Check out free music forever from Iowa libraries

Tired of people making off with CDs from its collection, public libraries in Iowa City, Iowa are now just giving music away. With a library card and password, patrons can now download music for free and forever. The music is all part of the Local Music Project the library helped sponsor. As you might have guessed, there are no major label acts on the site. It currently has 58 albums ready for your consumption.

But this could be a new model as Boing Boing writes:

The project has piqued the interest of the library community as librarians turn their attention to local artists and makers as a source of community knowledge they can collect and share. The best proof, however, is in the response in Iowa City; Hiett reports that it has been very positive among both the artists, who are excited to have a new and different venue for their music, and library patrons.

The program seems to be a hit so far with close to 4000 songs downloaded in the first week. And if exposure wasn’t enough, the artists get paid a flat $100 fee to have their music added to the collection.