A New Free Music Source (New to Me at Least)

I'm always raving about WFMU's Free Music Archive and to a lesser extent, the Live Music Archive. Now here's another one I think I'm going to enjoy.

It's called "Public Domain 4 U" and it's full of free MP3s of the music that made America great during the early years of recording.

Apparently the site, which is the brainchild of Beserkley Records Founder Matthew King Kaufman has been around since 1999, but they haven't gotten much attention. But yesterday, I got a press release plugging the site's new Public Domain Top 10 page.

Of  Public Domain 4 U, the news release said:

Most of the recordings at the site were 78 RPM vinyl records that have been ripped and are available now in the MP3 format. The Songs posted at PublicDomain4U.com are from our past. Thanks to the most modern technologies, you can freely learn about this wonderful music. Posting these music treasures keeps their magic alive. Music individualism and creativity should be recognized and appreciated, not lost to time.

Indeed.

Every song there is posted with what they call a  "Music Flash Card," which gives a little information about the song's history, a music stream of the tune, and a link to the  MP3 if you want to download."

So far I've downloaded Victoria Spivey's "Dope Head Blues" (for some reason the MP3's genre listing is "religious"); an old calypso tune from Lord Executor ("Three Friends' Advice") and Blind Blake's "Diddie Wa Diddie" (Can anyone tell me what that means?)

Public Domain 4U apparently is part of a network of sites with free music, including MP34U.fm and Fun Fun Fun Media. both of which have a wide array of genres represented.

Check 'em out.