How to Buy Music on Android Without Google Play

Amazon Music, Bandcamp, and Apple Music are excellent alternatives

Google shut down the Google Play Music service in 2020 and left a hole open when it comes to buying music on Android. This article covers different ways you can buy music using currently available stores.

How Do I Buy Music on Android?

The following are the most popular music services with the widest selection of music you can buy and playback on Android.

Amazon Music

The Amazon.com Inc. Prime Music logo is displayed on an Apple Inc. iPhone 5 for a photograph in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Thursday, June 12, 2014. Amazon.com Inc. introduced advertising-free music streaming with more than a million songs, rampin
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Amazon Music is currently the best service featuring a complete digital music store to buy MP3s to then stream or download to your device. Browse entire genres and purchase entire albums or individual tracks. Download Amazon Music at the Google Play store.

Bandcamp

Bandcamp music downloads

If you are a music lover, Bandcamp is an excellent service for discovering new music that often doesn't get played on commercial radio. Bandcamp only takes a small commission, so most of the purchase price goes directly to the article. Bigger acts likely won't be on Bandcamp, but since they already have outlets (Amazon, Apple, etc), this is a great place to find something new. Download Bandcamp at the Google Play store.

eMusic

emusic logo

emusic .com

eMusic is similar to Bandcamp in that it focuses on supporting new artists you won't likely find on any of the popular subscription-based streaming services like Spotify or Amazon Music. You can buy songs individually, or purchase entire albums. Download eMusic for Android at the Google Play store.

Apple Music and iTunes

New music sharing feature on Apple's iOS 11
Courtesy of Apple

While the Apple Music streaming service is getting all the attention, the old iTunes Store still exists and that's where you go to buy music. Here's where it gets a little confusing, however.

On a Mac, you use the Music app to play music and buy songs or albums. If you use Windows, you'll need to install iTunes for Windows to buy the music and use the Apple Music app for Android to play the music back. When you use the Apple Music app for Android (and you are signed in to your account) the app should recognize all the songs you have purchased via iTunes

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