Ten Sources for Really Free Music That's Really Working For Me

Streaming Services
(1) Pandora
Pandora probably has the least cluttered layout and nicest radio interface of the three streaming services listed here. The sound and connection quality has always been excellent whenever I've used it, but there are ads if you're using the free version, and sometimes they're every three or four songs. This can be annoying, but every ad I've seen so far has been less than 30 seconds. They also only allow free users to skip a certain number of tracks per hour. This aspect, and the lack of a discovery feature, makes Pandora the service I use least frequently to stream, despite its cleanly designed interface. If you aren't looking for new music however, Pandora is a great service for the casual listener. The ads played are brief, and there no annoying radio personalities interrupting your tunaege.

(2) Last.fm
We wrote up Last.fm in detail here last year, but for those who can't be bothered to read the article, last.fm is a free streaming music service (le duh). While it isn't necessary that you sign up and create a profile to use their services, if you want to use their "recommendations" feature to discover new songs, new artists, and new events in your area that are catered to your music tastes, I recommend that you do. In fact, last.fm's "recommendations" feature is the reason I usually recommend last.fm to friends over Pandora. Pandora has a nicer interface, but last.fm has the better discovery algorithm and consistently recommends new artists and songs that I actually want to hear.

(3) Grooveshark
While the streaming radio service on Grooveshark is a little more unwieldy than Pandora or Last.fm, this is service I use daily. Grooveshark is unique to the other two services mentioned in that it allows you to stream any single track in the library, an unlimited number of times at will, whether you've registered for an account or not. Users are able to stream entire albums so long as they've been uploaded to Grooveshark's massive music library. There hasn't been a single track or artist I've searched for so far that doesn't exist in some version in their library. The radio service as it is leaves a little to be desired. Your main options are to either select a genre-based station or to play a track and then turn the radio feature on. The second option creates a radio station of music similar to the initial track selected. This system can be tweaked a little, if users select a few songs manually, before turning on the radio feature. If you want to create a station with more genre variety, selecting a few songs from across a few different genres is the most effective way to accomplish this.


Free Mp3 Downloads

(4) Artist Direct
The online digital media company that acquired Media Defender and Media Sentry in the last decade also offers free downloads! Who knew? Surprisingly, the downloads offered are not limited to the new bands pushed desperately by their labels nor to the obscurities that never made back the cost of their advances. One of my favorite finds so far is this track from the Bloody Beetroots. Be aware though, that in order to save files from Artist Direct to your computer you must right click (Mac users hold control and click) and select "save link as".

(5) Amazon.com
Monster online-retailer Amazon.com offers free Mp3 downloads in addition to regular purchased tracks. Weeding through all the purchase tracks when searching bestsellers, or the obscure tracks when searching the list of the free tracks can be tedious, but browsing these vast collections usually proves worthwhile. Don't over look their huge selection of free Mp3 sampler albums! The catch here is you have to either make an Amazon account or already have one and then go to the trouble of logging in. You then have to install the Amazon Mp3 down-loader. Still, it's all free and the total processes combined take only a few minutes.

(6) Paste Magazine Free Mp3s
Oh Paste Magazine, you never let me down. Updated frequently, across a wide variety of genres, Paste Magazine's free Mp3 blog has a huge collection of free downloads. This has been totally hassle free so far. Visitors to the blog simply click the hyperlinked text that says something like "click here to download Vampire Weekend's cover of Cheryl Cole's Fight for this Love" and the download begins. There have been a few songs (like those on the Saddle Creek label) that require users to submit their email address to receive a link that allows them to complete the download. This being a blog run by Paste Magazine, most offerings come from independent labels. However, with selections ranging from Bright Eyes, Cut/Copy, The Pixies, Elvis Costello and the Tings Tings, there should be at least one track to please everyone.

Mp3 Blogs

(7) Dopplebanger
Dopplebanger features remixes and mash-ups from the Parsian electronic artist Dopplebanger. Tracks featured are mostly Club, Electronic, Hip-Hop and R&B mash-ups, but there are some original compositions posted as well. Currently content is a little sparse, but if mash-ups are your thing, this blog offers some fun, free downloads of remixed hits like Rude Boy and Got It Twisted Sister. Many of the downloads offered are available directly, but a few come through mediafire (but they're still free).

(8) Aquarium Drunkard
Aquarium Drunkard is "an eclectic independent audio blog, featuring daily music, reviews, features, Mp3s, sessions, interviews, and more". One of the great things about Aquarium Drunkard is that they've been around since 2005, and post new content nearly every day, so there's loads of material to sift through. On the other hand, mining the blog for Mp3 downloads can be a little daunting at first, because there's loads of material to sift through. HINT: most of the Mp3s on offer are at the end of each Aquarium Drunkard article. So scroll down. Most of the articles and interviews posted, however, are very readable, comfortably concise, and thankfully for-go the meaningless ratings systems and taste-maker posturing that plagues a lot of writing about independent music.

Recommended Podcasts
(9) Coverville
Coverville is a podcast featuring noteworthy... you guessed it, cover versions of songs performed by both new and well-established artists. Having debuted in 2004, with new episodes released roughly three times per week, there is a huge back catalog of material, with iTunes podcast archive going as far back as late 2009. If you dig deep, like more than fifty pages deep, you can go back even further than that in the archives on their website. This is easier than it sounds though. Enter the archives by clicking the "older entries" button at the bottom of the main page. The URL at the top of the page should now read "coverville.com/page/2/". Simply change that low number to a much higher one, say "60", and you're all the way back in September of 2009, listening to covers of every track from Abbey Road Remember to right click and "save link as" when cruising that deep in the back pages.


(10) Mad Decent Worldwide Radio
Hosted by both the label's team and the label's founder, Diplo, the Mad Decent Worldwide Radio podcast, features artists on the Mad Decent record label, as well as ones that they haven't signed but have taken note. A self-described "NPR for the streets", Mad Decent Worldwide Radio features DJ mixes, videos, interviews, radio-casts and mixtapes highlighting emerging and obscure sub-genres of club and electronic music. These guys also put on a free block party every summer in select cities. Watch the space at maddecentblockparty.com for details.