Help
Ok, here we go:
Use Gracenote for accurate information
Before you start your search for music, it might be a good idea to plug the song, artist, or album into Gracenote to make sure you get the right information you are looking for. Gracenote's technology is used by ITunes and other large platforms for accuracy.
But if you aren't sure what you are looking for, you might want to plug in some info and search in one of the following websites:
Discogs - a community built data base
Amazon Music, Wikipedia, AllMusic or one of the search engines (Google, Ask, Dogpile, etc) to narrow your search.
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Lifehacker does a nice, brief overview in their article "Download & Listen To Free Music On The Web". It's a good place to start before reviewing the tools below.
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Basic Google search tools
• ExploSeek
• MP3 Search
• Video Tutorial On How To Find Music on Google
• Musgle
• Google Hacks
• G2P.org
• JimmyR's Audio and Video Tools
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MP3 Search Engines (recommended by a Beatking member)
• AirMP3
• AudioGalaxy
• MP3Board
• MP3Miracle
• PeopleSound
• b3ta.cr3ation.co.uk (in cooperation with dogpile, seeqpod, mp3realm)
Other Search Engines
• Dogpile
• Mp3Realm.org
• France Radio.Net - A worldwide music search engine that combines the capabilities of Google, Yahoo! Live and Altavista.
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Advanced Search Engines
• Wuzam
eSnips - It's a community website, but a user at Lifehacker suggests he has found every he was searching for here.
• Bamboo - A new mp3 and video search engine from Viet Nam - and one of the fastest growing sites in the world.
• Project Find Music
• If you are a member of an IRC Group, then IRC Ripper is the serach tool for you
• IckStuff searches for music on the web and much more (videos, images, usenet)
Vye Music - Vye Music gathers search results from other music sites and blogs, including Skreemr, MP3Codes, and 4Shared Music and artist's websites. You can build playlists, stream songs and download them.
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Discover Music While You Search
The Good Musician takes a look at 19 websites that help you discover new music.
• Jogli (Beta) - Jogli scans other websites such as YouTube for any free existing music and music video clips, and then indexes the music in order to enable an easy and efficient search. They claim to have "access to the largest free inventory of music on the Web, consisting of approximately 12 million albums and half a billion songs."
• Soundflavor - Soundflavor provides users with song information, videos, and recommendations. Users can browse and filter their searches by genre, decade or subject. Mashups include artist bios from Wikipedia, news headlines, flickr photos and store links. A "One-Click Playlist" that generates a list of 25 songs and a "Any Requests?" button - you can generate your own playlist while you're browsing.
• GrooveShark Lite - Grooveshark is an online music community that rewards you for sharing, reviewing, and discovering new music. They claim to offer millions of songs to stream.
• Tagoo (Beta) - New Russian MP3 search engine. In addition to being able to search by artist, song title, album, or filename, you can also specify a bitrate range (e.g., "No less than 192kbps range") and duration. MP3s can be previewed via a small embedded Flash player, along with links to the original page where it was found, and a clipboard to share or catalog. The search engine also suggests other artists you may like, and provides a "download playlist" option at the bottom of every search results. Tagoo encourages users to mark search results with a "mood," which powers colored areas like "Fun" and "Romantic." What's not to like
• SkreemR - Provides links to the music you are searching for in Digg fashion; also rates the music quality
• BeeMP3 - The site lists the top 10 search requests in the US, Europe and the world, while you search for a specific request.
• Dilandau - Search engine for music that allows you play, imbed or download songs on the fly.
• Songza is a search engine for music that streams songs as soon as you click on the fly. It also allows you to create and organize playlists.
• Blubster.com is a popular online p2p filesharing web community.
• SeeqPod shows what others are searching for on the fly while you search and requires Flash to work. Seeqpod has a sister website,
Streamzy, a "media search utility (powered by Seeqpod) that allows users to search for media, stream it, and create and save playlists.
• Deezer is a community driven search tool that pulls up multiple versions of a song if they are available. It also allows you to upload songs and imbed them in other websites.
• Just Hear It - Type it a song or artist and JustHeartit does the rest. License fees are paid by the website, so it's legal. I did a test - it's amazingly fast, and it brought up a ton of stuff.
• TheSixtyOne is a search tool like Deezer that allows you to search for mp3s across the web, but is similar to digg in its setup, in that users can rate the music. Some songs are available for download, others are available for purchase via Amazon. You can also embed songs at your favorite websites.
• Songerize - Type in the artist or song and play.
• MusicMesh.net - Type in your favorite artist's name and MusicMesh pulls up related albums, complete with track listings and YouTube videos, which you can play, user reviews, Wikipedia entries and other recommendations.
MusicIP and LivePlasma are similar to MusicMesh, in that they will pull up related music albums based upon your search.
• SonicX is an MP3 search engine. The site also posts the 100 most popular music artists which are searched in the last 24 hours, complete with links to their songs, as well as the sound quality of the tunes.
• Sideload.com is a website that aggregates popular free music tracks on the web that have been sideloaded into Oboe, the online music locker from MP3tunes. You can search for your favorites or use the alphabetical bar.
• ITunes 'Just For You' and Amazon make recommendations based upon what you buy.
• TinySong - Type in a song's name and the site furnishes you with a link to an MP3 that you can send to a friend.
The Big Guns
Although I cover the following more extensively in our Comprehensive List Of Free Music Websites thread, I often cut to the chase and go directly to the following websites to search for specific new tracks or bands:
El.bows, The Hype Machine, Totally Fuzzy- music search engines that index audio files on blogs across the internet, with an emphasis on indie music. Pop Librarian is the latest blog aggregators.
The Social Communities
IMeem (absorbed by Myspace), Last.FM
MySpace
Mog
Stereogum and the rest of the blogs...
Happy searching and listening!
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