Finding Free (and Legal) Music Downloads

Finding free (and legal) music downloads is like searching for a guitar pick in a haystack, but there are a few ways in which you can find free music downloads without breaking the law. Piracy is growing all across the world and there are multiple federal task forces on the case, so it is much better to evaluate free and legal music download sites rather than risking your freedom.

Artist's Sites
One of the best ways to find clips of music and even full songs is by visiting the artist's website. Many bands and singers post the songs from previous albums to generate interest in their new songs, which makes it easy to acquire your favorite tunes. You can usually find an artist's official site by typing their name into Google or by looking on the backs of album covers.

Fan Sites
You can also find Free and legal music downloads by visiting fan sites for your favorite bands. Very few fan sites charge to hear the music and they often have unreleased tracks that you've never heard. These are great resources when you are trying to find obscure songs that might not even come up on the paid P2P music downloading sites.

YouTube & MySpace
Music fans are flocking to websites like YouTube and MySpace. I've always preferred YouTube.com to P2P music downloads because you can actually see the band live. You might not find the acoustics you're looking for and many of the videos are taken with camera phones, but you'll also find high-quality videos for free. MySpace is a little more difficult to navigate because you have to plug in the right search terms, but tons of MySpace users place videos and audio clips of their favorite bands and artists on their pages.

GoingWare.com
This is a website I just discovered a few weeks ago, but it's an excellent source for free and legal music downloads. They have links to websites which offer free music downloads as well as tips for finding free sources. They have a place for independent music artists to post their music and website as well as articles about piracy and the legality of offering music downloads.