Need new music? Wander over to [archive.org][]’s [Live Music Archive][lma]. Tons of bands make recordings of their live shows available for free. Let me rephrase. A lot of bands, most of the “[jambands][]” genre, do not mind if people record their shows and freely exchange bootlegs (aka [trade-friendly][]). Why? Because most of their money is made from the ticket sales from live shows, not from CD sales!

Anyway, who cares about the economics? I suggest the easiest place to start for the live music newbie is Archive.org’s [listing of bands][list_mp3] with MP3/OGG recordings available for download. There are about oh…450 bands by my estimate listed with shows for download. And the cool part about the MP3/OGG subset is that you can stream the tracks off of their server. Sort of a try-before-you-buy without the actual paying of money part.

Once you move beyond the newbie level, you may also want to check out the [even larger list][list_shn] of every artist on archive.org. This list includes shows in formats other than MP3, most of them the [lossless][] formats [SHN][] or [FLAC][].

Some bands you may recognize: [311][], [Angie Aparo][], [Cowboy Junkies][], [Grateful Dead][], [Jack Johnson][], [Rusted Root][], [Toad the Wet Sprocket][].

And I also recommend: [Bela Fleck and the Flecktones][], [Fugazi][] Ooh, I just re-found them, and [Umphrey's McGee][].

And for the curious, I’m now listening to Robert Randolph [and the Family Band]: 2004-06-13. I never heard of him until a couple of days ago. Sounds good to me.

[archive.org]: http://www.archive.org/
[lma]: http://www.archive.org/audio/collection.php?collection=etree
[jambands]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jam_band
[list_mp3]: http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php?mode=mp3
[list_shn]: http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php
[lossless]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_compression#Lossless_compression
[SHN]: http://www.archive.org/about/faqs.php#64
[FLAC]: http://www.archive.org/about/faqs.php#96
[trade-friendly]: http://wiki.etree.org/index.php?page=TradeFriendly

[311]: http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php?collection=etree&cat=311
[Angie Aparo]: http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php?collection=etree&cat=Angie%20Aparo
[Cowboy Junkies]: http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php?collection=etree&cat=Cowboy%20Junkies
[Grateful Dead]: http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php?collection=etree&cat=Grateful%20Dead
[Jack Johnson]: http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php?collection=etree&cat=Jack%20Johnson
[Rusted Root]: http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php?collection=etree&cat=Rusted%20Root
[Toad the Wet Sprocket]: http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php?collection=etree&cat=Toad%20The%20Wet%20Sprocket
[Bela Fleck and the Flecktones]: http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php?collection=etree&cat=Bela%20Fleck%20and%20the%20Flecktones
[Fugazi]: http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php?collection=etree&cat=Fugazi
[Umphrey's McGee]: http://www.archive.org/audio/etreelisting-browse.php?collection=etree&cat=Umphrey%27s%20McGee