coming soon: an online digital library of music that will allow music fans, webcasters and podcasters to listen, download, and stream for free, with no restrictions, registration or fees. And it will all be legal.

The Free Music Archive is being directed by WFMU, the most renowned freeform radio station in America, and is funded by a grant from the New York State Music Fund.

We take inspiration for the Free Music Archive from Creative Commons and the open source software movement. Both are based on the idea that there is merit in waiving certain rights to intellectual property. Radio has always offered the public free access to new music. The Free Music Archive is a continuation of that purpose, designed for the age of the internet.

The Free Music Archive will also be a platform for collaboration between established curators of music, including other non-commercial radio stations and music venues. Partners will participate in collective licensing for the archive, and will be given control of web portals that will help them build communities around the music they choose to share. The site will combine the curatorial approach that stations like WFMU have played for the last few decades, and the community generated approach of many current online music sites.

If you would like to participate in this licensing collective and curatorial community, please drop us a note.

We’ll be launching the archive later this year, so stay tuned.

Regards,
WFMU

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