Top 15 Sites to Download Free Music Legally
Anyone who has tried to download music for free online is conversant with the frustration that accompanies every attempt.
While there are tons of sites that promise free and easy downloads there aren’t a lot of them that stay within the boundaries and provisions of the law, and it is the blatant disregard that makes it hard for users to enjoy their sites.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
We have thoroughly combed through the internet and found 15 music download sites that actually work – and by ‘work’ we mean that they have tons of music and offer well organized databases ; and best of all – they are completely free and legal.
You probably already know about YouTube Mp3 – but who are the other Mp3 music download giants?
Available as an app on both Android and iOS platforms, the sound cloud music database is god sent to music enthusiasts.
While not all songs on Sound Cloud are downloads, a decent number of them are available nonetheless.
The site boasts if a clean streaming interface, and more freebies than you can possibly exhaust, which also allows users and artists to upload songs, and if the up loader has allowed for downloading of their songs then you could go ahead and download to enjoy your music offline for absolutely free – and it is ultimately features such as these that makes Sound Cloud a well used platform among artists and music lovers alike.
The free music Archive (F.M.A) boasts of a vast, interactive library of high quality music available for download – the library is a culmination of the different music enthusiasts, labels and radio stations that create playlists and publish them to which both registered and non-registered users of the sight has full access.
Even though the UI of the site might appear cluttered, users say that the easiest way to use the FMA is to browse through genres of music or watch their blogs for collections, artists or songs that they may highlight.
Users also have the opportunity to register in order to enjoy the ‘make your own collection’ feature, where they can curate customized playlists and interact with other listeners in the F.M.A community.
Last.fm is a lot more than just a site from which you can download free music – it’s actually an internet radio service that is somewhat merged with a social networking site where you can listen to amazing tracks (as on the radio) and discover new music as well as track your listening habits.
Even though the free Mp3 song collection is not as vast as you would expect, it boasts of several pages of music categorized into various genres from which you can browse through by simply looking through the whole list – and as a plus, you do not need an account on the site to download the free songs.
Last.fm is also available as an app for Windows, Android and iOS platforms – the app also allows for users to stream their favorite music without downloading it, as well as get recommendations from great bands.
While Pure Volume is only available as a website and there are no mobile apps for the service is a great music discovery website notwithstanding.
The site is mostly an artist-share site were artists can sign up and upload their music, and listeners can encourage their favorite artists by downloading their songs or ‘up voting’ them. Each artist has their own profile with their personal information and music displayed – however, it is up to them to enable the download feature on their uploads, and some artists only enable online streaming of their songs.
Ultimately however, a library of music is available from which users can view free music download options by various categories and download their favorites without having to sign up or create an account.
Amazon is well known for its place as the biggest online retailer offering a wide variety of products on the web. However, Amazon has also started offering digital products such as games and even songs, if you read this site regularly then you’ve probably noticed the occasional Amazon link pointing to music downloads. Believe it or not, Amazon also offers a vast supply of freebies. Amazon MP3 also offers free songs for download directly from their website or their mobile apps and has more than 46,000 free songs available which makes it one of the largest legal free music repositories on the internet.
Jamendo is the perfect place to browse through a large collection of indie or cover songs performed by aspiring artists. All free music downloads are made available through creative commons licensing – i.e. the artists themselves decided that they wanted to give out their music for free.
Jamedo users can stream or download as many songs as possible – and with over 460,000 songs from which to choose, users will have no trouble finding a favorite.
It is also an excellent place to discover upcoming talent and music uploaded by top class singers – the library is accessible as an app for android and iOS users, and is available in 6 languages and provides the perfect arrangement, where Artists get a chance to gain popularity and possibly sell a commercial license for the use of their songs, as well. Best of all, though, is that music-lovers can also download music free of guilt.
Made Loud is the perfect pick for an avid music customer that is looking to support independent artists – it is an exclusive top-shelf indie friendly site that features tons of free music downloads which come directly from the artists themselves.
Made Loud also allows users to license music directly from their site for their various unrelated projects.
Noise trade boasts of an elaborate library of free music albums which are both downloadable and legal to download.
The site is a sleek music sharing website where artists can create widgets to share music, both on the site and on their personal social media accounts – this feature is included to help artists gain some promotion and publicity.
However, in order to download an album, you’ll need to enter your email address and zip code for each album and then you will receive an email with your download code; the Mp3 files will come in a ZIP file.
Qtrax’s tagline “Free Now and Free Forever” is only a mild reflection of the service it provides, – the relatively new site offers latest songs from your favorite artists for absolutely free.
There are no terms and conditions in fine print and no need for a subscription necessary; all that is required is to download the Qtrax player for free to start listening to the songs – users can download as many songs as they want via the service and listen to them offline. Their unlimited use of downloads, radio and streaming ensures that you never run of great songs. The site also offers a player which is available for download on Windows. The Android and iOS apps for the service will launch soon.
The internet Archives audio library lives up to its name and is perhaps the biggest archive that includes almost everything for free. The audio section doesn’t only include free music but offers a lot of other audio files including audio books, podcasts, live music etc.
The library’s large content somewhat reflects in the shabby categorization, so even though you can download amazing music, you will definitely have to look for it, as the categorization is not as smooth as you might like.
There are also multiple file formats that you can download the file in, depending on the requirements of your device.
This Japan-based site begun in 2005 with their focus primarily on techno, trance ambient, IDM, dance and electronic.
Users can download Mp3s and launch individual tracks in their web browser even though the site does not have a native player. The site also allows users to also copy distribute and adapt the work as they wish – as long as it is not for commercial purposes.
There are mixes with names like “bump200” and “foot242.” These typically contain anywhere from 9 to 20 songs. You can grab the entire batch at once or pick out solo tunes and so, it’s a great database with tons of songs if you’re passionate about the genres it caters to.
Sound Click delivers a decent amount of free songs even though its library is not as loud and elaborate as other music libraries. The free music available mostly depends on the artists who either choose to sell their songs on sound click or to give them away at no cost.
With Sound Click, users can browse through music charts and genres until they find free downloadable music which they may choose to download, or use to create their own custom radio stations, from where they can interact with other users of the site.
While you can, of course, download free music from Sound Click, some artists make their music available only after you’ve paid for the download, and others allow streaming only and you can even buy the rights to the songs if you want but the free song should serve you well should you choose to only download free songs from the service.
This site is perhaps one of the oldest on the internet and boasts a well-organized music sharing site where artists can upload music and fans can download free music to their heart’s content – despite being one of the oldest music sites however, the site doesn’t still have a large enough collection to compete favorably with its newer counter parts. That notwithstanding, users would still find great songs that they enjoy thoroughly. Among its few better qualities, MP3.com has an easy search function off-the-bat and users can seamlessly browse through music by genre or time period and also helps young and upcoming artists to share their work with millions of fans worldwide via the service and you can help out these artists by sharing their work with your friends via social channels.
Even though Vimeo is more popularly known as a video-only website, it also offers free music downloads under the Creative Commons license. The site has a music store where users sell mp3 songs for a price, but songs under the ‘creative commons’ tag can be downloaded for absolutely free, and its featured Advanced filters options allows users to adjust their results to show only the free music that they are interested in.
And while you can stream songs without an account, must you create one to have access to download music, all of which can be downloaded with a single click to your device
Sound Owl provides a large collection of popular songs from very popular artists and newer artists as well. It promotes itself as an artist-friendly site and is a simple music platform that lets artists, bloggers, and labels share their music with everyone in the world. Users can stream the songs online or download them on your device easily, and with their shuffle feature users can discover amazing new music automatically with ease. The site also offers tons of instrumentals, for interested upcoming artists with a flair for karaoke or freestyle.
Sound Owl provides a clean and minimalist interface and partners with Copy Seeker to keep the site legal and catch and remove copyright violators.
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