Archive for April, 2008
Addison Road: 2 Free Songs
Free music today from a band called Addison Road. They’ve got two songs on their Purevolume which are up for download for free. Both songs, “I Have Always Loved You” and “All I Need Is You”, are older, songs, one from the Always Loved You EP and the other from Breaking Beautifully.
To P2P Or Not To P2P: Copyright Laws 101 (Part 2 of 2)
Continuing the first-ever TFCMB series, this post will continue what I started in Part 1. We’re going to take a look at what music is legal and what is not, which will hopefully help you decide for yourselves. Before I get started, a disclaimer:
~Warning! The links in this post are to illegal music sites. That means you should not download things from them!
- Don’t download music from sites or blogs like this one*, Download Christian Music. The idea is to make music available in countries where they don’t have Christian music stores. It’s a nice idea, but unfortunately breaks quite a few laws. Don’t frequent sites like this.
- Don’t get music from fan-made profiles on Purevolume or Myspace, or other similar sites. How do you tell if a profile is fan-made? Well, fans usually don’t pay much attention to grammar, spelling, and proper capitalization. They often look like this: example. Notice the absence of any text and that the guy is from Venezuela. Underoath is actually from Florida.
- Don’t get have your friend burn a CD for you. Common myth, but it’s actually not legal to copy any music and redistribute it without the permission of the copyright holder. That goes for email and peer-to-peer file sharing networks too.
- Don’t use music in your random Youtube or Godtube videos unless the artist has specifically said okay, you can’t do that. (Psst! If you go to Incompetech.com, you can get great and legal music for your videos. He’s good. Just mention “Music by Kevin Macleod” in the credits.)
- Oh, and don’t rip music from artists or fan Myspace players, Youtube videos, Purevolume, or any other site that doesn’t specifically say “download this”.
If you think you have music that’s not legal, I recommend ‘Delete’ for audio files, and a blow torch for CDs. And make sure you film the burning and post it to Youtube. Oh, and send me the link. 
One more thing: If you have any questions you can either comment on this post or email me at freechristianmusicblog@gmail.com. Comments are preferable, so everone can see the answer, but email is okay. Also, keep in mind that there’s so much good free and legal music out there that pirating doesn’t really make any sense.
Update: *Original link removed because of several requests. I’m really sorry if it was a stumbling block to anyone. I’ve replaced the link with a screen-shot of the site and a new link I think you’ll like better. Kitten War. : )
To P2P Or Not To P2P: Copyright Laws 101 (Part 1 of 2)
I’ve receive tons of emails since I started TFCMB asking if such and such download was legal. (Yes, I mean you, Brian and Daniel.) To save time, I’m going to try and explain what makes a download legal or not. Since it’s a huge topic, I’m going to take two posts to try and explain the basics. To start with, why you should follow copyright law.
Let’s say you go onto a shady website and download one small Audio Adrenaline song to your computer. No big deal, right? Wrong.
First and most importantly, that’s wrong. It may not seem like much, but you stole music. “Thou shalt not steal” sound familiar?
Second, it hurts Audio Adrenaline, the record company, the music distributors, the fast food joint where the band eats on tour, etc. It’s expensive making good music.
Thirdly, it hurts our witness. Thing about it: Christians stealing Christian music?!? How hypocritical is that? That’s like a vegetarian running a slaughter house. Small things like not buckling your seat belt, or downloading that song, or saying that word that you probably shouldn’t say all weaken our stance. The song may please the ears for 3 minutes, but can have eternal consequences. Trust me.
Now, before I leave you with this, I want to tell you: there is a solution. A three part solution, actually. First, pray and confess you messed up, and ask for help not doing it again. Second, select the song in question. Third, press the ‘Delete’ key.
It’s as easy as that.
Tomorrow, God willing, I’m going to follow this up with how to actually tell if a song is legal or not, and how you can use that song. Till then, goodnight.
Update: Forgot a good fourth reason: you can get all the music you could ever want right here! 
Quick Announcements: Facebook, Poll, Twitter
Several quick announcements today. First and foremost, I finally got around to making a Facebook Group for The Free Christian Music Blog. *Applause* I’ve added two free music links as a bribe to get you to visit it, and hopefully join the group. Joining is a a great, relatively painless way to help spread the music.
One more thing, I do have a Twitter account now. So far you can find two free music links, what I’m doing, other TFCMB updates, and a urgent plea for help. Exciting stuff. You can check it out here:
ITickets Now Giving Away Music
Recently iTickets, the #1 Christian event ticket website, started giving away free music. Every week they are featuring a different free download by various Christian artists. This week, it’s Sanctus Real’s “Whatever You’re Doing (Some Thing Heavenly). You do need to be a iTicket member to get access to the song. It’s not too big a deal, the membership, that is. The song is a big deal. Good stuff.
Free Music from Ever Stays Red
Free music today from Ever Stays Red, yet another excellent lesser-know group. They are a talented, Christ-centered rock band for fans of Fusebox, Tree63, and Delirious?. I had the opportunity to see them live with A Rotterdam November, and it was well worth the trip. If they are ever in your area, go.
They have the song “Glorious” up for download on the group’s Purevolume profile. Musically, it’s a rock song. Lyric-wise, it’s a praise and worship song. Put the two together, and you have great song. That’s free.
The Free Christian Music Blog: Tweet
I’m pleased to announce that I am now on Twitter! *general applause* You can find and follow me at https://twitter.com/matt_from_tfcmb.
In case you aren’t familiar with Twitter, it’s like a mini blog. You post short updates whenever you feel like it, from “New blog post up. Go check it out!” to “I’m eating ravioli. What are you eating?”. I have not idea what I’m going to use it for yet, so it would be wise to pay attention so you don’t miss whatever exciting things I decide to do.
Please, if you could sign up to my Twitter RSS or become my “follower”, or even just leave a comment, I would really appreciate it.
Free Capital Lights Mp3
I found out about Capital Lights (formally AfterEight) about a hour ago when I received a friend request from the band on Myspace. Upon further investigation, I found that they had the song “Can I Get An Amen” up for free download. I also discovered that Capital Lights has been signed to Tooth & Nail Records and has played with the likes of Hawk Nelson, Run Kid Run, and A Rotterdam November.
After giving the song a couple of listens, I’m impressed. It sounds really good. Definitely on the rockier side of punk/rock. I’d highly recommend you give Capital Lights a listen. After all, it’s free.
Hello Kelly!
Free music today from power-pop band Hello Kelly. They have their song “Stalker Song” up for free download on the Hello Kelly Myspace page. It’s a interesting song, as you can probably tell by the title. Basically, it’s a happy pop relationship song, involving some stalking. Not serious, but, umm, yeah.
On the other hand, the song is set to a sweet classic video game theme music. And the band is really pretty cool. I would say Eleventyseven meets Stellar Kart meets Hawk Nelson meets a little Secret and Whisper. I like them.
That said, you can decide for yourself if you want to get the song. I should mention that you have to logged in on Myspace to download the song. If you aren’t, I would recommend you find a friend who is.
Free Music from the Lads
Free music today from Christian band The Lads. I’d never heard of them, but when I stumbled on the band’s website yesterday, I was so impressed that I decided I’d feature them right away.
The Lads website is awesome. Seriously, it’s like funnest band site I’ve ever been on. You can read the band’s lyrics, get wallpapers, coloring pages, watch videos, read hilarious bios of Bjorn, Mark, and Steve, discover how the police, lawnmowers, and blue grass music figure into the band’s history, all from a sweet, colorful flash site.
You can also download five free mp3s from various CD’s and get the karaoke tracks to three of the band’s best songs. Did I mention that the band has been filming a TV show and has a comic strip featuring The Lads? You definitely need to check the band out. Even if you aren’t into the music, the band’s history is pretty cool. And after all, it’s free!
