The use of digital media is becoming more regulated as copyright laws are increasingly being enforced. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a United States law that criminalizes the act of getting around copyright laws that prevent easy access to copyrighted material. That means that if an Internet application were created to help users copy and share copyrighted music, the owners of that application could be sued. In 2003, Napster was shut down due to copyright infringement, and as of October, 2010, Limewire has been under court order to stop distributing copies or allowing users to download its software. There are, however, open source applications available as well as other, legal options for listening to digital music online.
Websites like jamendo.com, soundclick.com and purevolume.com offer free and legal music downloads that are available under the Creative Commons license. They are social networking sites where up and coming bands can post profiles, promote their music and interact with fans. Users can stream or download free music in a variety of genres and interact with others with similar tastes. Other users can find music for commercial purposes, such as production or background music for videos or websites.
Streaming digital radio stations on the Internet is becoming more and more common. Pandora.com, one of the best known sites, allows users to choose a genre and then randomizes songs based on personal preferences. It's a success because users are exposed to old favorites as well as new songs and artists. Pandora is available as a mobile phone application, but due to recent crackdowns on digital music file sharing and licensing agreements, it is no longer available to users outside the United States.
YouTube is a good place to find music videos of favorite bands. Even though the legality of posting copyrighted materials on YouTube is questionable, it's difficult to prosecute the individual users since they are often anonymous and aren't duplicating and sharing the music so much as promoting it from a central (and popular) location. Napster.com is alive and well again, but its business model has changed. Now it is a membership-based website, similar to Netflix, which allows users to stream licensed music to their TVs, blu-ray players and stereos.