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Free And Legal Music

FREE AND LEGAL MUSIC ON THE INTERNET

     As you know, sharing music with friends tends to be illegal, because most music is under copyright. It’s true that music written before 1923 is no longer under copyright. But, let’s say a friend has a CD of classical music composed in 1750. You’d think it would be legal to rip it onto a CD of yours, but it probably isn’t. The music may not be under copyright, but, if you look at the CD, you’ll see that the performance is copyrighted.

     The Internet abounds in ways around this. Performers and composers often put music on their own websites. They want us to download it to show what they can do, and it is of course legal. I’ll point you to some sites that take advantage of this.

     My favorite music website, CLASSICALARCHIVES.COM, is a Russian musicians’ website that uses Russian performers who have given permission for their classical music performances to appear on the site. (Because it costs $25 for a year’s membership, I don’t officially list CLASSICALARCHIVES.COM in this “free and legal” section, but it offers more than 40,000 pieces of classical music from all eras. If you love classical music it is a treasure beyond compare.)

http://www.classicalarchives.com/

     For many other ways to share music legally, check out the LIFEHACKER.COM music page I’ve mentioned previously.

http://lifehacker.biz/articles/essential-music-websites/#more-67

     And then there’s the music on YOUTUBE.COM. The deeper I delve into it the more amazed I become. I recently found it has the complete Bach St. Matthew’s Passion. Bach being my favorite composer. Astonishing! Try putting your favorite composers, performers, or songs into the YOUTUBE.COM search box and be pleasantly surprised. The array is astonishing and getting more astonishing each day.

http://youtube.com/

MORE FREE AND LEGAL CLASSICAL MUSIC

     CLASSIC CAT takes us to the websites where musicians have posted their performances of classical works. They are happy to have you download them to demonstrate their abilities. I went to CLASSIC CAT and downloaded Bach’s “English Suites,” which CLASSICAL ARCHIVES did not have. They are lovely.

http://www.classiccat.net/
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