Why Download Free Music?

  1. You are a type of person, who like to huge music collection on their computer and smartphone but don’t want to break any law.
  2. You are looking for free and legal background music for your YouTube video or other video projects. Even if you buy music from legal sites like iTunes, you don’t own it. For instance, you can not use that song as a background track for your YouTube video or pass it to someone. You only have the license to listen to that song, and that’s it. But thankfully, that are some website that offers quality music for free. And since the songs are uploaded by the original creator under creative common license, the entire thing is legal. Sometimes, you have to a credit link back to the source, which is totally fair. So, let’s take a look at some of the free music download website.

1. NoCopyrightSounds

If you are a content creator on YouTube and/or Twitch then you have to look no further than NoCopyrightSounds to find, download, and use music in your projects. NoCopyrightSounds is a YouTube channel that is purely dedicated to providing content creators with free, legal, and copyright free music. The good thing about NoCopyrightSounds is that there are hundreds of artists producing and submitting music in a wide variety of genres. All you have to do is search their YouTube playlist and find the music that suits you needs. Price: Free for YouTube and Twitch content creators. However, Brand and commercial organizations should take permission from NCS before using their music. Attribution: While using NoCopyrightSounds music, you need to give credit to artist, track, and NoCopyrightSounds with a link back to the original upload.

2. SoundCloud

SoundCloud is one of the best and most popular places to listen and download music for free. There are hundreds and thousands of artists who upload and share their music regularly using the SoundCloud platform. However, one thing to keep in mind is that not all songs or music you find on SoundCloud are downloadable. The artists should allow the downloading and only then you will see the download option to download the music. Moreover, if you want to use the music in your commercial projects, you need to make sure that you are filtering the search results accordingly. Typically, you can find the filtering option on the sidebar. Price: SoundCloud offers both free and paid music. Attribution: Most music you find on SoundCloud comes with Creative Commons License. As such, you are required to give appropriate credit to the artist, link to the license, and mention any changes made to the track.

3. Jamendo

Jamendo is another popular site to listen or download music legally. The good thing about Jamendo is that there are many professional and upcoming artists that regularly upload new music tracks. In fact, you get to choose from thousands of albums and over hundred thousand tracks. Moreover, you can download any music track you want for free with just a click or two. However, not all tracks you download can be used for commercial purposes. So, do check the licensing terms of the music tracks you download before using them in your commercial projects. Price: You can download any music track from Jamendo for free. You can also join Jamendo membership for hassle free licensing. Attribution: General Creative Commons Licensing terms are applicable and you need to give credit to the artist and link back to the original source.

4. NoiseTrade

NoiseTrade is yet another popular platform where you can download thousands of music tracks legally without paying a dime. However, you need to have an account to download the music track. Moreover, when you download a music track of certain artist, your email address and postal code will be shared with them. The good thing about Noise trade is that it also acts a social platform for music and book enthusiasts. This social network like environment helps you to meet like-minded people to discuss and share music. If you want to, you can also donate to your favorite artists for their good work. Price: Free, but you need to share your email address and postal code to download the music track. Attribution: Each artist has their own licensing terms. If you are using the music track for commercial purposes, you need to check the licensing terms on the download page or contact the artist.

5. Free Music Archive

As you can tell from the name itself, Free Music Archive or FMA for short allows you to listen and download any music track in its catalog for free. The good thing about FMA is that every music track you see in their catalog are pre-cleared so that you don’t have to worry about copyright claims. That being said, all the tracks in the catalog are licensed under Creative Commons. So, when you are using the music downloaded from FMA in your projects, you have to adhere to the licensing terms of that particular music track. Price: Free. Attribution: If you are using the downloaded music tracks in your projects then you have to credit the creator and link back to the original source. Depending on the Creative Commons license, some additional attributions may be required.

6. Musopen

Musopen is a non-profit organization which enables you to listen and downloads classic music, public domain recordings, and sheet music. Though you can download most music tracks for free, some of the premium tracks may require payment. To download the music tracks, you need to sign up for a free account. As a free user, you are allowed to download five music tracks per day in standard quality. If you wish to download lossless music or remove the downloads per day restriction then you need to signup for one of their yearly subscriptions. Price: Most music tracks are free and are available under public domain. However, you need to pay for premium music tracks. For lossless quality and unrestricted downloads, you need to signup for premium accounts. Attribution: Depending on the license terms, you need to credit the artist. Every music track or album will have its own Creative Commons license. You can find the license terms on the download page.

7. YouTube

YouTube is the second largest search engines and looking at the new trend in videos, soon it will become number one destination to find anything. And while most videos on YouTube have Standard YouTube license by default, there are always some music videos with a creative common license. All you have to do is search for the genre you want and then set the filter as creative common. Depending on the cc-licenses, you can download that song. YouTube recommend using the video editor feature to download the creative common videos, however, you can YouTube recommend using the video editor feature to download the creative common videos. Price: All cc music tracks are free and are available under public domain. Attribution: Depending on the license terms, you need to credit the artist.

Hope that helps and do comment below if you think I missed your favorite site or to share your own favorite sites to download music legally.