Tis the season to be jolly. Every good Christmas celebration needs music and there is a ton of great Christmas music available for free on the Internet. When I began compiling this post it was to showcase free Christmas music specifically by Catholic musicians, but I kept finding more great Christmas music all over the net. As I was finding more and more sources for ‘free Chrismas music’. I was also struck my the many motivations that artists have for releasing some (or all) of their music for free. For some it is a promotional tool, for others a gift to the world, for others a philosphical and political act. As I list the free music, I will also try to explain what the artist means when they say it is ‘free’.
For my Christmas soundtrack, I often turn to Uwe Herman’s list of 10 + 100 Creative Commons Christmas Songs and Feels like Christmas.
The other day, I was thrilled to discover that True North Records, Borealis Records and Linus Entertainment, have teamed up to offer free music to help promote some legendary Canadian musicians. They offer selected free tracks from artists such as Bruce Cockburn, Ashley McIsaac, Downchild, Colin Linden and Stephen Fearing. I was thrilled to find Bruce Cockburn’s version of Silent Night from his wonderful Christmas album. Their terms for these tracks are: “All the Mp3s on this page contain no DRM and can be dowloaded for free and can be shared via p2p, blogs and social networks and used for any non commercial purpose on a royalty-free basis, including podcasting. Please share with your friends. Add to your ipod, website, blogs, social networks & playlists. Thank you for helping us spread the noise about these artists”. It is incredibly refreshing to see indie record companies who are using the internet and new media to find new promotional and business opportunities for musicians rather than railing against the new technologies.
Now on to the Catholic musicians…
Toronto blogger, musician, software developer and copyfighter Blaise Alleyne has released his arrangements and recordings of public domain Christmas Music back into the public domain under a CC0 dedication, waiving all his copyright claims to both the recordings and arrangements.
I have a couple of Christmas themed songs on my own CD, Sean McGaughey, For the Sake of the Song
I have released them under a
Creative Commons- attribution- no derivatives – non-commercial license.
Karl Kohlhase offers several albums for free download on his website, including the Christmas album, He is Born. Here are Karl’s license restrictions from his website: “You may burn as many copies of the CDs as you like for family and friends. I only ask that you give them away free of charge. Freely you have received, so freely give…”
“He Is Born”
© 2006 Karl Kohlhase
Song Title MP3
He Is Born 4 MB
Song Of Mary 4.4 MB
Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming 3.9 MB
Another Cold December Night 4.3 MB
Silent Night 6.4 MB
God With Us 4.3 MB
Go Tell It 5 MB
Bob Rice offers a number of free downloads on his website. Bob writes, ” Sometimes a 30 second sample doesn’t cut it. Here’s the full version of some of Bob’s most popular and favorite songs. If you want to save it, right click on the name of the song and choose “Save As”. And if you’d like to buy it, you can get it off iTunes or purchase the CD here.” The closest one to a Christmas song is HERALD OF THE GREAT KING from “Behold the Lamb” (web exclusive)
Popple is pretty cool with people sharing their music with their friends if they have bought the CD. They also have some swell package deals on their website for people wishing to buy Popple CDs for their friends and family. Over the past two years, both Dan and Kyle from Popple have recorded original songs for the Catholic New Media Advent Calendar.
Dan Harms- Can You See Him? (© December 14, 2008, Dan Harms). I Saw Three Ships
Kyle Heimann Add Vents
The following are posted as free downloads by the artists– I’m unsure of the licensing. It would be safe to assume that they are free for personal use and all other rights are reserved.
Deacon Chuck Stevens
Praise the Lord From the CD, ‘Bethlehem Morn’ voted one of the Top Ten Christmas Albums in 2008 by Top Catholic Songs . com. You can purchase the album, or download more of Deacon Chuck’s music at SmallTalentMusic.com.
L’Angelus, an amazing Cajun family band from Louisiana is offering a free download of your choice from their Christmas album if you sign up for their mailing list.
If you know of other Catholic musicians offering free downloadable Christmas music, let me know and I will add them to the list.
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Jim O’Meara lives in Lehighton, Pa.where he has always been active in his home parish of Sts Peter & Paul, having served as Altar Boy, Lector, Usher, CCD Director, Organist, and Soloist throughout the years. Jim is host of the long-running 
Lisa Hendey from
Catholic Podcast 100 Club 
