Downloading music for free does not necessarily mean piracy. Several sites allow you to listen to music free of rights without paying in all legality. Inevitably, you will not find the latest tracks from the major majors in the music industry, but these platforms are excellent ways to discover new artists and broaden your horizons.
While music streaming services like Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, Amazon Music, Apple Music and others are on the rise, many users prefer to download their music to store on their computer, smartphone, smartwatch or other device. of storage. The music is thus available without the need for an Internet connection or a paid subscription, the free formulas of these platforms often being very restrictive. We have selected 10 websites that offer to download songs for free and completely legally.
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is probably the best-known platform in this selection. This notoriety makes it a privileged choice for artists who wish to share their music and their creations and there is therefore a vast catalog of songs from all genres combined.
The features of SoundCloud are very comprehensive, including the ability to leave comments to a specific excerpt from the tracks. A very practical option that facilitates exchanges between users and streamlines discussions. Because SoundCloud is much more than a simple music database: the service is thought of as a social network highlighting sharing and interactivity. It also offers to share artists, playlists or albums via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest.
SoundCloud lets you stream music or download tracks for free. This last possibility is not systematic, but the volume of content thus available remains substantial. Note that you must create a SoundCloud account to benefit from the download option.
ReverbNation
“Artists First”, this is the motto of ReverbNation, which focuses on promoting independent artists and presents itself as a platform that launches careers. If it allows creators to monetize their music and get noticed by labels, it also offers users to listen to music in streaming and download certain songs for free.
ReverbNation relies on discovery, with an audio player always displayed at the bottom of the site’s pages to encourage Internet users to listen to music while browsing. If they don’t know what to listen to, suggestions are offered based on their musical preferences.
Filters allow you to find free songs to download. You can also type queries like “Free Songs Download” Where “Free Download MP3” in the search bar to find available content. You can even find live recordings of certain well-known artists, such as Adèle.
Jamendo
Based in Europe, and more precisely in Luxembourg, Jamendo is a pioneer in listening to and downloading legal music online since it has been active since 2004. You will find more than 500,000 tracks from the independent scene, in streaming and free download.
The interface is pleasant to navigate and most genres are represented. You can also access a category listing the latest titles released on the platform or in the spotlights, a selection of music highlighted by the service, because it believes that they deserve a little of your time for their quality.
While Jamendo is totally free for personal listening, it also offers a subscription to access a catalog of royalty-free music for commercial use. This makes it possible to remunerate the platform and the artists.
Free Music Archive
Looking like a site straight out of another era, Free Music Archive remains a reference for downloading music for free and legally on the Internet, whether for personal listening or to enrich video, media or podcast projects.
All genres are represented and it is easy to find what you are looking for by refining your searches thanks to the support for sub-genres. In the Hip-Hop category, for example, no less than eight sub-categories are offered to be sure to find songs that suit us.
It is also possible to display recent titles, launched on the platform during the week or the last month, so as not to miss trends. The number of streaming listens is indicated next to each title, which can also be downloaded quickly.
YouTubeStudio
You already know the trick of downloading songs published on YouTube to MP3 or MP4 via a third-party service. An illegal method that we will not develop in more detail here to focus on a completely legal process.
You must have an account and a YouTube channel for this. No worries if you’ve never used it, it doesn’t matter as long as you can access YouTube Studio, the tool for video creators. Go to the tab Audio library and you have plenty of royalty-free titles available to download for free.
Of course, these songs are above all designed to be integrated into videos (the library also contains very practical sound effects to illustrate, such as the sounds of children playing or of a truck), but nothing prevents you from Go listen to them and download the ones you like.
Soundclick
This social platform focused on music sharing is one of the first of its kind to appear in the late 90s. It lists more than 2.3 million instrumental tracks and more than 1.7 million hip-hop tracks. hop, as well as hundreds of thousands of other genres. Users can create their playlists there and make them public for the community.
Songs can be streamed or downloaded for free in MP3 format (only) if you create an account. Please note that some titles are not available for download, or are chargeable. It is possible to access the WAV and the Trackout, but it is necessary to go to the checkout. A small criticism that can be addressed to SoundClick is the uselessness of the #free tag for research, because many paid titles still display this label.
The service is distinguished by the possibility of interacting with the artists: the Internet user is not a simple consumer of music, he can take part in the debate.
Audiomack
Audiomack is a great site for streaming music. It allows you to create your playlists, share them, take advantage of those of others, and has options such as queuing, adding to favorites and the possibility of embedding, which we do not necessarily find on all gender platforms. There is also a commenting system and the Chromecast function to send music more easily to a compatible device.
The service also allows you to download titles, boasting a catalog of more than 10 million songs in offline mode. But not all of them are free, artists can also charge for their creations. We can also regret that Audiomack does not have a system allowing users to find titles that they can download for free more easily.
The genres are all well represented and the choice is legion on this platform which is not only available on the web, but also in the form of a mobile application for Android and iOS.
Boomplay
Boomplay has only been around since 2015, but has grown by leaps and bounds. Founded in Nigeria, the platform is especially popular in Africa and acclaimed by artists from this continent, but there are not all genres and all nationalities. Ninho, for example, has a profile on the service, where he publishes freestyles among other things.
You can download many songs for free, but for this you must go through the mobile application, which is the black point of the service. The free version is limited, but may be sufficient depending on the use. You will be able to store the music locally on your mobile, but the offline mode of the app is exclusive to the premium version.
Boomplay is perhaps the solution presented in this selection that comes closest to Spotify and others. If you don’t know what to listen to, let yourself be guided by the weekly and monthly charts put forward by the platform.
band camp
Bandcamp is another leading music sharing platform for independent artists. Songs can be streamed or downloaded. Many titles are paying, but the catalog of songs and albums available for free remains very well supplied. You can search for them using the tag free, free download Where free on the site.
The music is available for download in MP3 and FLAC formats. All genres are represented and each artist can have their own Bandcamp page, which lists their available albums and music. A community tab makes it possible to follow the artists that interest us so as not to miss anything of their news and their latest releases, as well as to read and write comments.
Note that if you are not interested in the social features, it is not necessary to create an account since streaming and downloading do not require one.
Beatstars
Our last proposal to download music online for free is Beatstars. Like most of its competitors, the platform mainly hosts the content of independent artists looking to sell or promote their music.
To display only free titles, simply go to the search filters and check the box Show free beats only. Listening to streaming does not require creating an account, but you will have to go through this step to be able to download the songs that interest you.
Beatstars is very practical for searching for albums and titles that correspond to our tastes thanks to its extremely precise filters: in addition to the genre of course, we can request music using a particular instrument, but also a precise pitch of notes, a custom tempo, or even filter the type of voice.