Free Online Music Version 2.0

Stefanie Berliant
Media Coordinator

Since the good ol’days of illegally downloading music from sites like Kazaa and LimeWire, are essentially over, free internet radio stations have become more popular than ever.  Grooveshark, Pandora, Jango, and imeem are just a few examples of free online music sites that have evolved from the crackdown of not just downloading music, but sharing it. While music sharing 1.0 sites like BearShare and Napster have tried to reinvent themselves, they have fallen out of grace due to the negative press of huge legal battles and distribution of malware.  This next generation of free internet music sites is celebrating the ability to customize and share music. 

The best parts about these free streaming music online stations are that they’re FREE (duh) with limited commercial interruptions (even better!), social networking functionalities, and features that suggest other songs/artists you may like based off of the song you are listening to.  Most of these sites have been widgetized and made more accessible with the ability to ‘tune in’ on smartphones, allowing you the pleasure of rocking out to your personalized “Journey Station” in gridlock. Whether or not you are using these sites to promote your band or simply help get you through your daily 9 to 5, one thing among all of these Version 2.0 online music sites remains constant: free music rocks!