250,000+ Concert Recordings Are Free to Download Through Live Music Archive

Live Music Recordings

Photo: duha127/Depositphotos

Whether you're a concert fan or know someone who is, there's an online archive where music lovers can enjoy thousands of performances from different bands. The Live Music Archive is part of the Internet Archive and boasts over 250,000 recordings of live concerts. This incredible collection has been in the works for 20 years and is a collaborative effort between the Internet Archive and countless volunteers.

Within the archive are thousands of bands, ranging from The Grateful Dead to lesser-known bands who are just starting out. “It's a huge victory for the open web,” says Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle. “Fans have helped build it. Bands have supported it. And the Internet Archive has continued to scale it to be able to meet the demand.” Not only has the project helped preserve music files, but they've helped make them accessible to anyone who loves music.

Over 8,000 musicians have given permission to the Live Music Archive to have their recordings added to the collection. This has helped many grow their fanbase and share their music on a larger platform. “Music is universal—it's cross-cultural and across time,” adds Jonathan Aizen, who helped build the Live Music Archive. “To be able to create access, in a world where everything is so commercialized, and just having music be freely accessible, with no ads—that is also something that's really just special.”

Browse all of the recordings via the Live Music Archive's website.

Internet Archive: Website
h/t: [Open Culture]

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Margherita Cole

Margherita Cole is a Contributing Writer at My Modern Met and illustrator based in Southern California. She holds a BA in Art History with a minor in Studio Art from Wofford College, and an MA in Illustration: Authorial Practice from Falmouth University in the UK. She wrote and illustrated an instructional art book about how to draw cartoons titled 'Cartooning Made Easy: Circle, Triangle, Square' that was published by Walter Foster in 2022.
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