There is always a lot of controversy surrounding the downloading of music online. While piracy is an issue that can affect artists, there are plenty of bands that actually want you to download their music for free. Sure, these aren’t generally the ones you find on the radio, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t put out great music. So where do you find all of these tunes? NoiseTrade is a great place to look.
If you head to NoiseTrade, you’ll find thousands of albums from musicians who want to get the word out about their music. You can search by artist, album, city, or just by what’s popular. You can then give a song a listen, and then download it for free. All you need to download is an email address and a zip code. These are both passed onto the artist, who will use the former to keep you in the loop about upcoming concerts and releases. You’re also able to leave a tip for the artist, but it isn’t required. If you do leave a little something for them, they will get 80%, while the site takes 20% for credit card processing and such.