My first blog experience was with the site "elbo.ws," which is one of the premier online "music blog aggregators," which compile and categorize web sites that have songs available to download. To put it simply, it's a search engine for free MP3s. What makes it 'more legal' than other free music databases is that the blogs should have rights of some sort to distribute the MP3s.
Some blogs may post lower-quality files to prevent DJs from stealing and using the music. This is the method Greg Dona '10 -- creator of the popular music blog Panda Toes (pandatoes.blogspot.com) -- uses to keep his operation legal. Other bloggers request that the downloader contribute to the artist in some form. But to me, that's equivalent to asking a student to pay to download Girl Talk's new name-your-own-price album. Not likely.
So here's a bigger question: should we even have to pay for music, or should we just have the option? Here's why I ask: If Girl Talk and, more prominently, Radiohead support the downloading of free music -- while giving downloaders the opportunity to pay as much as they feel like -- why shouldn't all bands do this? Posting music online helps new bands in particular-- witness the original purpose of MySpace. Although they aren't making money on single tracks, it allows them to gain more exposure through online forums. More importantly, the bands are cultivating fans and, ultimately, more concert ticket sales. It looks like even The New York Times is using this method to support artists. I found two free MP3s accompanying an article this morning.
By now, you're probably wondering what sites you should go to. To be honest, it depends on your music taste. I found out some more information about the music blog scene from Brad Hagedorn '10, who is a campus DJ and well-versed in accessing online music.
Q: When and why did you start using these blogs?
A: Like many, I started using digital music with the advent of Napster. As for the other more specific sites, I started using them all within the past five years. A lot of my friends are really into music, whether as a listener or artist/producer, so I find out about these things through word of mouth. This stuff is fairly difficult to find by just Googling it, so you almost need to be told about it.
Q: How "illegal" is it to use them?
A: To be honest, the torrent sites are flat-out illegal. But the blogs are walking a fine line. Some of their content has been given to them with permission to distribute, but a lot of it has not. So you can feel a little better about the whole "stealing" aspect of downloading music, but in reality it's not really much different than using Limewire.
Q: Which is your favorite site to use?
A: What.cd is really good for stuff that's a little more mainstream. They get their releases pretty early and there's an excellent top 10 feature and forum on the site that has good discussions about music. It can help you find new artists as well as get information on new releases before downloading.
Q: What don't you like about these blogs, and how could they be improved?
A: The biggest problem is that there are just so many of them. To be honest, a lot of the blogs out there are just garbage clones of other ones that get content out there earlier. So it takes some time to sift through everything out there and find a couple of blogs that you like and can follow. Otherwise, it's just too much. But sites like Hype Machine (hypem.com) really help with that by compiling a huge number of blogs into one site.
Q: How do these sites help you, as a campus DJ?
A: Well, each site or program is better oriented to different genres of music. The blogs keep me updated and in the know about new electronica and obscure stuff. What.cd and other torrent sites are great for new hip-hop and tend to get leaks of new albums pretty early. The promo-only releases are great for this, and Soul Seek (slskrecords.com) is good for finding individual tracks that I need or want, especially if I'm in wifi range at a gig and someone requests a song I don't have. Basically, they all help keep me ahead of the curve musically.
Q: Would you say these sites help artists on the rise?
A: Definitely. There's no way that I would ever find out about some of these artists if I didn't discover them on a blog or music forum. Even if I'm downloading their content for free, there are a bunch of artists that I've gone and spent money on concert tickets for when I never would have done so without downloading their music beforehand.
