As a genuine music lover, it goes against every ethical and moral code to go somewhere online and download an artist’s music for free. I mean, how are they expected to keep the lights on in their studio and keep churning out those great beats you love so much.
Streaming seems like the popular way of listening to music these days. If you want to take your music offline, it entails you downloading the music, and there are not that many options for music download. Not when compared to music streaming.
So we have listed down sites where you can download music for free and legally. Though don’t expect to find many of the big time Billboard artists like Kendrick Lamar and Beyonce. That is not to say there are no big names of artists you can download from these sites.
| Free Music Archive | Born in 2009, FMA was a project by the WFMU Radio to make contemporary music of all genres available to the public. FMA now has tons up tons of free music from dozens of curators. |
| SoundCloud | Known as the YouTube for audio music upload, SoundCloud does have some free download options. Especially from upcoming artists who place their music up for free download, but often in exchange for something. Perhaps you like their Facebook page or follow them on Twitter. |
| ReverbNation | Some of the big names in the industry like Alabama Shakes, Imagine Dragons, and The Civil War got their big break on ReverbNation. And they did so by sharing their music for free and building up a loyal fanbase. |
| Amazon | Amazon is first and foremost known for being an online mall where you buy stuff from, but most people don’t yet know it also has a great catalog of music. Including free music, you can download. |
| DatPiff | If you are looking to download music from mainstream big time artists. DatPiff has you covered. It has some original compilations by top artists looking to heat up their fanbase. |
| Audiomack | Audiomac wants to give DatPiff up there a run for its money, or their lack of it, but you get the point. |
| Live Music Archive | LMA is basically a partnership between etree.org and Internet Archive, a community that has set out to share high-quality, lossless tracks of live concerts. |
| Jamendo | This site has thousands of tracks from thousands of artists, making it one of the biggest repositories on the web where you can find free music. |
| NoiseTrade | On this site, you can download a single track or the entire album uploaded by an independent artist. In exchange, you give them your email address and postal code, for them to send you promotional material fanning up their fanbase. |
| Last.FM | It started off as an internet radio station back in 2002, but in the same fashion as iHearRadio and Pandora, it morphed into a site where you can download free music. |