A free party is, as the name suggests, a party with no admission charge. As such, it is not a commercial venture and so is often run by people who just want to have fun.
Free parties are much like other rave parties, their main distinction being that the venue must be free to use. The result is that they are often held in isolated outdoor venues or abandoned buildings.
They often also involve a lot of (mostly illegal) dance drug use and are sometimes organised by groups of drug dealers to create a ready market for their products. It is for this reason that they are usually held in isolated venues or places where police interference is unlikely, such as protected squatting residences (particularly in the UK, where police cannot easily enter a squat).
The type of music played is usually some form of dance music with fast repetitive beats, but, due to the lack of a commercial interest, the genre chosen is often far from popular main-stream tastes, decided purely by the tastes of the DJ.
Due to the lack of licensing restrictions, these parties often start late (after midnight) and continue through the night until morning, sometimes longer.
