer less well-known bands or genre's which are not popular such as indie, folk and world music.
To erase any doubt, I decided to compile a list of sites where you can download music legally. Some are global while others are restricted to certain countries. I hope it's a benefit to you.
AOL Music
Artist Direct
Audio Candy
AudioLunchbox
Besonic
Bigpond Music - [Australia]
Big Noise Music
Bleep
Buy Music
Cats Music
Compact Disc World
Connect
Corner Band
Corner CD
DMusic
Dimple's Music
Domino Records
eMusic
Epitonic - [Free but not mainstream]
Exitos Musical
Face the Music
Full Audio
FYE
Gallery Of Sound
Garage Band
Gig America
HMV
Independent Record
Instavid
Intomusic.co.uk
iTunes Music Store
Iuma
[Comment below if you know one]
[Comment below if you know one]
Latin Noise
LimeWire2006
Liquid Audio
Mainstreet Music
Matador Records
MIRA Coalition
MusicMatch
Musicnet - [AOL]
Music Now
Music Rebellion
Napster
Netscape Music
New World Record
OD2 - [UK]
People Sound
Quonset Hut
Rasputin Music
Record and Tape Traders
Rhapsody - [Real]
Sam Goody
Spinnery
Spiral Frog
Streamwaves
Top Hits Music
Tower Records
[Comment below if you know one]
Virgin
VitaminIC
Windows Media
Wippett- [UK]
[Comment below if you know one]
Yahoo! Music unlimited
[Comment below if you know one]


Comments
Great post!
Thanks...
That must have taken a while to compile...
NCN
Posted by: NCN | July 13, 2006 2:19 PM
Cheers NCN. Quite a few of these I have used before so they weren't too hard to gain but a few of the obscure ones were harder to track.
There are a few sites that offer similar lists but I like things nice and neat and a few on here aren't offered elsewhere.
Posted by: Stuart | July 13, 2006 2:32 PM
Hey Stuart, good clean list. I am going to link to it from dumblittleman.com which should send over 1 reader in the next 2 weeks (laugh).
Posted by: Frank | July 13, 2006 8:09 PM
Pandora is one I have used for months
Posted by: ~Dawn | July 14, 2006 8:40 AM