Download Music Online
>> Thursday, July 29, 2010
Filling your MP3 player with music by downloading it off the Internet is not the wave of the future... it's here right now! However, back when you were buying CDs, at least you knew your music was legal and you weren't violating any laws.
Nowadays, you need to be careful and well-informed about music copyright regulations. Otherwise, you could very well be the next target of a very expensive recording industry lawsuit. A good place to start is to completely eliminate any site that offers you unlimited music at no charge. Yes, every now and then an up-and-coming artist will offer his own music free on his website. However, if you're using a website or download network that allows you completely free access to tracks by well-known bands, you should run the other way... fast! So, does that mean you're stuck with sites that charge expensive download fees for each song you choose? Absolutely not!
The plans offered by legal music download sites offer a variety of membership and purchase options, and you are sure to find one that will work for you. I'll outline a few of the pricing plans here, and with a bit of research you will be able to easily uncover others. First, there are the music sites that have a standard per-download charge. These do not require any type of membership fee, and you usually can only preview short clips of songs before you purchase them. The price per track at these sites usually starts around $0.99, and I've seen it go as high as $1.29. Another popular way to sell music online is to offer a paid membership, with per-track download charges.
These web sites often allow their members to stream unlimited music, and charge a reduced per-track fee (generally about $0.67) if the member would like to download a song to burn to a CD or load on their MP3 player. Finally, one of my favorite pricing models is a monthly subscription that will allow a pre-determined number of downloads each month. These sites usually offer a free trial period so that you can become familiar with the types of music they have available, and will even allow you to download a limited number of songs free during this time. (I've seen this deal offered for anywhere from 10 to 25 free tracks.) If you then decide not to continue your membership past the trial period, the songs you've already downloaded are legally yours to keep.
Nowadays, you need to be careful and well-informed about music copyright regulations. Otherwise, you could very well be the next target of a very expensive recording industry lawsuit. A good place to start is to completely eliminate any site that offers you unlimited music at no charge. Yes, every now and then an up-and-coming artist will offer his own music free on his website. However, if you're using a website or download network that allows you completely free access to tracks by well-known bands, you should run the other way... fast! So, does that mean you're stuck with sites that charge expensive download fees for each song you choose? Absolutely not!
The plans offered by legal music download sites offer a variety of membership and purchase options, and you are sure to find one that will work for you. I'll outline a few of the pricing plans here, and with a bit of research you will be able to easily uncover others. First, there are the music sites that have a standard per-download charge. These do not require any type of membership fee, and you usually can only preview short clips of songs before you purchase them. The price per track at these sites usually starts around $0.99, and I've seen it go as high as $1.29. Another popular way to sell music online is to offer a paid membership, with per-track download charges.
These web sites often allow their members to stream unlimited music, and charge a reduced per-track fee (generally about $0.67) if the member would like to download a song to burn to a CD or load on their MP3 player. Finally, one of my favorite pricing models is a monthly subscription that will allow a pre-determined number of downloads each month. These sites usually offer a free trial period so that you can become familiar with the types of music they have available, and will even allow you to download a limited number of songs free during this time. (I've seen this deal offered for anywhere from 10 to 25 free tracks.) If you then decide not to continue your membership past the trial period, the songs you've already downloaded are legally yours to keep.
