Looking at the best free music download sites might just assert the statement that melodies know no boundaries, and even brings people together. Time has made us move from LPs and cassettes to CDs and MP3s for our musical needs, without forgetting the significance of each era. In the present times, the internet seems like the most popular option for this purpose. It not only lets you amass a wide playlist and store it all as you want, but also provides this to you for free. Citing such reasons, many of us tend to move towards not-exactly-legal options swarming the web world. For us, this seemed like a good excuse to take you through some of the certified choices in the arena.
1. Jamendo –
Next on our roster of free music download sites is Jamendo, which gives you access to a wide database of songs under Creative Commons licenses. It currently boasts of about 343,104 tracks or over 54870 albums from all around the world. You can not only download unlimited music free of cost, but also listen to various new artists and even interact with them. And if on some days you just want to enjoy a pre-arranged playlist, you might want to try out Jamendo radio which streams through the JamPlayer. For budding artists, it also provides a chance to upload their music and earn cash via income and donations.
2. Amazon MP3 –
Amazon seems to offer almost everything that a person needs or wants. And with its name in this list of free music download sites, we believe some good things come without a price tag. The site offers paid music, but its collection of free songs is also considerably large. Sorted by genres, tracks can be previewed or directly downloaded. But it might seem a little displeasing to some that it operates only in certain countries like the U.S., the UK, Germany and France. Nonetheless, it has a free collection of over 3,200 tracks.
3. MP3.com –
The name of this website seems enough to tell you what it really has to offer audiophiles all around the globe. This particular portal also encourages budding artists by providing a platform for them to showcase their work. As a result, you get to view a vast collection of melodies and compile a huge playlist for free. The home page shows you options like top downloads, artists and videos, while also maintaining a separate section for free music. But apart from that, it even shows you artist profiles so that you get to know them and their music a little better. Through these options, you can also access the official artist website, the concerned Twitter and Facebook pages, as well as view them in iTunes.
4. ccMixter –
This addition to our free music download sites compilation is a community portal which works under a Creative Commons license as well. It’s yet another perfect stop which drops you to the right place to fulfill your acoustic needs. Apart from this, it also flaunts a compilation of A cappellas or songs which focus on vocal performance. To make it more accessible from wherever you are, the website even has an official iPhone app which can be installed free of cost from the Apple App Store. To browse through more music which matches your taste, you can skim through categories like editors’ picks, artist’s spotlight, what’s hot, party hour, easy listening and more.
5. Epitonic –
Epitonic sports a simple home page which greets you with options like new entries on the website, editor’s choices, and other such categories. The site also maintains a blog where you can view posts about recent activities on the music scene. Launched in 1999, it claims to be one of the first websites which concentrated on offering legal and free tracks. It also works directly with several artists to make this possible. Due to financial reasons, the site shut down in 2004 but sprung back into action by 2011. For this year, it assures audiences the introduction of several new features.
6. Free Music Archive –
Set up by WFMU, the Free Music Archive gives artists a chance to showcase their work and talent. It can be used by podcasters, regular users, radio or video producers, and other such individuals who are looking for music with no copyright issues. Each track page specifies details about the song, letting audiences know where they can use it and where they cannot. For generous users, it also facilitates voluntary payment of money to artists, directly through their PayPal accounts. Apart from tracks and albums by particular singers, the website also publicizes their tour dates and details to let users witness them performing live.
Here we end our compilation of the best free music download sites. But if you think we have missed out on something, we would surely like you to tell us about it.