Donation based MP3 Music

[Carol Haynes]

Went to see Janis Ian last night in concert. What a brilliant show!

She has always had radical views on music writing and distribution (her article is mentioned in another thread here)

For younger people on this site who have never discovered Janis's music (she has only been recording and playing for around 40 years and still sounds as fresh and radical!) you can download some of her songs in MP3 format from here website and have a listen. Nice idea to some songs freely available - but note the donation box at the bottom, or better still buy a CD from the site if you like her music. All proceeds from merchandising go to the "Pearl Foundation" which provides scholarships and other funding to allow mature students to go to college if they missed out when younger. Enjoy!

One of the nice things about last night was I sent her an email after the show. It was nice when I logged in this afternoon to find a personal reply waiting

[allen]

I love Janis Ian -- hear her occasionally on Sirius radio and listen to her every few weeks via Rhapsody.  You have good taste

[Carol Haynes]

I know  .... but it is nice to have it confirmed 

She's in the UK for a few more weeks - I'm wondering if it is possible/worth a 200 mile round trip to see her again before she returns to the US and unlikely to be over here again for up to 5 years! On balance I think it probably is - just got to see if it is practical to get there at the right time!

[housetier]

At magnatune you can listen to *every* song, even whole albums before you buy it. But you don't have to buy anything at all. They think, if you like the artist's music you will buy the album and, since about 50% of the revenue go directly to the artist, support him/her.

I found some very good tunes there; and a recent checked confirmed that all kinds of genres are served. It's not really DonationMusic.com or DonationArt.com but you get the mp3 for free without any restrictions whatsoever and if you like you can buy stuff. People are even encouraged to spread the mp3s.

Since I am not always sure what genre other people like, I rather spread the URL.

There are more labels like this one. One, specialized in drum'n'bass, is Exegene. I am convinced when you look around you will find a lot of good free music for just about any genre. Like there at least two internet radio stations for every genre you can dream of, even whale songs!