Music streaming services are not without their problems. The biggest turnoff being the lack of buying; if you use Spotify, you don't own any music—you've simply been granted a license to listen to it.

Just not to worry. If yous're wondering how to download music, wait no further. In that location are notwithstanding ways you tin get hold of free music. They are entirely legal, and the music will be yours to continue forever. Here are the all-time MP3 download sites for gratis music.

1. YouTube Audio Library

youtube audio library

The YouTube Sound Library is mainly aimed at people who demand royalty-free production music to use in videos. However, anyone with a YouTube business relationship tin can access the library via YouTube Studio and download as many songs as they wish.

According to the library'south terms and conditions, yous tin employ the tracks in any content you lot create; information technology'south not just express to videos. You lot can as well use the songs in monetized videos on the YouTube platform.

Each song has a sample available, which you can listen to by striking the small Play icon. If you lot similar what yous hear, click the side by side Download button.

In add-on to complimentary music tracks, the YouTube Audio Library as well includes sound furnishings. Again, they are free to use across your creative works.

2. Free Music Annal

free music library search

The Free Music Archive has been around for many years, but it remains equally popular every bit ever. Information technology is one of the best places on the spider web to download music for gratis.

WUFM—an contained freeform radio station in New Jersey—curates the content. Most of the gratis vocal downloads are from lesser-known artists, but occasionally yous will run across a famous name popular up. Regardless, it is a bully mode to discover new music.

You don't demand to worry about legality, as all the tracks on the site are free for personal utilise. However, if you're planning to use the songs in a commercial setting, you demand to check the license associated with each individual recording

3. Jamendo

jamendo

Jamendo is a platform that allows unsigned contained artists to easily distribute their music to their fans. It currently has more than 240,000 royalty-gratis tracks from 40,000 artists.

The music is built around "Communities". Navigating to a particular community (for example, Stone) will introduce y'all to its leading tracks, albums, and artists. You can sort the music by all-time popularity, what's trending, and latest releases.

If you want to examination the waters before you commit to a download, you can tune in to 1 of the site'due south themed radio stations.

4. NoiseTrade

noisetrade

They say in that location's no such thing as a free tiffin. And if you apply NoiseTrade, that's partly true.

The artists who accept listed their music on this site want something in return for the gratuitous download, typically a postal address or an e-mail address. The idea is for the bands to hands connect with people who similar their music—mayhap to advertise an upcoming tour or highlight the launch of a new album.

The flip side is that you're more than likely to discover artists you lot recognize. Sure, you lot're non going to find The Killers' latest release, but most of the bands are already signed to a record label and have albums bachelor.

5. Musopen

musopen

What if pop, rock, and the other mainstream genres aren't your thing? Well, if you're more into classical music, yous're in luck.

Musopen is one of the best complimentary music download sites for Beethoven lovers. Information technology has recordings from some of the well-nigh famous classical musicians of all fourth dimension. You'll find everything from Bach and Beethoven to Tchaikovsky and Holst. You tin search by composer, performer, musical instrument, period, and form to locate the content you want.

The site extends beyond music downloads. Y'all'll too observe lots of costless sheet music and even some educational resources.

6. Amazon

amazon music free music download

Many people don't realize that Amazon has a vast repository of free music downloads. At the time of writing, more than half-dozen,000 songs are available for download.

Dissimilar some other free music download sites, you lot can frequently notice famous bands. Right now, yous tin can observe music from the Foo Fighters, Ashaneen, Tony Elman, Carole Rex, and many more. The artists do change occasionally, so if you observe any music you like, take hold of it while you can.

Away from famous names, the collection as well does a surprisingly skillful job of covering niche genres. Sadly, Amazon has removed the feature that immune you to filter the free music by genre (though it's still at that place for paid music). As such, yous'll demand to exercise the excavation yourself.

7. The Internet Archive

live music archive internet archive

Did you know that the Internet Annal is useful for a lot more than but laughing at how bad the web looked in 1999? It's also a fantastic complimentary music website.

For a music lover, the all-time office of the site is the Live Music Annal. Information technology was congenital in partnership with etree.org and features shows and concerts from a range of leading artists. All the bands in the collection are "trade-friendly", meaning they've granted fans the right to freely trade some of their music for non-commercial means.

The library doesn't just cover music; you'll also detect old news and public diplomacy talks, radio shows, audiobooks, and verse readings.

8. ReverbNation

reverbnation

ReverbNation is a nifty site if yous're an up-and-coming band that wants to sell music online.

Withal, it doubles as a fantastic resources for anyone who wants to download free music. The site is primarily aimed at new bands; y'all're not going to discover tracks from the current chart-toppers.

Don't let that put you lot off, though. ReverbNation has launched the careers of many elevation bands, including the Alabama Shakes and Imagine Dragons. That means you tin be the coolest kid at school by downloading music from tomorrow'due south hippest artists before they become famous.

9. SoundClick

soundclick homepage

Like so many of the sites on this list, SoundClick mainly features new artists who have not nonetheless made a proper noun for themselves in the music industry.

Not all the songs on the site are available to download for free; the artist has to make each runway available on a case-by-instance footing and some require a pocket-sized payment. Where downloads are bachelor, you often have a choice of quality. The choices are normally a 320 kbps MP3, a 160 kbps MP3, and a lossless WAV file.

10. CCTrax

cctrax

CCTrax offers gratuitous music downloads that are covered by a Creative Commons license. It has a special focus on electronica, dub, techno, and ambient tunes.

Every song on the site can be downloaded and no payments are involved anywhere. Be warning to the songs with the special "BY License" though, they are the merely ones that you lot can embed on other sites.

What Happened to FreeAllMusic?

Near all of these sites specialize in helping you download music from unknown and upcoming artists rather than electric current stars. It's largely inevitable, as bands who take already fabricated it big have no demand to requite their music away for free.

As a rule, if you see a site offering yous a gratuitous copy of the latest album past Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift, information technology'll probably be illegal to download it. In which example you should go along with extreme caution.

Ane such illegal instance is FreeAllMusic. Like The Pirate Bay, it has been taken offline many times, just to rear its head at a new domain. A rebooted version persists to this twenty-four hour period. Our advice is to steer clear.

Learn More About Downloading Music

Although information technology's nice to be able to grab complimentary music downloads legally, in that location are plenty of means to pay for the biggest and newest releases.

Before you get your wallet out, however, it makes sense to check whether you like the music first.

How to Download Music From Spotify to Your Telephone

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