Information Technology Services

Please note: Pomona College does not necessarily endorse any of these services. They are only presented here as a resource to find legal downloads for music, video and other media.

Free Music Archives

Oddio Overplay

“Hello and welcome to the world of FREE AND LEGAL ONLINE MUSIC! This website exists to spread some happiness all over the planet by connecting you with fantastic artists who deserve to be heard. The sites featured here are for legal sharing of music online, so you are free to relax and enjoy!”

Archive.org – Netlabels

The Netlabels collection at the Internet Archive hosts complete, freely downloadable/streamable music, from the catalogs of ‘virtual record labels.’ Many tracks are Creative Commons licensed for free re-use and sampling.

music.download.com

Download.com expands from shareware to music, offering more than 100,000 MP3s distributed for free by the artists.

cc mixter

“Music on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons license. You are free to download and sample from music on this site and share the results with anyone, anywhere, anytime. Some songs might have certain restrictions, depending on their specific licenses. Each submission is marked clearly with the license that applies to it.”

Online Record Stores

RCRD LBL

“RCRD LBL is a network of online record labels and blogs serving up fresh new music downloads and exclusive content curated by our team of editors and partner labels every day.”

magnatune

Allows instant licensing of music, free use in online videos, encourages music and video sharing.

“We work directly with independent musicians world-wide to give you downloads of MP3s and perfect-quality WAV files. We never work with major labels, and our musicians always get 50%. You can listen to every album in its entirety before buying or becoming a member.”

CD Baby

“CD Baby is a little online record store that sells albums by independent musicians…. In a regular record deal or distribution deal, musicians only make $1-$2 per album, if they ever get paid by their label. When selling through CD Baby, musicians make $6-$12 per album, and get paid weekly.
CDs and MP3 downloads for sale”

iTunes Store

Apple’s online music store. Thousands of free podcasts.

Amie Street

All songs start out free. Then the community decides the price, from free to 98¢. DRM-free MP3 downloads

Redfizz

Bands upload their songs, the community reviews them. Free MP3 downloads

dMusic

Music for streaming, free download, and for sale.

Earbuzz

Artists earn 100% on all CD sales and downloads

Insound

Indie record store with MP3s for sale and a selection of free downloads

Specialized Music Resources

Archive.org – live music collection

Live recordings of music performances and concerts.

Dublab

Los Angeles based DJ and dance music collective.
Streaming radio: dublab.com/dubstream

Micromusic

“8-Bit music.” Free music downloads, artist uploads, streaming radio

Music Streaming and Discovery

Last.fm

Free music streaming and discovery service. Paid subscriptions add more features.

Pandora

Music streaming and discovery service.

Rhapsody

Subscription based music streaming service

Garageband

Find and review new music by independent musicians

Other Media

Wikimedia Commons

Public domain media which can be freely used for any purpose.

Flickr: creative commons

Millions of images licensed by the artists for free re-use. Many images and videos have Creative Commons licenses. Make sure you understand the terms of the licenses before re-publishing any work.

LegalTorrents

“LegalTorrents is an online digital media community. We discover and distribute high quality open-license (Creative Commons) digital media and art, and provide support to Content Creators. We host creative content in its entirety, ensure fast, reliable downloads, and enable users to directly sponsor Content Creators and their work. We distribute content with the full permission of the rights holders and use the peer-2-peer file-sharing technology called Bittorrent.”

Resources and Further Research

Wikipedia: Public Domain Resources

An exhaustive list of sources for free images, audio and video which can be used for any purpose.

Goingware: Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads

An older list, with a huge compilation of resources

Electronic Frontier Foundation: How To Not Get Sued for File Sharing

Self-explanatory.