Welcome to the Free Music Archive

When CHURCH OF WHEN THE SHIT HITS THE FAN were, by some strange twist of fate, selected to play at T In The Park—Scotland's largest outdoor music festival,normally dominated by twee-indie-rock or techno tents—there was an outcry over the name. Not from outraged Christian fundamentalists or anything so exciting like that, but just from your average, 'normal' music fans. Many tweets proclaimed it the worst band name they've ever heard; The Sun newspaper couldn't understand why they we're called something more sensible; people wanted band names to be proper nouns: The Something, The Name, The Bla Bla Blas. People want things to be simple, to be the same as everything else; for things to be boring. Maybe it is a silly name, but so what? In the word's of Heath Ledger's lip-licking Clown Prince of Crime, “why so serious?”

But more importantly, the name fits perfectly

By no means Black Lantern Music's weirdest band, COWTSHTF are certainly the one band that best straddle the weirder, more experimental elements of the label with the hippiest-hoppiest sunshine rap bounce that the label also releases.

With lyrical concerns that touch upon sci-fi, surrealism, tentacles and the all-pervasive imminent threat of total apocalyptic annihilation ('when the shit hits the fan' is used as a byword by preppers for total societal collapse), and classic electro beats that draw upon reggae, boom-bap, funk, and David Lynchian-soundscapes, COWTSHTF are the end of the world as viewed through the lens of 90s-era Saturday morning cartoons. Pow! Zap! Boom! They are their own genre: DOOMCRUNK.

I can think of no other band that will touch upon lounge jazz covers of Slayer and double time rapping in such close proximity. Maybe if Dr Octagon and Mr Bungle had a baby and dropped it on its head....

Formed by two of Black Lantern's founding members—rapper HQ also spits with grotesque glitch death-rap titans Sileni, and Asthmatic Astronaut is the ubiquitous producer with over 80,000 downloads on FMA alone—that together perfectly encapsulated not just what Black Lantern Music, but also a strand of experimental hip-hop that is simultaneously unique and steeped in tradition.

Between 2010 and 2013, they released three EPs and one spectacular music video to much critical acclaim.

Now, all of their songs, both from those EPs and from other collaborations or offcuts, they release REPROGRAMMED, a monstrous remix album that elevates their songs to a new level.

Featuring new interpretations that cross genres and sensibilities—including, but not limited to techno, goth-misery, boom-bap, math rock, and dubstep—REPROGRAMMED is at once a loving tribute to this unique power-duo, but also the perfect place to get acquainted.

Get your voodoo on....

A little while back, we got an email inquiring about using a song from the Free Music Archive for a documentary film. We get requests like this a lot, and sometimes the filmmakers aren't as fluent in CC licenses as we are. Since the song was CC BY-NC-ND, it wasn't licensed for use in film or derivative works. But we put our heads together and tracked down the right people to ask for permission.

Jackie Ruth Murray, the South African filmmaker who contacted us, co-runs a production company called Small Epics Productions in Cape Town. She found out about the FMA via a web search and was looking for music to score her short documentary film, "The Daily Dose," an autobiographical account of taking antiretroviral medication.

CH: How did you search for music, and what did you find?

JRM: I searched for a general genre which i felt was fitting for the narrative of my film. I then narrowed it down to approximately 10 songs which supported the tempo of my film. I found a song titled “Heaven is The Other Way” by Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys. The song is written by the band’s frontman, Robert Williams. The lyrics of the song uncannily match the message of my film.

CH: Do you prefer Creative Commons music to fully copyrighted music?

JRM: I don’t have much experience with fully copyrighted music. However before finding FMA, I did originally attempt to acquire a licence for a song which was fully copyrighted. My search became very laborious as i was directed to a number of different companies. I eventually gave up for lack of clear directive and because of the length of time that it took.

CH: Was the process of contacting the artist/record label intimidating or difficult?

JRM: My experience with FMA was not in the least bit intimidating or difficult.  The director of FMA, Cheyenne Hohman was extremely helpful and timely in her responses to my enquiries. She assisted me in contacting Bill Hunt from Cow Island Music, the band’s record label. Bill put me in touch with Robert Williams from Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys. I sent Robert a link to my film to give him an idea of how i wanted to use his song. Robert was very open and willing for his song to be used and even went so far as contacting the record licence companies, Yep Rock and BMG to give his permission for me to use his song. From there, BMG and Yep Rock speedily organised the licence for me. I then received an email from The David Gresham Music Company here in South Africa, who arranged the music licence for me. They took the fact that i made my documentary on a next-to-nothing budget with no commercial gain purposes into account and gave me a discount which i was very grateful for. To sum up, i was blown away with the support i received from all involved.

CH: Did the FMA help you achieve your goal of using this piece of music?

JRM: Yes, as explained above, absolutely. The FMA also helped me understand the Creative Commons legalities.

CH: How did you ultimately end up using the song?

JRM: I used the song in its entirety and split it into three consecutive parts: for the introduction of the film, as a link between act 1 and three of the film and finally for the end of the film.

CH: Will you use the Free Music Archive for projects in the future?

JRM: I have told my colleagues at Small Epics Productions about the FMA and we will definitely be using the archive for future projects.

You can find out more about the film at https://www.facebook.com/thedailydosedocumentary/

Are you new to the world of Creative Commons licensed stuff, or just need a refresher? Need to get those ducks in a row before you can get your project out into the world? Have a specific question about what you can - or can't - do with a song on our website, based on its license?

We've put together a license guide to help you answer these questions!

To make it extra-easy-to-find, we've added links to every FAQ, or you can look it up right here:

Free Music Archive License Guide!

And then once you know which license is right for your project, you can do a general search, filtered by license, or check out our pre-filtered Music For Video curator page.