The issue of music piracy, or theft, has become quite a concern in recent times. In October, a single mother was fined $220,000 for sharing music files on a popular file website as part of a sweep by the Recording Industry of America’s (RIAA) crackdown on illegal file sharing. Last month, the RIAA began legal action against 36 Virginia Tech students for illegally downloading music.

With children having greater access and knowledge of navigating the internet, parents should become familiar with these activities in order to educate and protect their children from the temptation which may result in legal action by the officials in the recording industry. Some websites which have been identified as illegal means of obtaining or distributing music include Kazaa, Grokster, WinMX, LimeWire, Bearshare, Aimster, Morpheus, and Gnutella.

However, the RIAA has compiled a list of legal sources for online music, some of which offer music files for free or a minimal charge.

Spiralfrog is an ad-supported Web site. The majority of that advertising revenue is paid to the music publishers and labels who own the music that is downloaded. In order to download songs and videos, you will need to register for a free membership, which must be renewed every 30 days to remain active.

MP3.com is a website which offers free music downloads as they only link to legal music services. A free membership is required.

Another music community which offers access to free music files is imesh.com. This website offers free access to files which do not require a license, as well as a subscription membership in order to download those files which do require a license. Imesh is a 100% legal peer-2-peer file sharing community with over 15 million free songs and videos, as well as over 2 million licensed songs from record labels.

There are many websites which provide legal music for you and your children to access and enjoy. The RIAA provides a list of popular legal online music sources. You can find this information, along with other tips by visiting the RIAA website.