If you've ever tried to download free music online, then you know just how frustrating the experience can be. You have to worry about viruses, risks from coming across illegal copies, and guilt about ripping off artists. It doesn't have to be that way. These websites host tons of music and offer well organized and easily searchable databases. Best of all, they are completely free and legal.
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Noise Trade
Noise Trade is a sleek music-sharing site where artists can create widgets to share music, both within the site and on their personal social media accounts. The tagline says it all: 'Free albums from thousands of artists who would love to meet you.' Another banner explains 'NoiseTrade helps both artists and labels connect directly with fans through the exchange of email addresses and postal codes.'
You can download songs for no charge and leave a tip if you like what you hear. The hip-hop section is vast and the folk and indie scenes are quickly picking up steam, though there are great finds in every genre.
The site lets you browse top downloads and check out the most recent shares. There's also a newsletter that sends useful weekly suggestions to your inbox.
Free Music Archive
The Free Music Archive is an interactive library of high-quality, legal music downloads, offering over 100,000 songs. Launched in 2009, it is backed and curated by WFMU, a well-known Jersey City radio station, and enlists people from other stations to join in the curation, so you can discover some amazing recommendations from the pros.
All the tracks have been cleared by the rights holders and are free for listening and educational use. However, you must check each track because the artists determine what rights they offer. It's possible to find some great background music for video or audio productions as well.
You can search by curator or genre, from hip-hop to pop. And, as with Noise Trade, you can tip the artist if you love the work.
Jamendo
Jamendo is one of the largest sites worldwide that services fans looking for music to download and artists who want credit for their work. You can stream the collection of over 400,000 songs for free.
The site functions under a Creative Commons agreement. Users can browse thousands of free music tracks uploaded by the artists themselves. Artists can gain popularity and possibly sell commercial licenses for the use of their songs. The bottom line is that music-lovers can download music guilt-free.
If you're looking for production music, Jamendo offers a royalty-free service for that as well. Bricks-and-mortar store owners may want to check into its radio subscription service, which allows you to choose the station that fits the mood of your business for a minimal cost.
Bandcamp
Bandcamp is a great place to find up-and-coming as well as established artists in every genre. It's an artist-directed music sharing site that allows fans to directly support the musicians they enjoy. Many fans will appreciate the slogan: 'We treat music as art, not content.'
Like many other sites, Bandcamp offers music in a variety of ways. Some tracks are given away for free, some are offered at a set price, while others ask you to pay what you like. The site highlights new artists every day, so it's a great way to discover new additions for your playlist.
Last.fm
Last.fm is more than just a place to grab free tunes. It's a combo radio-social networking site with nearly endless features.
Here you can discover new music, track your listening habits, and, of course, download free MP3s from the likes of Bon Iver, Yeasayer, Sufjan Stevens, and more. It also offers a community where you can share tunes you like and discover what other users who share your tastes are listening to.
Epitonic
Epitonic's tagline is simply 'the center of sound' and is home to 'thousands of free and legal carefully curated MP3s.' The site, which has been around since 1999, features a mix of songs across genres from math rock to new wave. You'll find songs by the likes of Run the Jewels, Freddie Gibbs, Sonic Youth, and Metric, among others.
You don't have to register to download. Simply navigate to a selection of songs or run a search. With one touch of the button, you're ready to enjoy a diverse array of songs, old and new. The site also is adorned with featured playlists, exclusive label releases, and music articles that will guide you to many new discoveries.
MP3.com
MP3.com is a well-organized music sharing site that works like many of the newer download sites. Artists can upload their music and offer it to fans, who can download to their heart's content. It's an excellent way to discover new music directly from the talented artists who created it.
MP3.com has an easy search function and you can seamlessly browse music by genre or time period. Whether you're into folk or hardcore, electronic or country, there's a lot to choose from.
Soundowl
Soundowl is a free music download site that features songs in nearly every genre you can come up with: rap, trap, dubstep, house, electro, moombahton. It also offers tons of instrumentals, in case you're looking to bust a freestyle.
The interface is clean and minimalist. Just plug in the name of a song or artist you want to experience and it returns a list of tracks. You can browse by genre or hit shuffle to randomize your selection and enjoy the surprise.
SoundOwl promotes itself as an artist-friendly site. To keep the site legal, it's partnered with Copyseeker to catch and remove copyright violators.
Soundcloud
Soundcloud is a blessing for music enthusiasts. Not all the songs on the website are downloads, but a huge number are available with the click of a button.
The site boasts a clean streaming interface, a great community, and more free stuff than you can consume in a lifetime. Like many sites, Soundcloud offers both Android and iOS apps if you prefer your freebie on the go.
Incompetech
Incompetech is the ideal site for all your royalty-free music needs. Whatever your project, from YouTube videos to amateur films and games to office presentations, this is an excellent source. It's perfect for anyone who can’t afford the exorbitant licensing fees associated with commercial music.
Unlike many sites, Incompetech is basically a one-man machine. Founder Kevin MacLeod explains the philosophy behind giving away his music for free: “There are a lot of schools with no money, and plenty of filmmakers who want to have music but can't afford to clear copyrights from the existing systems that are set up. I believe that copyright is badly broken, so I chose a license that allows me to give away the rights I wish to surrender.”
If you decide to use any of the songs for commercial purposes, be sure to give ownership credit. As with other sites, read the license agreements carefully before downloading any songs.
Public Domain 4U
Public Domain 4U is more than just a library of free songs. It's a window into great historical music recordings. It does a fantastic job of combining legally free and carefully curated music with a historical perspective.
This is one of only a handful of sites on the web where you can enjoy beautiful recordings and learn about old timers such as blues legend Big Joe Williams and Cajun artists Joe and Cléoma Falcon. It is a blast from the past and an ideal way to explore great voices you may have missed.
Bump Foot
Bump Foot has been around since 2005 and focuses primarily on techno, trance, ambient, IDM, dance, and electronic music. The site doesn't have a native player, but you can download MP3s or launch individual tracks in your web browser.
It also offers mixes with names such as 'bump200' and 'foot242.' These typically contain from nine to 20 songs. You can grab the entire batch at once or pick out solo tunes.
The Japan-based site allows you to copy, distribute, and adapt the work as you wish. Basically, share as you like, as long as it's not for commercial purposes. It's a great database with tons of songs if you're passionate about the genres it caters to.
Internet Archive
Internet Archive is a well-known website that prides itself on storing old versions of millions of websites. One of its divisions, Audio Archive, is an audiophile's dream.
The archive stores 'snapshots' of Internet content from the past for research and public use, so nothing gets lost as the web progresses. In the Audio Archive collection you will find music as well as audiobooks, interviews, news broadcasts, and even old-time radio shows.
It's a massive collection of free downloads, with over 200,000 recordings. There's little chance you'll get bored with this resource anytime soon.
Amazon
Amazon is the leading online retailer, where you can purchase whatever music you like. Believe it or not, though, Amazon offers a vast supply of freebies. There mighty be only a track or two from one artist and Amazon hopes you return to buy something, but it's a nice way to score some free downloads.
You can search free songs by genre and you'll notice quite a few options for children's music, relaxation tracks, and holiday songs. If you're looking for those specialties in particular, Amazon is a great source. It has other genres such as blues, classic rock, and pop, but the selection is limited.
There are hundred different ways of downloading almost anything from the internet, however, not every way is a legal way. Same goes for music downloads because there are thousands of sites offering free mp3 music downloads but none of them seems to have the rights or licenses for the songs they’re offering for downloads. If you are the kind of person who really doesn’t want to break the rules or download any illegal songs then you don’t have to worry because you can still get your songs for free via legal channels.
In this article, we’re going to provide you with 15 Legal and Free Music Download Websites. Keep on reading to learn more about these sites.
Best Legal Sites To Download Free Music
1. SoundCloud
SoundCloud is free and offers the largest collection of songs to hear online for free. It’s an online music streaming community where users can upload songs and even popular artists share their own songs as well. You can stream as many songs as you want but in addition to streaming, SoundCloud also lets you download songs for free but not all the songs can be downloaded. If the uploader has allowed downloading of their songs only then you will see a download button right below the song. Just click on it to download the song on your device and enjoy your favorite music offline. Just to give you an example, about a month ago Calvin Harris has uploaded a track (EDC LV 2015) on his SoundCloud profile which is free to download for everyone. So, one can always expect free downloads on SoundCloud as it is a home to some of the most celebrated music artists of the world.
SoundCloud is available as an app on both Android and iOS platforms. There are numerous third-party SoundCloud apps available for Windows Phone as well.
2. Jamendo
If you want to browse through a large collection of indie songs or cover songs performed by aspiring singers then Jamendo is the perfect place for you. You can stream or download as many songs as you want from Jamendo and there’s no catch. You can discover upcoming talent in the music world via Jamendo and support them by listening/downloading their songs. Many top class singers have uploaded their work on this royalty free music site and you can easily download any songs that you want with just a click. As of January 2015, Jamendo has more than 460,000 songs available for download making it one of the largest music library in the world. Also, It is available in 6 languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Polish.
Jamendo is available on both Android and iOS platform, in addition to that it’s also available as an app for Windows on your PC or tablets.
3. QTRAX
“Free Now, and Free Forever” This is the slogan being used by QTRAX, a new and free service that brings you all the latest songs from your favorite artists for free. There is no catch and you don’t need any subscription to listen to your favorite songs. Just download the QTRAX player for free and start listening to your favorite artists. You can download as many songs as you want via the service and listen to them offline. Unlimited use of downloads, radio, and streaming ensures that you never run out of great songs ever.
QTRAX player is available for download on Windows. The Android and iOS apps for the service will launch soon.
4. Amazon MP3
Amazon is 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. You can buy your MP3 songs directly from Amazon MP3 but you don’t have to pay for the songs if you don’t want to. Amazon MP3 also offers free songs for download directly from their website or their mobile apps. Amazon Music has more than 46,000 free songs available at the time of writing this article which makes it one of the largest legal free music repositories on the internet. You won’t be able to find the latest songs though but there are still great songs available for free, all you have to do is search for your favorite tune. One of the best thing about Amazon Music is that they have well categorized their songs in various genres such as Alternative Rock, Blues, Broadway & Vocalists, Children’s Music, Classical, Country, Dance & Electronic, Folk, Hard Rock & Metal, International, New Age, Pop, R&B, Miscellaneous, etc
Amazon Music is available as a free app on Android and iOS platforms.
5. PureVolume
PureVolume is a community of music lovers. Artists can signup and upload their music on the site and listeners can help the artists by downloading or listening to their songs and upvoting them. Each artist has their own profile with their basic details, music, and photos. It’s up to the artist to allow downloads or not, if the artist has allowed downloads then you can download their songs. Most of the artists on PureVolume have downloads enabled so you can enjoy great music for free. Some artists have only enabled online streaming for songs which means you can stream as many of their songs as you want for free but you can’t download them on your device for offline usage. You can get free covers and remixes for the most popular songs as well.
PureVolume is only available as a website and there are no mobile apps available for the service.
6. NoiseTrade
Thousands of amazing songs performed by great artists from around the world are available for free on NoiseTrade. NoiseTrade is a social network for music lover and book enthusiasts. It lets artists upload their songs for free and fans can download the songs without having to pay a single dime. If you like a certain song then you also have the ability to tip the artist a few bucks for their great work. NoiseTrade connect the artists with their fans to build a large audience for the upcoming talent. Just create a free fan account and you can start downloading any song you want with just a single click.
7. SoundOwl
SoundOwl provides a large collection of popular songs from very popular artists and newer artists as well. SoundOwl is a simple music platform that lets artists, bloggers, and labels share their music with everyone in the world. If you feel that the site is not legal then you can read their DMCA page for their policy which clearly states that only artists who own the rights to the music can share it, everything else will be deleted. If you think that some song does not belong to the site or violates your rights then just drop them an email and it will be swiftly deleted from the site. You can stream the songs online or download them on your device easily. The Shuffle feature on the site lets you discover amazing new music automatically.
8. Free Music Archive
The UI of Free Music Archive (a.k.a FMA) is a bit cluttered but the site offers a vast collection of songs that you can download for free. FMA is not just any other music library where anyone can upload songs instead different music enthusiasts, labels, radio stations, curate the amazing playlists for everyone. These songs can be downloaded for free without even having to register on the site at all. FMA offers access to free music similar to radio stations. You can also contribute to the site by curating your own playlists with your personal music or from other music that you own the rights to.
FMA is also available as an app on both Android and iOS platforms.
9. Internet Archive
Internet Archive is the biggest archive that includes almost everything for free. From software to music, you get to download anything and everything for free on your device. The audio section on Archive doesn’t only bring you free music instead it offers a lot of other audio files as well which include, audiobooks, podcasts, live music, etc. You can download amazing music and songs but you will have to search for it. The categorization is not as smooth as one would expect but you can still find some great songs if you really look for it hard enough. Create amazing mixtapes by downloading free live music or best tunes from radio channels.
10. SoundClick
Although not as large as other music libraries, SoundClick still delivers a decent amount of free songs to quench your thirst for music. The free music mostly depends on the artists. There are thousands of established artists who are selling their songs on SoundClick, however, most of them are also giving away their songs for free. 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. Most of the amazing songs are available as a free download.
11. Last.fm
Last.fm is actually an internet radio service that brings you amazing tracks as if you were listening to a local radio station but the service also offers free MP3 song downloads for its users. The free mp3 song collection, however, is not as vast as you would expect from a service this big but you can still find some hidden gems among these free tracks. You don’t need an account on the website to download free mp3 songs, just click the download button and it should download without the need to register.
Last.fm is available for Windows, Android, and iOS paltforms as an app.
12. Vimeo
We know Vimeo is a video streaming website but that doesn’t mean you can’t download amazing mp3 songs from the service. Vimeo has a music store where users sell mp3 songs for a price, however, you can search for songs with “Creative Commons” tag in the advanced search to find free songs and music. All these free songs can be downloaded with a single click to your device but you will have to sign-up on the site first before downloading the free songs.
Vimeo app is available for free on both Android and iOS platforms.
13. MP3.com
MP3.com is one of the oldest MP3 sites on the internet. Despite being one of the oldest music sites on the web, MP3.com still doesn’t have a song collection as big as the above mentioned sites. It doesn’t mean you won’t be able to find any good songs on the service but you will certainly be presented with a limited choice of free MP3 tracks compared to other music libraries. MP3.com 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.
14. YouTube
We know YouTube is the biggest site on the web when it comes to video streaming but we have put it in last because downloading songs via YouTube is not as easy as you might think. First of all, you can not download all the songs on YouTube because that would be illegal. However, you can search for songs with “Creative Commons” filter and then download those songs to your device. These songs are free to use and there are no restrictions on downloading them. Just find any video with “Creative Commons” filter and download it.
Apart from that, certain artists create mashups and cover of famous songs on YouTube and in the description they leave free download links. You can download these songs too, and it will be completely legal.
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If you are really interested in downloading free songs legally then the above mentioned sites will allow you to download as many songs as you want entirely free of charge. If you have any other favorite sites for downloading legal free music then don’t forget to share them with us in the comment below.