Free music or libre music is music that, like free software, can freely be copied, distributed and modified for any purpose. Thus free music is either in the public domain or licensed under a free license by the artist or copyright holder themselves, often as a method of promotion. It does not mean that there should be no fee involved. The word free refers to freedom (as in free software), not to price.
The Free Music Philosophy generally encourages creators to free music using whatever language or methods they wish. A Free Music Public License (FMPL) is available for those who prefer a formal approach. Some free music is licensed under licenses that are intended for software (like the GPL) or other writings (the GFDL). But there are also licenses especially for music and other works of art, such as EFF's Open Audio License, LinuxTag's Open Music License, the Free Art license and some of the Creative Commons Licences.
Before the advent of copyright law in the early 18th century and its subsequent application to music compositions first, all music was "free" according to the definitions used in free software or free music, since there were no copyright restrictions. In practice however, music reproduction was generally restricted to live performances and the legalities of playing other people's music was unclear in most jurisdictions. Copyright laws changed this gradually so much so that in the late 20th century, copying a few words of a musical composition or a few seconds of a sound recording, the two forms of music copyright, could be considered criminal infringement.
FREE!MUSIC is a freeware music non-profit organization founded in Russia in 2004, involved in the free distribution of music for commercial and non-commercial purposes.
The idea to begin the project came after the freeware music compilation OpenMusic was released, which was an Ogg Vorbis-encoded compilation under a liberal license, distributed in a box with the ALT Linux Master 2.0. software. The compilation included compositions of such well-known Russian acts as Umka and Bronevik, Rada i Ternovnik, Maleriya, Jah Division, and others. Although the founders of the OpenMusic project parted, OpenMusic continued its existence with the support of Henry Sheppard and Alyona Lazareva.
In 2004 after an internet discussion, Roman Smirnov and Valery Mifodovsky (members of EXIT project), Mikhail Bykov, and Alexander Prokudin decided to start the FREE!MUSIC project. In the beginning of December 2005, in cooperation with the ALT Linux and 1C companies, the first compilation of freeware music under the FREE!MUSIC declaration was released.
David Sánchez Badillo (born September 25, 1977), better known as Tempo, is a Puerto Rican rapper and songwriter.
David Sanchez Badillo was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico in 1977. Tempo studied in the Escuela Libre de Música Juan Morel Campos of the municipality. At the age of five years moved to upstate Haverstraw, New York, Rockland County, with his family for a period of four years.
He returned to Puerto Rico and at the age of 11 began to write his first rap lyrics. He began his career by participating in talent shows.
Tempo first appeared in DJ Joe 3, which was released in 1995, with another appearance in DJ Joe 4 a year later. It was during this time that he met DJ Playero which led to him being added to his roster and recording his first major hit in the fledgling reggaeton genre with "Bailando Quiero Verlas" in 1998 on Playero 41: Past Present & Future. During this time, Tempo began working on recording his debut album "Game Over" with DJ Playero after becoming one of the first artists signed by Buddha's Productions in the late 1990s.