Music is a universal language that transcends boundaries, and in today’s world of music streaming services, accessing your favorite songs has never been easier. However, amid this convenience, ensuring that our methods of obtaining music respect the artists’ rights is essential. Legal music download sites are considered the gold standard for music lovers worldwide.
Whether you enjoy pop, rock, jazz, classical, or any of the countless subgenres, you can find free and legal music downloads if you know where to look. Here’s a list of the best sites for free music downloads that are completely legal, providing a wide variety of musical treasures for your collection.
While these sites may not feature tracks from mainstream artists like Taylor Swift, which you can find on popular streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal, you can still discover hits from well-known performers and explore diverse music genres. So, why not embark on a musical journey and explore the abundance of free, legal music online?
Free Music Archive
The Free Music Archive (FMA) is an online repository of royalty-free music, allowing users to download and use music legally under various Creative Commons licenses. Here are some key points about the FMA:
Founded in 2009 by the community radio station WFMU in East Orange, New Jersey, in collaboration with KBOO and KEXP, the FMA aimed to provide music that can be freely downloaded and utilized in other works. The project initially focused on curating high-quality music designed for the internet age, but has faced funding challenges over the years.
In 2018, WFMU announced plans to shut down the FMA due to declining funding and intended to move existing files to the Internet Archive. However, the service was acquired by KitSplit, an equipment rental service, in December 2018, and then by Tribe of Noise in 2019, which has kept it operational.
Today, Tribe of Noise and the Free Music Archive connect independent artists with content creators such as videographers, YouTubers, podcasters, and filmmakers, providing a platform that removes traditional licensing barriers.
The FMA includes several valuable features for finding specific types of music, including the ability to search for instrumental music only, filter by duration and particular licenses, and even find public domain music or tracks allowed for commercial use.
The Library of Congress has also preserved a portion of the FMA’s collection as part of its Web Cultures Web Archive, and some works are accessible through the Citizen DJ project, which offers audio samples for music production.
The Free Music Archive continues to serve as a valuable resource for creators seeking legal, free-to-use music for their projects while supporting independent musicians who share their work under Creative Commons licenses.
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is a leading music streaming platform that allows users to upload, share, and discover audio content. Here are some key points about it:
Founded in 2007 by Swedish entrepreneurs Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss in Berlin, Germany, SoundCloud was initially created to help musicians collaborate by sharing recordings. Over time, it evolved into a distribution platform. As of recent data, the service boasts over 76 million active monthly users and hosts over 200 million audio tracks.
SoundCloud describes itself as “an artist-first platform powered by a global community of artists and listeners who are at the forefront of what is new, now, and next in music culture,” emphasizing the empowerment of independent artists. The platform is especially recognized for launching the careers of artists like Billie Eilish, who released her debut song, “Ocean Eyes,” on SoundCloud in 2015 at 13. It has also been instrumental in creating entire genres, such as “SoundCloud rap.”
In 2021, SoundCloud introduced a “fan-powered royalties” model, allowing artists to earn money directly from their listeners’ subscription fees and advertising revenue, rather than relying on a pooled system based solely on total streams.
Recent statistics show that SoundCloud users are significantly more focused on discovering new music than average listeners. Approximately 46.5% of listening on SoundCloud is to tracks released in the last 18 months, nearly double the industry average of 26.7%.
This year, SoundCloud continues developing new features for artists and fans. This includes “Buzzing Playlists” highlighting emerging talent across various genres, an enhanced Artist Toolbox for creators to manage their careers, and integrated merchandise sales directly on the platform.
The platform continues to set itself apart from competitors like Spotify and Apple Music by focusing on independent artists, enabling direct artist-fan interactions, and maintaining its reputation as a discovery platform for emerging musical trends.
ReverbNation
ReverbNation provides a dynamic ecosystem for independent artists to thrive. The platform is not just about music sharing; it’s about career building. Artists get access to a wide range of tools designed to help them promote their music, manage their careers, and reach new fans. From intricate marketing and promotion strategies to gig and festival opportunities, ReverbNation is instrumental in shaping an artist’s journey from obscurity to recognition.
Big names like Alabama Shakes, The Civil Wars, and Imagine Dragons started on ReverbNation by sharing their music for free and building up their loyal fanbase. There is a mix of every genre on ReverbNation, but the site tends to lean toward more pop, alternative, and hip-hop than anything else. With a community of nearly 4 million artists, labels, and users, ReverbNation helps you sift through its immersive catalog with cool features like the site’s Discover app and a page that will help you find who is about to be the next big thing.
Audiomack
Audiomack is known for its focus on supporting up-and-coming artists and diverse music genres that are on the brink of making it big. In contrast to platforms that mainly promote mainstream music, Audiomack shines a spotlight on emerging hip-hop, reggae, and Afrobeats talents. This approach allows known artists to shine and offers listeners a fresh and varied music collection.
Audiomack follows a philosophy that puts artists first, offering them tools and services to take charge of their careers. By allowing artists to upload their music directly to the platform for free, Audiomack removes barriers to entry into the music industry. This empowers artists to connect with an audience, gain exposure, and grow their fan base without relying on intermediaries.
Live Music Archive
Live Music Archive is essentially a partnership between Internet Archive and etree.org, a community that provides high-quality, lossless live concert versions. You can think of it as a bootlegger’s paradise given the site’s sheer abundance of concert material, much of which focuses on jam bands such as the Grateful Dead, The String Cheese Incident, and Sound Tribe Sector 9. Still, there are many other bands to choose from — The Smashing Pumpkins, Jack Johnson, Animal Collective, etc. — along with plenty of genres, from jazz to reggae, to browse.
Navigation is a bit of a chore due to the overwhelming wealth of content, but there are ways to filter the results by title, publish date, or original creator. Once you find a particular show, you can often stream or download the individual tracks as an FLAC or MP3, allowing you to play the tracks on your media player of choice. Unfortunately, the site doesn’t ensure a quality performance. We’d recommend previewing anything that could tickle your fancy by using Live Music Archive’s web player before taking the plunge and downloading it for local playback.
Jamendo
Jamendo is a groundbreaking music platform that operates under an open-content license, primarily Creative Commons, allowing artists worldwide to share their talent freely. It offers a dual experience – one for music enthusiasts seeking new soundtracks to enhance their daily lives and another for professionals needing royalty-free music for commercial projects.
For those who comfort themselves with melodies and rhythms, Jamendo offers a vast collection of tracks covering every imaginable genre, from the energizing beats of EDM to the soulful chords of acoustic folk. The platform is a treasure trove for discovering underground artists, providing fresh sounds not easily found on more mainstream platforms. Whether you’re looking to create a playlist for your next road trip or find soothing tunes to study to, Jamendo has something to offer.
On the other hand, Jamendo is a valuable resource for creators and businesses searching for quality, royalty-free music. Whether for a YouTube video, a podcast, or background music for a café, the Jamendo Licensing service offers an extensive library of tracks that can be legally used across various projects. This supports the creators financially and ensures that businesses can find unique soundtracks to enhance their projects.
Musopen
If you’re a fan of classical music, it’s easy to find free downloads since many classical compositions and performances are in the public domain. Musopen, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and providing access to classical music, has a vast library of compositions without copyright restrictions. You can browse by composer or performer, and filter results by period and instrument. Whether you enjoy the complex arrangements of the Baroque period or the passionate music of the Romantics, Musopen probably has what you’re looking for.
You can stream or download the selections, some even in high resolution. The site also offers a wealth of helpful background information. You can find all that here if you’re curious about what a rondo is or what defines Chopin’s style. Musicians will be delighted to know that the site provides sheet music, so if you fall in love with a particular piece, you can follow along or even learn to play it.
Last.fm
When Last.fm was initially created in 2002, it functioned as an internet radio station similar to Pandora and iHeartRadio. In 2005, however, the site adopted Audioscrobbler. This music-recommendation system collects data from dozens of media players and music-streaming websites to craft individual user profiles that reflect their musical taste and listening habits.
Unbeknownst to many Last.FM users, though, is the site’s repository of free music. It’s accessible via the “Free Music Downloads” link at the bottom of the page and offers a fairly diverse library of free music, ranging from Sufjan Stevens to The Glitch Mob. It’s eclectic, if limited, and free.
SoundClick
One of the sleepers of the lot, SoundClick, should command your attention for its vast library of free amateur music. It’s similar to SoundCloud in that it primarily offers a melting pot of tunes from the independent scene, all uploaded by the artists who created them.
SoundClick, which has been in business since 1997, has millions of tracks across over a dozen genres, including hip-hop, country, jazz, and alternative.
You can download many of those songs for the price of mere megabytes and a few seconds of your time, and streaming (up to 160kbps, a boon for free services like these) is an option for anything that you can’t. Like others of its ilk, you’ll come across your fair share of forgettable music, but it’s worth wading through to find the gems.
Bandcamp
Popular among independent musicians, Bandcamp allows artists and labels to upload content to the site and sell albums, singles, and merchandise directly to fans. However, not every artist charges for their work, making Bandcamp an excellent location to find a few new tunes for free. Founded in 2008, Bandcamp has amassed a collection of works across popular genres, including electronic, rock, alternative, hip-hop, punk, folk, jazz, ambient, experimental, and more.
If you find a piece of music you love, you can later contribute to the artist by purchasing other albums or memorabilia. One factor that makes Bandcamp unique is the ability to pay a minimum set price or higher amount for works; some musicians use this system to allow fans to pay what they can and choose how much they wish to support an artist.
Pixabay
Pixabay is primarily known as a platform for free images, but it also offers a library of royalty-free music. Currently, it provides access to over 60,000 free music tracks for download. Additionally, Pixabay features curated playlists like “Lofi HipHop,” “House party,” “Yoga sessions,” “Cosmos,” and more, designed to match different events, moods, activities, and locations.
While Pixabay may not offer mainstream musical content, it excels in providing tracks that serve practical purposes. Whether you need background music, mood generation, or more, Pixabay has you covered.
