Creative Commons (creativecommons.org) is a license you can apply to stuff you create that basically says “anyone can redistribute this as much as they want, they just have to give me credit”. I figured that would enable people to conveniently and legally share huge zip-files of their favorite Creative Commons music, but that hasn’t been the case so far. So, here’s my attempt to fix that:
Just download and unzip; it’s already sorted into folders for you. Drop the whole shebang on top of iTunes to import the tracks. Share with whoever you like; it’s totally legal to do so.
I discovered a couple clever tricks with Linux utilities that will let me easily update this file as I discover new CC music, so feel free to bookmark this URL. And don’t worry, I’m being selective; I know there’s a lot of crap out there. These are real gems, though. If you agree, most of the artists have other music for sale; visit the URLs in each MP3’s comment field to find it.