It’s time to track down all the new holiday music!
Last year, we opened up our own “Holidaze” Playlist in November, and noticed that it held over 750 songs. So we challenged ourselves—could we find the 250 songs we’d need to bring it up over 1000?
Challenge Answered! At the end of last season, our song list topped 1200 holiday tunes. We could run our own little Christmas radio station right out of our house.
Where did we pick up over 300 new and free holiday songs in less than 6 weeks? It was easier than you might think.
Our secrets to getting a ton of Holiday songs for Free:
- Amazon: It’s not up yet, but Amazon hosts “25 Days of Free” each December. Every day features a new song, usually by a top artist.
- iTunes: Each week, between now and the New Year, the iTunes store offers one or two holiday songs by well-known music stars- this week it’s Rod Stewart!
- NME: Britains New Music Express offers a free Mp3 a day, and features many holiday tunes this month.
- Music blog I am Fuel/ You Are Friends offers numerous free mp3s all year long, but in December they trend towards Holiday songs. Great covers and original ditties abound.
- Noisetrade: Already Noisetrade has offered free holiday albums by Sufjan Stevens, Over The Rhine, and Fiction Family. What else will they offer? Check them out and find out.
- BBC: This music blog on the BBC is offering holiday tunes each day in December. Some of the tunes are direct downloads, some of them you have to go to the band website or somesuch for a download, but they are all free. Many of these are from European bands you may not have heard before.
As we find new sources for holiday tunes, we’ll update or list.