FMA Blog

Hello, on oct. 2nd 2006 netwaves did its first broadcast on Belgium's longest existing free independent Radio Scorpio. After ten years we're still skimming the internet for the most enthralling netlabel releases.

This resulted in following list:

• 376 podcasts + compilations
• 29 mixes
• 670.915 downloads
• episode 142: 28.845 downloads
• kopiefeest-album: 17.050 downloads
• The whole list is here

We do celebrate our tenth anniversary with this compilation of oldies from about ten years ago: episode 376 Relisten to our first episode, a special about legendary 8bit netlabel Monotonik: https://archive.org/download/nws001/nws001.mp3

And now, up to the next ten years!

greetings netwaves team: Michel, Jan, Erwin, Jasper, Yannick

THIS IS IT!! Your final chance to show your love & support for FMA during our fundraiser!

Until 11:59 pm TONIGHT (Eastern U.S. Time Zone), you can contribute to our fundraiser! Help us push towards our goal and keep the FMA free and accessible. There's only one website that contains curated, Creative Commons licensed music for free download, streaming, and in some cases, remixing and reuse. If you haven't seized the opportunity to show us some love, there's no time like the present!

Our fundraiser ends tomorrow at 11:59 PM! By supporting FMA, you support things like: FREE APPS! We offer free FMA apps for iOS and Android platforms which allow users to browse and listen to our entire collection of music - which is, at the time of this blog entry, almost 103,000 songs deep!

1. Our iOS App! Get it here, for free!

2. Our Android App! Get it here, for free!

The sands in our hourglass are running thin... time to show your support for FMA!

Here are three things you can get* for supporting us:

1. A kick-ass t-shirt. With a donation of $50 or more, you can get a limited-edition FMA T-shirt! Only available through October 15th, so make sure you get one now if you want it! They will not be available again.

2. A fabulous sticker. With a donation of $20 or more, we'll send you a sticker with a cassette tape designed by our artist-friend Greg Harrison.

3. A one-of-a-kind audio creation: the Inverse Stress Toy. A friend of the FMA created this unique instrument that drones, squeals, and buzzes - and was described as "like playing audio Jenga" by FMA developer Erik Schoster. Here it is in action! There's only one of these, so you have to check the box to enter the drawing. We'll be drawing for it the same day the fundraiser ends - Oct 15th!

*If you donate at the appropriate levels, you are guaranteed the shirt and/or sticker. The Inverse Stress Toy will be awarded to whomever is drawn as the winner on October 15th.

Here are four FMA success stories! Show your support so we can keep doing things like:

1. The Freeharmonic Orchestra. This group of musicians wouldn't exist without the FMA, plain and simple. They came to know about one another through each other's artist profiles on FMA. It's not a coincidence that you don't see this sort of collaboration happening on sites like Soundcloud or Bandcamp. The FMA fosters communities of collaboration, and this is a great example. Oh, also, they're asking for remixes of their album! How many other Supergroups can you name that do THAT?

2. The Daily Dose. A South African filmmaker and a rockabilly band from California found each other through the FMA and ended up collaborating on a film. When someone finds the right song for a film, it's evident to the filmmaker. With some dedication from both parties, and the connectivity provided by modern technology, this little song found its way all the way across the globe!

3. 100,000 songs and counting. On July 19th, 2016 we hit a major milestone! Our collection surpassed the 100,000 song mark. We knew it was coming, and have seen steady growth since (wowzers - ), so maybe 150,000 isn't so far away!

4. Happy Birthday To Everyone. That time we put hundreds of alternative birthday songs into the Public Domain. Some of them have been included in children's magazines, YouTube birthday song repositories, and more. Now that the actual song "Happy Birthday To You" is considered to be in the Public Domain, these songs are ahead of their time!

If you've been waiting to donate to the FMA, the moment has come! We are about $5,000 from our goal - we're trying to raise $20,000 before October 15. Can you help us reach the finish line by Saturday? We want to keep going, and we know you love us, but we need one final push!

Our fundraising goal is just a portion of what we need to operate; the high traffic and streaming/download rates from our site result in sky-high bandwidth costs, and we're asking for you to help offset those costs. If you've given already, ask a friend or two (seriously - direct asks from friends are super effective).

Last year we racked up $80,000 in data transfer costs alone. That doesn't include the costs of... literally everything else that goes into running this website. Until October 15th, you can get a totally killer FMA t-shirt that will NEVER BE AVAILABLE AGAIN! (Don't fret! We'll have a different design next year.) If you can help us, please do it today: www.freemusicarchive.org/donate.

Instead of a traditional stress toy that you squish and squeeze, this audio-producing toy reacts to being held or moving one's hands across its surface. It was made by a friend of the FMA for this giveaway - a very unique final giveaway, handmade for one lucky winner! To enter the drawing, click the "Enter To Win" box when you donate to our cause! Be sure to enter before noon on Oct 15, or you won't qualify for the giveaway. We'll conduct a drawing and announce our winner on Saturday, Oct 15th, the final day of the fundraiser.

Congrats to Boris from New Jersey - the lucky winner of the Pocket Operators Super Set!

Thanks to everyone who entered and who has donated to our fundraiser so far!  Your support means a lot to us! We've got one week to go and that means ONE MORE GIVEAWAY next week!

Thanks to Lee Rosevere for the music used in the video: "Theme from Penguins on Parade" from 'Music for Podcasts 3,' which is CC-BY.

Do we add value to your online music experience? Do you like what you've found here? Perhaps you listen to our podcasts, follow our #songoftheday, cruise our Music For Video collection or jam out to freshly released WFMU Live sets... or you do your own thing, scouring our genres for the perfect addition to your next DJ set, video, or commute playlist.

What would you pay for a service like ours? $5/month? $10? $20? We never charge for our services. But we do incur costs ($80k a year, to be precise). So maybe, if you haven't contributed yet, consider joining the 500+ folks who are willing to keep us going! We're trying to make $20k by the end of next week, with about $5k to go. We can do it, but not without your help.

We accept donations year round, but until October 15th, you can get a shirt or sticker for your support! We work hard to make sure the music on FMA is accessible, free, interesting, findable, and shareable. If you can't help push us toward our goal in terms of monetary support, can you tell friends about the fundraiser before October 15?

We can't do this without you.

***ENTRY PERIOD OVER. THANKS FOR PLAYING!! COME BACK ON MONDAY FOR OUR LAST GIVEAWAY!!!****

Big things can come in small packages, and you can win a 3-pack of Teenage Engineering’s “Pocket Operators” by supporting the FMA this week! With your donation to the Free Music Archive, you can enter to win a 3-pack of the PO 20 series, which includes the “Arcade,” “Office,” and “Robot” models. These three synthesizers come complete with silicone covers, sync cables, and pattern cards. You can learn more about these small but mighty synths, and hear audio samples, here:
https://teenageengineering.com/products/po

We're giving away one recorder to a lucky winner on Friday, October 7th at 6pm Eastern Time. Be sure to enter before noon (Eastern Time) on Friday, 10/7/2016, when we stop accepting entries. Suggested donation to win the 3-pack is $100. One entry per household, please. Only individuals who donate between now and Friday, and who opt to enter the giveaway, are eligible to win.

Wanna know if you can win, or curious about the official rules? Check out our eligibility notice for more details.