awesome tip, wil! www.archive.org has a lot of free music/books/movies/etc under the creative commons license as well--if you don't already know.

Wil, there's apparently a broken link or something in the RSS for this particular entry. Others appear fine. See http://www.livejournal.com/users/wilwheaton/158652.html for what it's saying (looks like the permalink anchor tag is using single quotes instead of double quotes).

I'm glad you found out about Comfort Stand Wil. They really are great and their releases have been featured many times on my netaudio only radio show Squares Cubed. SC features only artists that are legally and freely available on the 'internets' so the show itself is also freely downloadable. Check it out at Squares Cubed. I'm sure you'll find lots of great stuff to listen to and download.

I am about to give it a try, and am optimistic. I just downloaded the 'I like Cheese' demo from the site, and, well, it was a song by a kid about his farts. You just never know what you are going to find...

I listened to the songs Wil mentioned and they're good.
The beginning of Messer Chups sounds like The Meteors
which I'm sure Wil would like

i'm loving the "fortyone - music that's better than it sounds" stuff. it's cracking me up!!!

Another artist with free music that I really dig is Brad Sucks.
http://www.bradsucks.net/

His stuff is totally free to download and really, REALLY good.

Talk about timing...

I read this entry and then went to the grocery store. On my way home I flipped the radio station and they announced and played a "Math and Physics Club" song. Apparently they're local (Seattle) and just got a record deal - so the DJ was highlighting them.

Hey Wil,
Whats with all the damn banners on the site?

I was going to point out what Peter said but I guess since you have the link you don't need my screenshot.
(If you want it I'll send it your way. I was going to do that but checked the comments first.)

Thanks for mentioning Comfort Stand. I've been involved right from the beginning and it's a wonderful experience to work together with people from all over the world (especially label owner Otis of course).

Oh, and of course I should mention I have my own little netlabel too now: www.wmrecordings.com

Thanks for the link! I'm dling three of the albums right now, including the porn-song one. The best part is that I noticed that Suzanne Baumann, a good friend and fellow reader of Sequential Tart, did the cover art for three of the CS albums! I knew she was into fun and strange music, but I didn't know about this project!

(Remind me to tell you about the weird pro-life song sometime.)

There's some greatgreatgreat music, all licensed under CC, at www.magnatune.com. I can't stop playing "A few things to hear before we all blow up" by Williamson.

Wil,

Great tip and great songs, even better they released it under Creative Commons license.

As you may notice by the TLD on my email address, I live in Brazil and down there we have project Re:Combo (http://www.recombo.art.br/) that works in the same spirit, being the first musical project to release audio tracks under CC license.

Thanks again for the tip and for your blog. I feel myself very happy to see you in great shape. You deserve it.

Oh my, you're all going to kill me, I am rolling in pleasure and bliss, this is incredible, I am not only a lover of the cc, but also I swear I never knew any of these sites until they where brought up here.

There are two things that are murdering me, for one, I love cult or minority things so, stuff like the 365 days make me swell in cult pleasure, I enjoy them inmensely, I see them as true expression of oneself and being, as unimitating self discovery and sharing with others of your most intimate soul.

Also, magnatune, left me stunned. Have you see that if you like an artist you can not only buy and download the cd even in lossless format (they should try flac too btw.) but you set the price!! (among rational limits) and I do not say this in the "great Ill pay almost nothing for my music" sense but I mean it in the "great, if I really like the stuff, I can engourage it by givving more" and also being this the system I am sure SURE (thou I have to read it) that a bigger percentage of the sell goes to the musician.

My bf is a musician, and beleive me, you can't live off the sales of CDs by the big record houses alone.

You know (and sorry to comment twice in one night) I think the world is changing as we see it, really changing, what in other times where purely theorical sociological ideas are being given birth, by the simple fact that today we're not convinced anymore that things should always remain the same, and we keep exploring, socially, scientifically, theologically. In all senses, progress and changes have not halted but keep on.

Kudos to the future of humanity and the planet as a whole, with every living being inhabiting it.

Here's another vote for Magnatune (http://magnatune.com), who's moto is "We are not evil." Can't beat that with a stick.

So far, Magnatune's done everything right. Not only do you pick the price you pay for an album, but half of that goes to the artist, right off the top! Lossless formats (WAV and flac), and now CDs for an additional $5 (includes postage)... and you still get to download the music right away. They are so completely open and transparent, it's astounding: download a high-res version of their logo for promotion, view complete stats on their sales (!), keep up on their progress in the industry and new additions to the music collection through their RSS-enabled blogs... the list goes on. They "get it," and it's so refreshing.

Jason: Williamson was one of the first Magnatune albums I purchased - excellent stuff! I also recommend Jade Leary, and the rest of their lineup.

Hey Wil,
Glad to hear you posting about CC! My husband just recently started doing podcasts of only CC-licensed music, figuring he'd try to give more publicity to folks who are just out to make an honest buck and wanting their stuff heard. He's found some great stuff on the net, and if you're interested in hearing it you can drop me a message on email, as I don't want to be advertising on your blog. I hope CC catches on in a way that causes our current system of bigwig company economy to have to rethink the way it does business because the little guy always gets screwed in the industry currently.
Once again, thanks for bringing this issue up and maybe letting some people know about it who hadn't heard of it before!

Hey Wil,

If you like open source music and Creative Commons licenses, check out our new site MyVirtualBand.com! Songs are created entirely through online collaboration and the "source" of the music is available for anyone to copy, distribute, perform, or modify. Check it out and keep up the good work!