Arrrr Having trouble finding quality sites that offer legal music downloads at no cost? Here are the best guilt-free sites today. Pic: picphotos.net Illegal downloads are the music industry’s equivalent of an elephant in the room. But while digital music has been readily available and freely searchable online for 15 years now, making piracy easy, that doesn’t mean there aren’t ethical considerations whenever you download an artist’s music “for free” that you should be paying for. While we’ve come a long way in the battle against music piracy online thanks to stores like iTunes and Beatport, downloading tracks from dubious MP3 sites and torrent networks continue to be a hushed practice that has become part of today’s music culture not so much out of necessity as it was back in the late 90s and early 2000s when legitimate music portals were scarce, but arguably as a bad habit that’s hard to break.
And while the majority of DJ music can now be bought and downloaded from Beatport and the like, clearly making such stores the go-to places online to make tune purchases, there still are a few places that you can legally download music for free. Often these are also sites you can scour for unsigned/underground acts that haven’t made it to Beatport’s catalogue just yet (you need to be signed to a label to do that). Further, combing through these sites is a great way to come up with a diverse DJ music library that isn’t reliant on a mainstream music outlet’s Top 10 chart, helping you set your song selections apart from what other DJs can readily access. So while nowadays there’s really no excuse for stealing music, searching out legal free sources is well worthwhile. Here are a few ideas: 7 places for free DJ music 1. SoundCloud Despite the flak its gotten recently, SoundCloud remains a popular choice among DJs for discovering and downloading free music. Currently getting a lot of attention due to its new advertising policy and much-ballyhooed “selling out” to major labels, SoundCloud still playing an important role in the modern music industry because it’s able to be both a social outlet for unknowns to get their music heard and a platform for big name DJs and producers to promote their music.
While SoundCloud has taken a tough stance against DJ mixes, whenever copyright material is detected, original music and remixes by producers are rife, and most can be had for free or for a “Like” on Facebook. Pros: Burgeoning community of music producers and listeners, lots of free originals, remixes and bootlegs to be had, explosive growth Cons: Ads on select artists, strict policies regarding copyright material, popular artists use SoundCloud to promote their material by using it as a “preview” gateway that links to iTunes or Amazon where you have to buy their music Go to site: 2. Bandcamp Still the indie artist’s platform of choice, you can download entire releases from producers and independent record labels here. The indie-friendly storefront continues to thrive in a music streaming landscape because it gives producers and labels the ability to setup shop for free, allowing them to give away music, charge a set fee, or ask for donations. Free download mp3 dewa 19 satu sisi. While you’ll have more options for individual songs on SoundCloud, Bandcamp offers complete album and EP downloads. Pros: Lots of new, independent producers and record labels here, beautiful and simple store design makes it easy to preview and download tracks or full albums Cons: Not a lot of big name/signed producers here Go to site: 3.