Times are changing. Digital music is accessible music and the industry is changing fast. Here, you’ll find extraordinary selection of services and sites where you can explore and find interesting sounds (and video) to pep up your iPod. The message is simple: if you’re hungry for music but don’t want to break the law, there are numerous legal alternatives to file sharing.
MySpace
MySpace has emerged as the leading destination for musicians and fans to meet, with 106 million users worldwide and it’s free to join, all it requires is that you fill in a registration form and create a profile. Once you’ve published your own page on MySpace, you can explore other pages and get connected to people and musicians you like by asking to be added to their collection of friends.
If you come across a band that you like, you just need to hit the ‘Add’ button in the clearly marked ‘Contact’ box, which is generally situated under the main profile description. When you submit a friend request, the other party receives a message telling them you want to get connected, so they can vet and approve you.
You will also receive the same message when others try to befriend you. You can expand your network quickly by leaving comments on your friends’ sites, thanking them for allowing the connection - it’s good MySpace etiquette, and what you write may attract new friends to you. As your network grows, you will find it increasingly easy to find new, talented musicians.
MySpace also integrates ways users can recommend artists they like, for example, any page can host background music chosen by the page owner. When you navigate to a website playing music that you’d like to promote, you can choose to have that track play automatically when others visit your page.
You simply need to use the ‘Add’ button beneath the selected song. You’ll then be asked if you want to add the song to your page - answer ‘Yes’ and the job is done. Personal users can only have one such streamed track on their site, while bands can carry two to four songs. Bands can choose to make their tracks available for free download, or just for streaming.
MySpace alternatives
While MySpace is the clear market leader in terms of users and activity, there are other social sites offering free and legal music downloads that will work with iPods.
GarageBand
Around since 1999, this music website hosts pages for independent bands. You can subscribe to fanlists, contact bands, find out about releases and gig dates, and speak with other fans. Site visitors can review music they find - which can help casual browsers find some sounds they may like. Musicians decide whether to make music available only for streaming, or for free download.
SoundClick
With 3 million members and almost 2 million songs, SoundClick is a free community-based site focused on musicians. It offers tracks and information from thousands of unsigned acts, with music split into categories (Metal, Alternative, Pop, and so on). You can listen to streamed music, and some bands offer tracks in MP3 format for download. Bands can also choose to sell songs through this service.
Bebo
This social-networking site recently introduced its Bebo Bands service. While you can use the site to find new acts, it doesn’t yet offer music for download, but you can add tracks you like to your playlist on your own profile page. These songs only stream when you visit the site.
Pandora
This streaming service can help you find new artists, but doesn’t offer music downloads. It’s based on the Music Genome Project, which analyses every detail of songs to accurately recommend and play tracks based on a user’s taste. You set up channels - Happy Mondays, for example - and the service will stream tracks it thinks are similar. It’s a nice way to find new acts you may like, which you can then look for elsewhere.
Bands websites
Most bands these days have their own dedicated websites, some personally run by the act. Some offer free music downloads for fans, while others offer their own music stores where fans can buy tracks.
Legal music sales at low prices
Newly launched, the web-based eMusic subscription service offers a catalogue of 1.4 million tracks from indie labels. Songs cost as little as 17p. Unlike other subscription-based services, you can download and keep the music you choose. The site trusts its customers.
Songs are sold in MP3 format (encoded at 192k) and are free of any digital rights management technology. You can use your eMusic purchases on any system or any player (naturally including iPods and iTunes). You are allowed to burn your music to as many CDs as you like, and host your collection on as many machines as you want.
There are three subscription packages: Basic, 40 downloads per month for
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