Many people obtain music from illegal sources, which has crippled the recording industry. This has, of course, led to aggressive lawsuits and new laws and procedures concerning how these people and their sources are treated. The entire situation can be avoided, however, if people simply use legal music  sources instead. While the vast majority of music sources are commercial in nature, there is no shortage of websites that allow users to download free music. These websites have proper permission to distribute music files and often collect money from advertisements, although artistes specifically provide some songs to raise awareness of their latest activities or most popular songs. The following are all qualified sources that allow users  to download songs for free:

PureVolume
PureVolume is a social music networking website that has been providing a way for artistes and fans to communicate with each other and share common interests since 2003. PureVolume allows artists to update their fans on new events, recent activities, and new releases via a customized profile. The artiste also has the option of allowing listeners around the world to download each of his/her songs for free. Also, fans can give feedback about their favorite songs, view band updates, and communicate with other PureVolume users.

OurStage
OurStage is another social networking website that offers features similar to the ones that PureVolume offers. OurStage allows both fans and artistes to create a customized profile to share ideas and show appreciation for music. This allows fans to download and listen to free music from emerging musicians and artistes to market themselves. OurStage also has opportunities for new artistes to compete with each other for cash prizes.

Tweet My Song
TweetMySong is a social music networking community that emphasizes music distribution via Twitter. TweetMySong allows artistes to upload their songs and “tweet” about them. The songs can also be downloaded for free. TweetMySong is a relatively new service that has quickly become rather popular and has a separate category for virtually every type of music.

Ilike
Ilike is a social networking website that bundles Facebook and Myspace Music into the same service. This allows listeners to comment on the songs that they listen to, flag favorite songs, and share songs with friends. While not all of Ilike’s music is available for free, it has many free downloads. An orange tag that reads “Free MP3” distinguishes these downloads from others.

MP3.com
While MP3.com is effectively an online retail outlet for music downloads and media players, the website has an entire section exclusively dedicated to free music downloads. Artistes make these downloads available when they are celebrating new album releases or popularity awards. Likewise, emerging musicians use MP3.com to distribute their songs for free. While some of the other music sources only provide free downloads for unpopular music, MP3.com features songs by many famous artists such as Willie Nelson, Weezer, and The Smashing Pumpkins. Users can view these free downloads as well as search for the artistes in the Free MP3 of the Day section.