Best Websites to Download Music

Apart from soothing the savage beast, music does have extraordinary power to move us and kindle emotions that can be really out of this world. These days, rather than popping into the record store to get clips and tapes of their favorite performers doing what they do best, many prefer to visit a website or two and download what’s on offer. Websites that specialize in dispensing either free or paid-for music are a dime a dozen. Finding which is worth your time can be a royal pain in the butt. And you might even end up downloading malware or pirated stuff that deprive artists of the rightful rewards of their hard work.

With that in mind, we spent all of last century searching for the top 10 music download websites out there that lets you listen to and download tracks for free, offers a rewarding, stress-free experience and of course takes adequate care of the interests of the musicians whose tracks you are enjoying. Below are the best free music download sites, folks. Read on and let your ears tremble in anticipation!

1. Noise Trade

Noise Trade is crammed to the rafters with music from every genre. It’s a music-sharing website that’s much used by artists for sharing their music free of charge to their fans. Songs can be downloaded for free, and you can optionally donate a token amount if a piece particularly moves you. If you are new to the site you should check out the top download section, which shows the most downloaded songs. And once you sign up, a newsletter will be sent to your inbox each week to let you know the newest and hottest songs that are available for downloading. Overall, it heavily ticks all the right boxes and is one of the top music download sites you can find.

2. Internet Archive

Most of us might have heard of the Internet Archive, which as their name suggests keeps millions of old versions of different websites, games, videos, books and more on ice for future generations to immerse themselves in and historians to poke into. Apart from storing the above-listed content they also have an Audio Archive Project division that’s tasked with storing audio that has been created and recorded through all the ages. These audio include recordings of long-forgotten radio shows, audiobooks, interviews with the great and little, the famous and not-so-famous and of course music. All these are available for free downloading and you can spend a lifetime listening to the featured content without doing more than scratch the surface. What a collection, what a music download paradise!

3. Jamendo

With nearly 500,000 songs on hand, Jamendo is easily one of the biggest and best music download sites on the planet. It also works under a Creative Commons agreement. Artists get to upload their works for users to listen to and stream for free and in return get the chance to boost their fan base and possibly sell a commercial license that will enable people to legally use their creations. Most genres are supported, and upcoming artists are given a leg up to break into the industry. Jamendo makes music sound cooler than cool!

4. Bandcamp

Musicians you grew up with can sometimes get stale, or you just might be feeling adventurous and want to boast of being among the first to discover a new Kendrick Lamar. If so, you need to hoof it to Bandcamp. It is an artist-direct and music sharing site that really emphasizes the promotion of new stars. Some of the featured contents are available for free download. Others cost a set fee, while some require that you tip any amount you like. There’s also plenty of great music-oriented articles on hand that are totally worth going gaga over. Overall, Bandcamp is the place to be and is a top choice if you want to download music free online.

5. MP3.com

MP3 is a music-sharing site that offers great content that’s easy to access and capable of being downloaded by users to their heart’s content. Regardless of the kind of music you are into, you can find it by inputting the genre or even time period. If you are in need of free and high-quality music that’s often directly uploaded by the artists concerned, MP3.com is a great way to go get it.

6. Pure Volume

Visiting Pure Volume is always a delight. Their home page is constantly loaded with chosen artists, thereby offering you a way to get exposed to musicians whose existence you might otherwise be totally unaware of. Pure Volume promotes itself as being one of the biggest sites with the highest volume of available music that spans virtually all genres. To help you pick out the best from these, an advanced search function, top songs and top downloads list is made available. Also prominently featured are an awesome number of emerging artists and their works are usually worth taking a peek at.

7. Epitonic

Epitonic happens to have been around since 1999 and in that time has managed to stamp itself into our consciousness. A distinguishing characteristic is that users of the site do not even need to register before they can get their hands on the thousands of free-as-air and legally curated MP3’s which span across all genres on offer. These free stuff also include exclusive label releases and there are even regular music-oriented articles available that guide users to the hottest and most iconic releases their ears need to get orgasmic to. Overall, Epitonic is a go-to site for those who want to spoil themselves with excellent quality free music.

8. Soundowl

Like the others on the list, Soundowl has a ton of stuff in all possible genres. We do recommend that you check out their instrumental section, as it’s loaded to the gills with loads of thumping stuff. An advanced search function is supported for finding whatever you might be looking for, while their cooperation with Copyseeker ensures that all stuff is legal, copyrights are not violated and artists are not ripped off. Soundowl does feature a minimalist interface that takes some getting used to, but overall is definitely one of the best free music download sites you can get your hands on.

9. Bump Foot

If you are really passionate about genres like techno, ambient, dance, electronic music and IDM, then Bump Foot is where the action is at. It’s based in Japan of all places, came into existence back in 2005 and as long as your actions are not commerce-oriented lets you download, distribute and mess around with audio tracks from all the featured genres. There are also mixtapes on hand which are given all sorts of funky names. These you can download as a batch or alternatively pick out single audio tracks that appeal to you, download and get jiggy with.

10. Amazon

Nearly everyone on this planet has bought something or the other on Amazon. Apart from offering a cornucopia of goodies for sale, and often cheaper than the competition, Amazon also has quite a lot of free-to-download music they can’t wait to gift you with. These audio are of course searchable by genre and are suitable for all ages and purposes. While what’s available is limited when compared to other sites on this list, it’s still of great worth. So, go ahead and amaze your ears with the free music to be found on the Amazon site.

This concludes it folks. Are there other great music download sites out there that we missed? If so do let us know and meanwhile let the music pour forth!