12 Best Places to Get Free Music Downloads

Free Music Archive

What makes Free Music Archive (FMA) different from these other sites is that you can search for instrumental music only and filter your searches by genre and duration.

The charts let you find the best music of all time on the site, and the top music for the week and the month. There are also 16 genres to pick from, like blues, jazz, pop, international, and novelty.

Jamendo Music

All the free music downloads at Jamendo Music are made available through Creative Commons licensing, meaning that the artists themselves have decided they want to give out their music for free for anyone to enjoy.

You can discover new music by viewing the most popular music and the songs that trending. The Latest music filter lets you see recently added songs, and you can search for artists that you know to see if their music is available for download.

Another way to find great music here is by listening to one of the site's radio channels. When you find a song or artist you like, you can download that single track or the entire album. You can also browse via playlists, like "Cool Instrumentals," "Chill Zone," "Fresh & New," and "Time To Dream."

If you'd rather stream music instead of download it, Jamendo gives you that option, too. There are also mobile apps available if you don't want to use your web browser.

Internet Archive

Internet Archive has millions of results for free downloads of music, audio, podcasts, radio programs, and, most notably, their Live Music Archive.

You can sort the free music downloads by most viewed items, title, date published, or creator, as well as filter the results by media type (concerts, audio, etc.), topics & subjects (e.g., rock or funk), language, and more.

There are usually multiple file formats that you can download the music in, like MP3 and OGG.

Bandcamp

Bandcamp makes it easy for artists to share their music in a "name your price" type of setting. This means that while you can pay for the music, another option is to put a zero in the payment box and download the song for free.

The Discover page is a great way to find the best-selling music at Bandcamp, plus new arrivals and songs recommended by artists.

Not all songs can be downloaded for free, but for the ones that don't have a minimum price, just enter 0 in the payment box, and then follow the on-screen prompts to get it downloaded. Most are available in several formats, including MP3, FLAC, AAC, OGG, and WAV.

Sometimes, there also isn't a minimum price on entire albums.

Last.fm

Last.fm has several pages of free music downloads that fall into all genres. You can browse these free downloads by category, new releases, coming soon, or by simply looking through the whole list.

Just one selection will download your chosen song.

Besides downloads, you can also stream thousands of songs and get recommendations of bands you'll love.

SoundClick

SoundClick is the ultimate portal into finding free music directly from the artists websites. These artists have decided they'd like to let people download their music for free. This includes signed and unsigned musicians.

Browse through the music charts and genres until you find a free music download you'd like to have, and then either listen to or download that song. You can also create custom radio stations, get to know other listeners on the forums, and read more about your favorite artists.

While you can, of course, download music, some artists make their music available only after you've paid for the download, and others allow music streaming only.

SoundCloud

SoundCloud is a website that lets you stream and download free music. The content is sometimes uploaded by professional artists, while others are shared by independent musicians.

Not all the music here can be downloaded, and some require you to 'Like' a Facebook page to get the file. However, music that can be downloaded instantly and without an account, either have a dedicated download button in its menu or under the song.

Some ways you might have luck finding free music is to browse through the Creative Commons section or search for music tagged as free, but others might be free, too, that aren't in these areas.

Musopen

Musopen has sheet music and recordings that are completely free, legal, and copyright-free. You can listen online or download the music for whatever purpose. There's even an online radio you can listen to from a computer or through their mobile app.

There are lots of ways to find free music downloads here: Browse by composer, performer, instrument, form, or time period. Of course, you can also do a manual search to see if they have something specific.

Another way to get music downloads is through the music discovery tool. It lets you filter by a mood like sad or relaxing, as well as by instrument, rating, length, and license type (to find only public domain music, creative commons music, etc.).

You can preview music without logging in, but to actually download anything you find on Musopen, you have to create a user account. A free account gives you access to five music downloads every day and standard, lossy audio quality.

BeatStars

BeatStars has free music downloads, too. Something great about this site's offerings is that you don't have to search all over the place to find them; just use the link below to get a list.

You can sort the list to find the newly added songs, and filter by genre and several moods, such as mellow, lazy, inspiring, and silly. Other filters include key, instrument, BPM, duration, and energy level (such as low or very high).

The biggest difference with this site is that for some music, you have to subscribe to the artist's profile, or follow them on their social media account, before you can get the download link. It takes just a few clicks to do it, and it doesn't cost anything. Others have you enter your email address to receive the download link.

Amazon

There are thousands and thousands of free music downloads at Amazon.com, making it a favorite to visit when looking for new music to download legally.

You can see the music by choosing a genre or sorting by popularity, release date, length of the song, reviews, or in alphabetical order by title, artist, or album.

You can play the songs before downloading them, but when you're ready to save the songs to your computer, add the item to your cart. Then, just check out as if you were purchasing something. You'll be taken to a link to download the free music, and it'll also be saved in the Digital Orders tab of your order history.

ReverbNation

ReverbNation is a good pick if you're looking for music downloads from artists you don't yet know about.

Not every song you see on this website can be downloaded, but it is all streamable through your web browser. Downloadable songs are indicated by a small download button next to the song.

The Discover page is a good start if you're not sure where to begin looking for new music downloads. To search by genre, use the Charts page.