September 2026
Plugging into the Web
The internet has opened the world of music to millions of people. With the click of a button, anyone, anywhere, can find their favorite type of music. These websites take a peek at the best ways to keep up with the latest music online.
A Friendly Place
Live Music Archive
http://www.archive.org/details/etree
Live Music Archive is a live music forum dedicated to preserving and providing free access to thousands of concerts by a range of artists. The online community is run by etree.org and provides free downloads of trade-friendly music, meaning the music is non-commercial and the artists have agreed to the taping of the concerts. Simply choose an artist by name, concert, or genre, and the site will categorize the results by location and date for easy browsing. The website also contains a most “downloaded” feature on the homepage, allowing viewers to see what other browsers are listening to. This site is the perfect way to keep up with your favorite artists even if you can’t make it to every concert.
Exploring Music
Soul-Sides
http://www.soul-sides.com/
Searching for a classic soul song? Don’t know anything about soul music? Either way, www.soul-sides.com has easy access to great soul music. Viewers can search for songs or browse the main page that contains several albums and sample songs to enjoy. The site was originally created by journalist Oliver Wang for album reviews, but Wang changed the site to a blog format in 2003. Fans email Wang suggestions and he finds files for the site. The site recently celebrated its fifth anniversary, and in celebration is revisiting its top twenty songs. The songs only remain on the site for about ten days before new songs are uploaded, so don’t wait to visit this soulful site.
More Music
LastFM
http://www.last.fm/
A rival to Pandora, LastFM is an online music community and radio station that lets surfers search for their favorite artists and listen to free music. LastFM focuses more on songs from the artist of your choosing rather than integrating songs from similar artists. A list of similar artists is available on the same page and viewers can also check out a variety of information about the artist they are listening to. An easy sidebar allows viewers to see videos, albums, biographies, charts, and upcoming events for that artist. The site also shows surfers who else on LastFM is listening to your favorite artists and what they rank as their favorite music. Members create profiles and can add friends, send messages to other users, and compare their music compatibility.
A Forum for Users
Metacritic
http://www.metacritic.com/
Metacritic is a unique site that gathers hundreds of reviews by diverse publications and categorizes them into music, books, film, and television for easy access. Metacritic also gives each band or album a metascore, accumulated by averaging the scores from each critic. These scores are highlighted in different colors so viewers can see what was ranked a favorable or an unfavorable review at a glance. Surfers can also see the best scored albums from the past year or past several years and check out the reviews that earned the album its score. A live forum allows users to discuss their favorite albums and critics with other users.
by Kayla Heinen
A Friendly Place
Live Music Archive
http://www.archive.org/details/etree
Live Music Archive is a live music forum dedicated to preserving and providing free access to thousands of concerts by a range of artists. The online community is run by etree.org and provides free downloads of trade-friendly music, meaning the music is non-commercial and the artists have agreed to the taping of the concerts. Simply choose an artist by name, concert, or genre, and the site will categorize the results by location and date for easy browsing. The website also contains a most “downloaded” feature on the homepage, allowing viewers to see what other browsers are listening to. This site is the perfect way to keep up with your favorite artists even if you can’t make it to every concert.
Exploring Music
Soul-Sides
http://www.soul-sides.com/
Searching for a classic soul song? Don’t know anything about soul music? Either way, www.soul-sides.com has easy access to great soul music. Viewers can search for songs or browse the main page that contains several albums and sample songs to enjoy. The site was originally created by journalist Oliver Wang for album reviews, but Wang changed the site to a blog format in 2003. Fans email Wang suggestions and he finds files for the site. The site recently celebrated its fifth anniversary, and in celebration is revisiting its top twenty songs. The songs only remain on the site for about ten days before new songs are uploaded, so don’t wait to visit this soulful site.
More Music
LastFM
http://www.last.fm/
A rival to Pandora, LastFM is an online music community and radio station that lets surfers search for their favorite artists and listen to free music. LastFM focuses more on songs from the artist of your choosing rather than integrating songs from similar artists. A list of similar artists is available on the same page and viewers can also check out a variety of information about the artist they are listening to. An easy sidebar allows viewers to see videos, albums, biographies, charts, and upcoming events for that artist. The site also shows surfers who else on LastFM is listening to your favorite artists and what they rank as their favorite music. Members create profiles and can add friends, send messages to other users, and compare their music compatibility.
A Forum for Users
Metacritic
http://www.metacritic.com/
Metacritic is a unique site that gathers hundreds of reviews by diverse publications and categorizes them into music, books, film, and television for easy access. Metacritic also gives each band or album a metascore, accumulated by averaging the scores from each critic. These scores are highlighted in different colors so viewers can see what was ranked a favorable or an unfavorable review at a glance. Surfers can also see the best scored albums from the past year or past several years and check out the reviews that earned the album its score. A live forum allows users to discuss their favorite albums and critics with other users.
by Kayla Heinen
