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teenFans of all types of music can download or stream their favorite tunes from the Internet. This has caused excitement, but also controversy. Many artists like the ability to share their music with the global audience, while others fear that web sharing will reduce profits from CD sales.

Locating Specific MP3 Files

If you're looking for a particular song, your best bet is to do a simple web search using Google or Yahoo. Enter the name of the song and add MP3. For example, Sunshine on my Shoulders MP3. You may get a website where you can download the song for free or fee.

MP3 Search Engines

Another way to find songs and locate music is to use a search engine specifically for audio files. Also search for a specific title or the work of a musician or group. Try some of these and see which you prefer. Some can be used for locating all types of audio files.

Many school districts block all MP3 or other music files from being accessed by computers, regardless of the intended purpose in the classroom and how students and teachers are using them. Teachers and school media specialists can usually make specific requests to have a site or sites unblocked.

MP3 Libraries and Directories

Many of the directories are fee-based, but some provide a few free downloads. Make sure that you read about each of the websites and all restrictions, disclaimers, FAQs.

Online Music for Kids

MIDI Format

Sampling Sites

Use these websites to sample styles or explore the possibilities without the need to register. This is a great way to explore different genres. Most songs are around 10 seconds, but some are longer.

MP3 Musicblogs

MP3 blogs, also called musicblogs or audioblogs, are a type of weblog that post music files and make them available for download.

Dr.J's Jags & Jabs
image of Larry Johnson Creators of MP3 blog sites often think of themselves as Internet DJs who search out musical gems and post them for others to listen to, discuss, and for a limited time, download. These bloggers usually see their relationship with the recording and publishing industry as being supporting and cooperative; however some operate in a rather grey legal area. A number of MP3 blogs post music tracks with granted copyright permission from the artist or label. Others focus on Indie, unsigned, or out-of-print music. Many post a disclaimer that they are willing to remove any music if the copyright holder objects. Finally, one should be aware that a website that provides free music downloads does not mean that the files have been licensed for sharing or public play.

You can sample music from several different MP3 blogs at The Hype Machine, an audio blog aggregator.

You can listen to (and download) music at thousands of MP3 blog sites. Warning: Sites may contain or link to offensive material.

Indie Music

Wikipedia provides a good introduction to Indie music and its various genre forms: Indie Music.

Each year the Webby Awards select winners in the Music Category. Check out the winners. Are any of your favorites on the list?

Vintage Music

If you are interested in vintage, historical music recordings, there are some collections of on the Web. Start with sites like:

Dr.J's Jags & Jabs
image of Larry JohnsonFrom the earliest Internet days and beginning with usegroups and newsgroups, music has been shared. Today P2P (Peer to peer computer network) file sharing programs such as eMule are used to upload and download music files. Though the technology can be used to acquire accessible copyrighted materials, there are a significant number of copyright holders who have authorized the sharing of their content for non-commercial purposes. These include materials with a Creative Commons format license and also content available in the public domain and not protected by copyright. Remember that most commercially released popular songs are not currently authorized for free redistribution but require separate purchase or licensing.

There are several online locations where one can access free, legal music downloads:
(1) Free Music Directory
(2) Jamendo
(3) Metamath Music Page (All but one in the public domain)
(4) Musopen (not for profit, credit source)
(4) Music, Recorded at Project Gutenberg (Many but not all in public domain)
(5) Wikimedia: Sound/ List

Internet Archive Audio Archive. The Audio Archive contains over 90K items, including the net labels, music including the Grateful Dead, and open-source audio collections. Music can be legally used by students and teachers in their multimedia and website publications. The music can be remixed and shared.

Other Music Resource Portals

In the U.S., developers cannot use copyrighted music in their multimedia productions (except for music permitted under fair use and except for music licensed by ASCAP, BMI, SESAC (PDF) or other licensing groups).

Where can you find a music clip that is safe to use at a website, in a podcast, or in some other type of public performance? Look for a free resources indexed at ccMixer, a Creative Commons project for community music featuring remixes. Music that you can listen to, sample, mash-up, or interact with in whatever way you want.

A huge source for acquiring copyright free online music is the Audio Archive at the Internet Archive. The Audio Archive contains over 90K items, including the Net labels, Live Music, Grateful Dead, and Open-Source Audio collections. Music from the following locations can be legally used by students and teachers in their multimedia and website publications. The music can be remixed and shared:

(1) The Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library
(2) Legal Music for Videos at Creative Commons
(3) NIMJAM (Novel Intervallic Network Jamming Architecture for Music) AutoSong Archive

Dr.J's Jags & Jabs
image of Larry JohnsonToday there are numerous songs and pieces of music that incorporate snippets or parts from other recordings. This is called music sampling. Music sampling is simply using a part of someone's original music within someone's else's work to create a different work. In 2005 a landmark law decision was handed down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Bridgeport Music, Inc. versus Dimension Films. Judge Ralph Guy stated “Get a license or do not sample.” Sampling without proper permission is illegal, is a violation of copyright. A sound recording copyright provides the owner of it an absolute monopoly on that one way of producing certain sounds.

Permission must come from the person(s) or company that holds the copyright. Normally this is a recording company or a music publishing company rather than a composer, musician / performer, band - - the person(s) who created the original work.

For more information about music and copyright scan or read the following resources:
Copyright Resource Center from the Music Publishers Association
Standler, Ronald B. (Oct 2009). Music Copyright Law in the USA (PDF document download).
Copyright and Fair Use from Stanford University Libraries (Focus on sections applying to music).

tryDo your own exploring of music and song sampling. Did you discover anything new? Identify three sites that you think are the best for song samples or downloads. Think about the ways in which the resources are useful. These can be general sites or related to a particular music genre / type of music.

Additional Online Resources for Music

This course focuses on digital audio and video materials; what some people call audiovisual resources. Here are some online sheet music collections that are useful to librarians but not mainstream content for this class.

Want to sing along with a music cut? A good starting point for finding song lyrics is at (1) Music Lyrics from the Open Directory Project. You can also search for specific song lyrics at LyricsWorld.

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