7 Legal Websites to Get Free Music Downloads.
The good thing about the Internet is that you can find and download almost anything you want. However, knowingly or unknowingly, most of the things you download from the Internet may be illegal. When this is not obtained legally, you run into many unnecessary risks. This is especially true when it comes to music and the music industry in general.
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Why download free music?
1. You are the type of people who like to collect a huge collection of music on their computer and smartphone, but do not want to break the law.
2. You are looking for free and legal background music for your YouTube videos or other video projects.
Even if you buy music from legal sites like iTunes, you don’t own it. For example, you cannot use this song as a background track for your YouTube video or stream it to anyone. You only have a license to listen to this song, and that’s it.
But luckily, this is some kind of website that offers quality music for free. And since the songs are uploaded by the original creator under a Creative Commons license, it’s all legal. Sometimes you need to link to the source, which is perfectly fair. So let’s take a look at some free music download sites.
The best legal sites to get free music
1. NoCopyrightSounds
If you are a YouTube and / or Twitch content creator, you don’t need to search, download, and use music in your projects further than NoCopyrightSounds. NoCopyrightSounds is a YouTube channel solely dedicated to providing content creators with free, legal and copyright-free music. The nice thing about NoCopyrightSounds is that hundreds of artists create and present music in a wide variety of genres. All you have to do is search their YouTube playlist and find the music that suits you.
Price: Free for YouTube and Twitch content creators. However, brands and businesses must obtain NCS approval before using their music.
Attribution: When using NoCopyrightSounds music, you must include the artist, track and NoCopyrightSounds with a link to the original download.
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2. SoundCloud
SoundCloud is one of the best and most popular places to listen and download music for free. Hundreds and thousands of artists regularly upload and share their music using the SoundCloud platform. However, keep in mind that not all songs or music you find on SoundCloud are downloadable. Artists must allow downloads, and only then will you see a download option to download music. Moreover, if you want to use music in your commercial projects, you need to make sure that you filter your search results accordingly. You can usually find the filtering option in the sidebar.
Price: SoundCloud offers both free and paid music.
Attribution: Most of the music you find on SoundCloud comes with a Creative Commons license. As such, you must include an artist, a link to the license, and mention any changes made to the track.
3. Jamendo
Jamendo is another popular site for legally listening or downloading music. The good thing about Jamendo is that there are many professional and emerging performers who regularly upload new music tracks. In fact, you can choose from thousands of albums and over one hundred thousand tracks. Moreover, you can download any music composition for free in just a couple of clicks. However, not all downloaded tracks can be used commercially. So, be sure to check the licensing terms for the music tracks you download before using them in your commercial projects.
Price: You can download any piece of music from Jamendo for free. You can also join Jamendo for free licensing.
Attribution: Creative Commons General Licensing Terms apply and you must identify the artist and link to the original source.
4. NoiseTrade
NoiseTrade is another popular platform where you can legally download thousands of music tracks without paying a dime. However, an account is required to download the music track. What’s more, when you download a song from a specific artist, your email address and zip code will be sent to them. The good thing about Noise trade is that it also acts as a social platform for music and book lovers. This social media-like environment helps you meet like-minded people, discuss and share music. If you like, you can donate to your favorite artists for their good work.
Price: Free, but you need to provide your email address and zip code to download the music track.
Attribution: each performer has its own licensing terms. If you are using the music track commercially, you need to check the licensing terms on the download page or contact the artist.
5. Free music archive
As the name suggests, Free Music Archive, or FMA for short, allows you to listen to and download any music track from its catalog for free. The advantage of FMAs is that every piece of music you see in their catalog is pre-cleaned so you don’t have to worry about copyright infringement complaints. Moreover, all tracks in the catalog are licensed under Creative Commons. So, when you use music downloaded from FMA in your projects, you must adhere to the licensing terms for that particular music track.
Price: Free.
Attribution: if you use uploaded music tracks in your projects, you must indicate the author and link to the original source. Some additional links may be required depending on the Creative Commons license.
6. Musopen
Musopen is a non-profit organization that allows you to listen to and download classical music, public domain recordings and sheet music. While you can download most of the music tracks for free, some of the premium tracks may require payment. To download music tracks, you need to create a free account. As a free user, you can download five music tracks per day in standard quality. If you want to download lossless music or remove the daily download limit, you need to subscribe to one of their annual subscriptions.
Price: Most of the music tracks are free and freely available. However, you have to pay for premium music tracks. For lossless quality and unlimited downloads, you need to register for premium accounts.
Attribution: depending on the terms of the license, you need to specify the contractor. Each piece of music 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 engine and given the new trend in video, it will soon become the number one place to find anything. And while most YouTube videos have a standard YouTube license by default, there are always music videos with a general creative license. All you have to do is find the genre you want and then set the filter as generic for your creativity. Depending on the cc licenses, you can download this song. YouTube recommends using the video editor feature for uploading general creative videos, however you can
YouTube recommends using the video editor feature to upload creative general videos.
Price: All cc music tracks are free and freely available.
Attribution: depending on the terms of the license, you need to specify the contractor.
Hope it helps and leave a comment below if you think I missed your favorite site, or share your favorite sites for legal music downloads.