# Free iTunes songs



## Marvin (Jan 27, 2005)

Has anyone noticed that the US store has free songs and albums now and then?
Do we get free stuff up here? Tried to download song but said not available on Canadian store.


----------



## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

There's a free single-of-the-week in the U.S., the U.K., France and probably other stores and also the Catch of the Day free download in the U.S., but none of these things were available right away in their respective countries. iTunes Canada is just shy of three months old now, so it's not too surprising that the selection is relatively week and there's no free single yet. The one obvious plus is lower prices. 

Patience, patience...


----------



## SpliceDWDM (Jan 12, 2005)

<sigh>...I'm hoping they do it soon...the strong Canadian dollar should allow them to offer a free 'single' now-and-then.


----------



## retrocactus (Jun 17, 2003)

I just picked up a new 6gb iPod mini and as part of the registration process, it took me to the ITMS with a free offer for a sample album download....of course it didn't work since my account is setup for Canada.

Found it odd that we wouldn't have something similar for new Canadian iPod buyers...to get them started.

Not too worried about not getting the sampler though...no songs/artists I'm interested in anyways....but still, it was free.


----------



## rogueToe (Dec 13, 2002)

Lots of free songs at playlistmag.com ...


----------



## macsackbut (Dec 15, 2004)

Cool! thanks for the link, rogueToe

MacS


----------



## gordguide (Jan 13, 2001)

" ... ..I'm hoping they do it soon...the strong Canadian dollar should allow them to offer a free 'single' now-and-then. ..."

Nothing to do with the dollar. The RIAA (for example) does not own the rights to any music sold in Canada. iTMS Canada pays the owner of the Canadian rights with Canadian dollars for any music it sells you, and that won't change (nor will the 99c price per track) no matter what the $C is worth compared to other currencies. It could be worth $10 US and the price will still be 99c until the contract between Apple and the CIRA is re-negotiated.

Technically if you buy and download music from a US site, that site is breaking the law and could be sued by the Canadian rights holders for royalties (the site is paying the RIAA which cannot legally sell music in Canada).

It's those Canadian rights holders who must authorize the iTMS-C to waive the royalties on any "free" downloads. If they don't waive the royalty, then Apple must pay them each time a "free" song is downloaded.

For whatever reason, the record companies in the US and UK are waiving the royalties, but it's up to the Canadian record companies to offer free downloads, which they're not doing yet. My guess is they aren't because the Canadian record companies own their own download service that competes with the iTMS (PureTracks), a situation that doesn't exist in the US or UK.


----------



## rogueToe (Dec 13, 2002)

Here's a couple more links to lots of free music:

http://music.download.com/

and

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/468646//102-0756285-6335358


----------



## macsackbut (Dec 15, 2004)

Great. Now, can someone tell me how these sites can operate? I assume they do so legally. What's the deal?


----------



## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

Macsackbut, there can be different answers depending on the site and the music.

If the artist/label/rightsholder falls under the aegis of the RIAA or similar national body outside the U.S., then see gordguide's post above. If not, then the site may be simply linking to artists' sites (playlistmag.com), or may be providing free access to music licensed under terms different than those demanded by the industry associations/major labels.

For example: the Internet Archive's live music archive: http://www.archive.org/audio/

And www.legaltorrents.com is all "legally downloadable, freely distributable creator-approved files, from electronic/indie music to movies and books..."

www.magnatune.com is a record label (motto: "we're not evil") that offers its artists' material as "shareware" downloads.

A while ago someone posted a link to the Brian Jonestown Massacre's site, where they were/are offering the band's entire catalogue in the form of 128 kbps MP3 files (but you have to download them one at a time).

Finally, a quick search yields this site, which seems to be a goldmine of links to non-RIAA material:

http://www.goingware.com/tips/legal-downloads.html


----------



## macsackbut (Dec 15, 2004)

Thanks iMatt. Much of this didn't much interest me before, but now I have an iPod ;-)

MacS


----------



## gordguide (Jan 13, 2001)

" ... I assume they do so legally. What's the deal? ..."

You shouldn't assume they do so legally. They may, or may not be legal as far as selling or offering downloads outside the US goes. They probably do have an agreement with the RIAA for selling within the US.

However, you cannot be held liable for their compliance or agreements, or lack of them. Assuming you're in Canada, you can't be held liable for downloading music in any way whatsoever, legally licensed or otherwise.

To put it another way, it's not your problem and can't become your problem.

It's up to the rights holders to enforce their rights, and it's civil law, not criminal law. CIRA has to sue someone for copyright infringement. And historically, they rarely have sued anyone, even though they are obligated to do so under the agreement they have with their members.

If Amazon is selling downloads to Canadians (just a hypothetical example) without securing those rights first, then it's CIRA or SOCAN (or whomever's) problem, not yours.


----------



## SpanishJoe (Jul 9, 2001)

*Hat in the ring - Free Music -*

Right now, I'm madly in love with betterPropaganda.com. They've got a great selection of indie and unsigned new music which you can download. They also have an internet radio playing so you can preview stuff before you grab it.

They mostly concentrate on hiphop, electronica and dub stuff. Then again, that's right up my alley.

-SJ.


----------



## macsackbut (Dec 15, 2004)

gordguide said:


> However, you cannot be held liable for their compliance or agreements, or lack of them. Assuming you're in Canada, you can't be held liable for downloading music in any way whatsoever, legally licensed or otherwise.


Thanks for the info, gordguide. I would think that major sites such as playlist.com would get shut down pretty quick if they were offering illegal downloads though, n'est-ce pas?

Personally, as a broad, general rule, I don't believe in downloading or otherwise copying licenced music for free, though I won't lie to you and say I don't have ANY unlicenced tunes on my iPod. (It's amazing what rationalizations we can come up with to justify it... "But officer, I don't understand why you object to my driving 160... there wasn't anyone else on the road..." ;-)

However, I think it's a good idea for artists to give away some of their material to entice people to buy more. Just today, I discovered a group I'd never heard of though one of these free sites, and believe me, I'm going to be looking for a CD of theirs next time I'm in the music store.

MacS


----------



## gordguide (Jan 13, 2001)

" ... Thanks for the info, gordguide. I would think that major sites such as playlist.com would get shut down pretty quick if they were offering illegal downloads though, n'est-ce pas? ..."

If they're legal with the RIAA in the US, the RIAA won't do it. And the Canadian rights organizations have never tried to enforce their rights by looking at sites that sell legally to US residents but illegally to anyone outside the US.

Shut down by whom, exactly, then? And for what? The very worst likely scenario would be these sites begin looking at your IP address to see if you're not from the US, and then locking you out. If you can get there, that isn't happening.

The simple truth is that SOCAN, etc don't have the resources or perhaps even any interest in contacting them and if necessary suing the sites (in a US courtroom) to stop it. They simply ignore anything that doesn't happen within Canada, and even then rarely do anything.

They're still reeling from the last two court decisions in Canada, which they lost and which they blew their legal wad on. If they have any money left, they're going to spend it appealing the last decision here in Canada, not chasing down sites in other countries.

Basically, just because you can download, even from a seemingly legitimate site, doesn't mean it's authorized to sell to you in Canada (I hesitate to use the word "legal", since Canadians can download from anywhere and do so legally).

Apple is a big target and they wanted to set up download services in many countries, so they set out from the start to do it properly. There's no incentive for smaller sites to do so; in fact they would forego some revenue. So why bother? SOCAN won't do anything about it.

To see an example of a site that does obey the law, enter Napster.com in your browser. You are immediately re-directed to Napster.ca. where any royalty from your music purchases go to the Canadian rights holder. If that doesn't happen with a site you visit, it's a dead giveaway they're not legal in Canada; the only possible exception would be indy sites where the artist retains worldwide rights (such as Janis Ian's site).


----------



## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

Have another look at the Playlist site. The URLs are all links to sampler downloads on sites <b>owned by artists and/or labels, many of them independents with nothing to do with the RIAA</b>. Even if some are member labels, if they couldn't give away a freebie 128 k MP3 or WMA without the RIAA sticking its nose in, then I'd bet that's one industry association that would soon have disgruntled members galore.

<i>Man, that's some gnarly alphabet soup...</i>


----------



## gordguide (Jan 13, 2001)

" ... if they couldn't give away a freebie 128 k MP3 or WMA without the RIAA sticking its nose in, then I'd bet that's one industry association that would soon have disgruntled members galore. ..."

The RIAA's "members" are the record companies, not the artists. If a band gives away their own music online and don't get permission from the record company (who owns the rights; they bought them from the band; if you don't do that they won't sign you) then the label _will sue the band, and they will win._ Artists get sued by their own record companies all the time; it's practically a daily event.

Only indy artists can control their music rights as long as they haven't assigned them to anyone else. If you sign to a label, you give those rights away, in return for a small per-song payment.

And the RIAA is a label-owned organisation. They have nothing to do with bands, artists or songwriters, and don't normally represent them (you could be an indy and become a member of the RIAA, but it's too expensive for most artists to pay the annual membership fee. Very few are RIAA members).

Chances are the label has authorized the download at freeplay (A standard contract with an artist deducts 10% of any agreed royalties for "promotion", whether they promote you or not).

However, it's rare for the same company to own the rights in the US and Canada; the US label can't give any right away it doesn't own.


----------



## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

Yes, and I said "Even if some are member labels", not "member artists." I haven't looked extensively at Playlist, but I'd bet any major-label artists listed there (it is just a list of links, after all) are having their freebie given away by their label, not doing it themselves, for just the reason you state.


----------



## iMatt (Dec 3, 2004)

Another pair of links for those looking for free, legal downloads:

http://www.archive.org/audio/netlabels.php



> Welcome to the Netlabels collection at the Internet Archive. This collection hosts complete, freely downloadable/streamable, often Creative Commons-licensed catalogs of 'virtual record labels'.
> 
> These 'netlabels' are non-profit, community-built entities dedicated to providing high quality, non-commercial, freely distributable MP3/OGG-format music for online download in a multitude of genres.


Then there's http://www.purevolume.com which seems to be similar to the old mp3.com. The site hosts both signed and unsigned acts. (The signed all being on indie labels listed as "sponsoring labels.")


----------

