How to Search for Songs
Searching for music online through search engines like Google can be tricky at times. You often won't know whether you'll be downloading a song or album that is legally available to download. A few things you can do are to refer to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 or visit the website for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) (see Resources). Of course, there are sites and applications like iTunes, where you can easily search and purchase music. As an introduction, we will explore the online blog search engine The Hype Machine and explain how to utilize it to search for music, and we'll visit some other sites as well.
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Instructions
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Go to The Hype Machine website (see Resources). The Hype Machine is a website that follows music bloggers and keeps track of what they write about. A search engine is provided where you type in the name of a musician, band, song or album to find free music that is presented on blogs.
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Click on the "Popular" option to view the songs that are currently posted the most on blogs. Search through these popular songs if you're not sure what music you want. Continue to Step 3 for an example of searching for a song using the search engine.
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Type "The Beatles" in the search bar, for an example. Click on the Search Blogs button, and you will be brought to a new page with a list of music that includes the keyword "The Beatles."
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Go to Google and type in the artist and song you are looking for. It is also a wise idea to include keywords like free or legal download. Another option is to use Google's blog search option. Click on the "more" drop-down menu from the top menu on Google and select the "Blogs" option. Now when you search for music it will be narrowed down to blogs only.
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Visit the Insound website (see Resources). Scroll over the MP3s option on the top of the page and select "Free MP3s." You can search through several free and legal MP3s from new and upcoming artists as well as some older songs from popular musicians.
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Tips & Warnings
Searching for music on popular blogs is typically a safe venture because labels often give them press released MP3s to publish on their blogs to generate hype.
Illegal music can still be found on The Hype Machine, but this is typically a non-issue because The Hype Machine only accepts blogs into the searching scope that are respected and following copyright laws. However, when searching on Google always make sure there is some kind of disclosure provided that the MP3 is free and legal to download. The best way to determine this is if there is a link to the label to download the song from the label or from the band itself.
