Song Hosting That Doesn't Suck

[BYTE-Smasher]

I’d like to suggest a couple of options for people want to to host songs, but feel the urge to turn to horrible sites like rapidshare or megahost… the kind of sites that make potential listeners want to shoot you.

I will make this an ever-growing list of decent, free places to host your tracks. Feel free to post high bandwidth, ad-free, wait-free sites with decent free hosting. (Man that’s alot of "free"s) … and note, when I say ad-free, I mean “doesn’t have annoying popovers or confusing ad placement that makes you click the ad instead of the file you want to download” … obviously most sites have at least a few google ads these days.

Bandcamp
Pros
Allows you to post individual tracks or entire albums for streaming, download, or sale ($$ collected via paypal) … allows download in whichever format the end user prefers. Autotags songs for you. In short: Kick ass site.
Cons
Can’t customize the raw html… and you have to upload either FLAC or WAV…other than that, none as far as I can see.

Google Pages and Google Sites
Pros
Google’s website makers. They host various filetypes, have lightning fast connections. Guaranteed access worldwide. Free as in beer. If you have a gmail account, you’ve already got access to these!
Cons
I don’t think there’s a flash music player… though you could upload your own

Virb
Pros
Musician profile /w flash player. Highly customizable profile. Great alternative to myspace. Song downloads from in-player link.
Cons
Can’t link to an individual song. Flash player is non-embeddable.

Archive.org
Pros
Archive.org is an archive of free content on the web. They also host audio for people, in a single song or album format. Includes great embeddable flash player.
Cons
I’m not entirely sure if it hosts creative commons music, or if they allow you to list what license you want to use. Can someone clarify this for me?

Microsoft Skydrive
Pros
Microsoft’s “Google Pages” contender. Allows 25gb of storage. If you have MSN Messenger, you’ve already got one!
Cons
Again, no flash music player

[kazakore]

If you’re specifically looking for ones which allow stream as well as download then these may be worth investigating for your list.

http://www.divshare.com/
Pros:
Upload audio and video
Password files and folders as you wish.
Built in player.
Embedded link for sharing.

Cons:
10GB/Month bandwidth (and 5GB total storage.)
Not very pretty or audiocentric.

http://www.icompositions.com/
Pros:
Unlimited storage and bandwidth (I think?)
Community/feedback.

Cons:
Mainly Mac Garage Band users as that’s what it was initially set up for.
Although you can set songs to be non-downloadable it’s easy to do so if you’re vaguely technically minded.

[engine]

@BYTE-Smasher

Google Pages
Pros
Google’s website maker. It hosts various filetypes, and has a lightning fast connection. Guaranteed access worldwide. Free as in beer.
Cons
I don’t think there’s a flash music player… though you could upload your own

thanks for the info on these services. really appreciate that.

sadly, “Google Page Creator is no longer accepting new sign-ups.”
or is it just in my country?!

[magOwl]

Try Google Sites.

[gentleclockdivider]

soundclick
http://www.soundclick.com/
elctrobel ( which ever country you choose …lots of good artists out there
http://www.electrobel.be/

[BYTE-Smasher]

Thanks magOwl… didn’t realize google had another such service =D

[BYTE-Smasher]

That most definitely does not suck Bantai! Thanks

Here’s mine:
http://cid-58e741052a4f6f9c.skydrive.live…owse.aspx/Music

Also, thanks for the pin! … just noticed there’s another thread with hosting sites… I’ll go through those and quality test a few later

[choice]

@BYTE-Smasher

Archive.org
Pros
Archive.org is an archive of free content on the web. They also host audio for people, in a single song or album format. Includes great embeddable flash player.
Cons
I’m not entirely sure if it hosts creative commons music, or if they allow you to list what license you want to use. Can someone clarify this for me?

they allow creative commons and public domain:
http://www.archive.org/about/faqs.php#223

Uploading Content

How can I add my music, movies, or text?

You may contribute content to the Internet Archive if it’s in the public domain or if you own the rights to it. If you own the rights, we recommend that you choose a Creative Commons license for it so that others will know how they may (or may not) use it.

The easiest way to contribute movies, audios, or books to the archive is to use our new uploader tool. Click the “Upload” button near the upper right-hand corner of the site, or click here.

You can also contribute items using our old upload method. You can track the progress of your items in our catalog.

How to upload via our old upload system:
Go to http://www.archive.org/create.php?ftp=1
Type in the item identifier you’d like to use (e.g. gt556) and click the “create item” button
Wait a few moments for the item to be checked out. This is the checkout page - don’t close it! Once the item’s checked out, you’ll be given ftp information about where to upload your item. You can either use an FTP program to do this, or use Internet Explorer for windows.
When you’re done uploading, make sure you check the item back in! There’s a link on the checkout page that will check it back in for you (or, if you’re using IE, click the “Click here when done” link in your ftp window).
Choose a mediatype and collection
Enter metadata
Wait about 10 minutes for your item to go live
It will take several hours for your item to show up in the search engine.

…

[Foo (mr_mark_dollin)]

Good thread, thanks BYTE.

[choice]

http://drop.io/

it supports direct linking and some other stuff too.

[rockfistus (Lucky_Strikez)]

I got tons of webspace so anyone that needs me to host their songs just email them to me or PM me here.

rockfistus AT gmail.com

[BYTE-Smasher]

Someone ban this Waqas Noor dude please… he’s a spambot

[kidwolfman (k1d_w01fman)]

I think you guys will really like this one… SoundCloud

[delphi]

Yes, I like soundcloud!

SOUNDCLOUD
http://soundcloud.com

Pros
Musician profile /w flash player. Clean interface. Streaming and download (optional). Good bandwith and sound quality. Can link to an individual song. Widgets.

Cons
Some limits with FREE accounts. Not so much customizable.

• You can send up to 5 tracks per month. Deleting tracks after you uploaded them will not affect this limit.
• Only the 10 latest uploaded tracks are shown. Older tracks are saved, but hidden as long as you don’t upgrade to a PRO account.
• You can create 3 sets. If you downgrade from a PRO account, older sets will be saved but hidden.
• Your contact lists can contain max 20 users in total. You can still have an unlimited amount of followers, and you can follow up to 2000 people (this limit also exists for PRO accounts).
• Your DropBox only shows the latest 5 tracks. Older tracks are saved but hidden as long as you don’t upgrade to a PRO account.
• With basic stats you’ll get an overview but can’t see exactly who played or downloaded your tracks.

[vvoois (vV)]

I have not seen http://last.fm yet…
Pros:
-No song limit
-No play limit
-No space limit
-Embeddable player (you have to steal the code from their pages though!)
-Single songs can be played with an embeddable mini icon.

cons:
-You can only decide to go fully commercial or offer all your stuff fully free. No license scheme per song or per album basis.

[BYTE-Smasher]

@vV

I have not seen http://last.fm yet…

Other cons: Not really that good for previews

[kuniklo]

Bandcamp:
http://bandcamp.com

Pros:

• player embeddable in other sites
• easy payments for downloads in various formats
• no social networking B.S.

[mrcold]

i use box.net
it is free and easy to use you can share files giving people the option to download or play it (if its an audio file)

this is what the share page looks like:
http://www.box.net/shared/cnssasv5qb#

[Corticyte]

I use http://zshare.net because it has a flash player but Box.net looks a lot better.

[Frequency]

www.zippyshare.com very nice and fast for audio & video! (with preview)