Your favorite songs for free! Sounds good right? There are many ways to get them, some legal and some not! Read the steps below to learn different methods to download free music from the Internet.
Steps
Method 1 of 9: Free Downloads from Popular Sites
Step 1. Visit the music store of your choice
Almost all of the major online music stores have a wide variety of free songs that are available for download. These are usually solo songs from a full CD or from new artists. The download of these is totally legal.
- Amazon has a very large selection of free MP3s that changes regularly.
- You can find a rotating selection of free songs to download on Google Play Music.
- 7Digital occasionally offers free songs for download. Click on the "Free MP3s & Deals" button in the top menu.
- Jamendo offers tons of free music released under the Creative Commons license, which means it's free if you download it for personal use.
Step 2. Visit the sites during the sales
Wholesale distributors often hold sales and special events offering music at a deep discount, or even free. Be sure to visit the sites when sales occur, especially around major holidays.
Step 3. Search iTunes
In addition to the web stores, iTunes has its own store that can be accessed from within the program. Click on the “Free on iTunes” link to find all the free music that is currently available. The selection changes often.
Method 2 of 9: Use Music Communities
Step 1. Visit a music community website
A growing trend in the world of digital music is the use of instant playback websites. Some of the most popular sites are BandCamp and SoundCloud, which allow artists to upload music for visitors to listen to, or sometimes download.
- Not all songs on SoundCloud and BandCamp are free to download. Sometimes the ones that are new have a limited number of free downloads, then you have to buy them.
- PureVolume offers many free downloads. When you select an album, click on the “Free MP3” link to download the songs.
- NoiseTrade is a music community that allows artists to upload music for fans to download for free legally.
- Last.fm provides many music tracks from a variety of artists for free.
Step 2. Find music
You can search by artist or track name, or browse through music genres to find new releases. These sites offer remixes of popular songs that can be downloaded or played for free.
Many artists started releasing singles and advance songs on sites like these for free
Step 3. Convert instant music playback (streaming) into downloadable files
There are several web pages that allow you to enter the URL of a SoundCloud song and convert it to an MP3 file that you can download. Please note that doing so violates the SoundCloud Terms and Conditions of use.
Method 3 of 9: Visit Mixtape Sites
Step 1. Go to the main page of the site you want
Mixtapes (in this case) are albums that mix songs by other artists and / or the artist composing the song. Online mixtape communities adhere to standards that keep their mixes genuine, so you can download them without fear of any legal retribution.
- The largest free mixtape direct download site is DatPiff, which contains most of the most promising underground hip-hop DJs.
- Other popular sites include That Mixtape, LiveMixtapes, and MonsterMixtapes.
Step 2. Subscribe if necessary
Find the area of the page where you can log in; in DatPiff it's to the right of the main page, near the top. Click on the text that says "Register" and fill in the required information.
These sites collect a lot of their money from advertising, so it is likely that they will try to get you to subscribe to advertising offers during the registration process. Look for the link that says "No thanks", or something similar, to avoid it; on DatPiff.com it's red text in the lower right corner
Step 3. Find mixtapes
Read user ratings and comments to find the highest-rated mixtapes, or take a chance on the new ones.
Step 4. Download a mixtape
When you find a mixtape that interests you, click "Listen" or "Play" to hear a sample of the track. If you like it, click the "Download" link to download it to your computer.
Some mixtape communities set a daily download limit (which you can avoid by paying), but they offer other mixtapes “free” (which means they don't count towards the limit). First browse through the latter to get all the new music you want every day
Method 4 of 9: Follow the Artists
Step 1. Find artists you like
Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and on their websites. Become a fan of their social pages and subscribe to their email lists.
Search the web for your favorite artists to find all the social platforms they are on. This way, you will ensure that you have the most coverage of the artist
Step 2. Become a fanatic
Many bands and artists are present online and you can follow them through social media, such as Facebook, or through email subscription lists on the artist's personal site. People who show their devotion to their favorite artists are often rewarded with free downloads of new radio singles, demo (trial) versions of songs, offbeat tracks, and live recordings.
Step 3. Stay up-to-date with trends
Every now and then, bands you like will let you and other fans know that there are free song samples to download. If you're a fan of enough artists, maybe you can get a new song from a big show every week, totally public.
Method 5 of 9: Visit Free Music Sites
Step 1. Visit free music sites
There are a variety of websites and blogs that offer free MP3 downloads. In some blogs you can find complete albums before they are released. In addition to general music sites, there is an extensive collection of blogs dedicated to specific genres.
The vast majority of these sites operate in a legally undefined zone. To download free music legally, look for sites that publish music under Creative Commons licenses or store it in the public domain
Step 2. Search for a song
Browse through the songs on the main page, or enter the artist or song name in the search bar at the top of the screen to perform a specific search.
Do not click on the advertisements. These advertisements tend to be misleading and direct you to dangerous or intrusive software downloads; very rarely do they lead you to more free music
Step 3. Read the song information
On most sites, song information is displayed next to each result; This includes the playback time, the file size (in Mb), and the bit rate. Choose the song you like.
- The bit rate reflects the audio quality of the file. In general terms, MP3 files vary between 60 and 320 Kbps, with the highest numbers being the highest quality, the sound quality of a CD is 256 Kbps and of the radio is 192 Kbps.
- Lower bit rates result in smaller file sizes. This is useful for users who do not have a lot of storage space on the computer, or the MP3 player, but want to have as much music as possible.
Step 4. Listen to the song sample
Click the "Play" link below the title to hear the song in the browser and make sure it is what you want.
Step 5. Download the file
When you're ready to download the song, right-click the "Download" link below the title and choose "Save As …". Select a location on your computer and save the file there.
Some sites redirect you to download services instead of downloading directly from the website
Step 6. Verify that it works
Find the file on your computer and double-click it to open it. Verify that the download was successful. Once you are satisfied, save the file to a folder and add it to the music player of your choice.
Method 6 of 9: Convert Music from YouTube
Step 1. Visit a YouTube video conversion website
There are some web pages that allow you to enter the link of a YouTube video in an input field and "separate" the audio track from the video to download it as a medium quality mp3 file (128 Kbps).
Converting YouTube videos violates the site's terms of service, so doing so too often can cause your IP to be blocked and you cannot access YouTube content
Step 2. Browse YouTube and find a song that you want to download
Select the browser's address bar and copy the entire address (URL) of the video.
Step 3. Paste the URL of the video into the conversion website field and click "Convert Video"
The conversion process may take several minutes, depending on the size of the file.
Step 4. Download the file
When the file is ready, it will appear above the text field. Click "Download" to save it to your computer.
Step 5. Verify the file
Open it on the computer and make sure it has no glitches. This was more of a problem with converted mp3s a few years ago than it is today, but still be cautious and control it.
Method 7 of 9: Play Music Online
Step 1. Get torrent software
Probably the most common way to share songs and albums on the Internet is through torrents, which are files that direct the computer to copy bits of a desired file or folder (such as an album) from other torrent users until gather a complete copy.
- This software runs torrent files and helps you manage them. µTorrent is a small, fast and reliable free torrent program. You can download it from the official website.
- Although torrenting and downloading the file is not illegal, copyright laws apply to any content that is transferred via torrents. This means that if you do not have a legal copy of the song you are downloading, the material is considered pirated.
Step 2. Install the software
Double-click the file you downloaded to run the installer. It is very likely that it offers you the installation of search bars and other additional software, but you can decline it if you wish.
- Find a torrent. You can find many sites that aggregate and list torrents, as they are not illegal by themselves.
- When you receive torrent results, look at user comments or star ratings. Choose the ones with positive reviews and ratings because the others can be fake or dangerous.
Step 3. Download the torrent file
The file has to be very small, only a couple of dozen Kb or so. This is because the torrent itself is just a set of instructions that tells the program what to do. The torrent opens automatically when the download is complete; otherwise you can open it through your torrent client.
Step 4. Wait for the file to download
Torrents do not have a set time limit to download, they can take from a few minutes to most of the day. Some factors that influence download time are the size of the file and how many “seeders” (people who own the entire file) are sharing it.
Step 5. Consider saving the torrent
After downloading the music, you can unzip the files and listen to them whenever you like. At this point, it is very welcome to leave the file on the list so that others can download parts from there, but you don't have to if you don't want to.
Some private torrent communities require you to maintain a certain ratio between downloads and saved torrents for a part of the site to remain
Method 8 of 9: Find a Music Forum
Step 1. Find a community that shares music
Websites created by the larger communities (like Reddit) have one or more communities dedicated to music. Take a good look and learn the community codes before posting anything.
Sharing music through a forum is no more legal than doing it through torrents. The acceptance of the use of the forum is because they are less likely to be closed or persecuted by the authorities because they are only members of one forum
Step 2. Keep an eye on the “share” or “share” discussions
Depending on the site you visit, this can happen rarely or several times a day. When you find one, go in there.
Step 3. Choose an album
You'll see people posting hyperlinked albums to sites like Mega, Zippyshare, and Mediafire. Those links lead to direct downloads of the albums in question.
Copy the link and paste it in a new tab. When prompted, click to download the file
Step 4. Scan the file for viruses
When the file is finished downloading, scan it with antivirus software to find out if it has any viruses. You can usually find the option in the menu that appears by right-clicking on the file.
Step 5. Open the file
When everything looks good, open the file and extract the music inside. You are not expected to share it as in the case of torrents.
Step 6. Provide something in return
If you are satisfied with the community you can request music in case other users have it. However, you are likely to get a better response if you offer to upload an album first.
Method 9 of 9: Use file sharing software
Step 1. Download music on a file-sharing network
File sharing involves direct transfer with other users. Soulseek is by far the safest and most reliable sharing client that is freely available. Plus, it provides access to one of the widest selections of music anywhere on the Internet.
- As with all file sharing programs, be careful when downloading from unknown sources. Programs like Soulseek do not scan for viruses or prevent users from sharing malicious files, it is up to the user to download safely.
- Sharing music through these types of programs is illegal if you do not own a copy. Providing music for other people to download increases the possibility of being charged against you. These programs are generally safe because they are monitored by the community, but be aware that there is a legal risk in sharing music that does not belong to you.
Step 2. Download the Soulseek software
You can find the latest version at http://www.soulseekqt.net/news/node/1. Just click on the top link below the title of your operating system (Windows, Mac or Linux).
Step 3. Install the software
Double-click the file you downloaded to run it and install the program.
Step 4. Launch Soulseek
You will be asked to create a username; It is not very important, so choose the name you want.
Step 5. Establish a folder with music to share with other users
Most Soulseek users will not allow you to download from their libraries unless you share some of your songs. You don't have to share your entire library, but it's okay to do so.
- Click on the "Options" tab.
- Click the "File sharing" tab on the Options page.
- Click the "Share folder" button at the top of the window.
- Navigate to the folder you want to share and click “Share.” You can do it as many times as you want, in case you want to share multiple folders.
Step 6. Find and download music
Click the Search tab and enter your search in the text field. Press the Enter key (or Enter) to see the results. Check the bitrate (on the right hand side of the results) and the format (you can find MP3 and FLAC files in Soulseek), and then if you like what you see, double click to download the file (s).
- You can sort the list by Transfer speed to download files from users who have a fast connection.
- To download an entire album at once, double-click the directory above the track listing. You will download everything in that directory (that is, everything you see in the album folder). Some users don't sort their songs by album, so be careful not to download a whole directory of thousands of songs by accident.
- Search results are constantly updated, as long as you leave them open.
- Each new search opens in a new tab below the search bar; you can close them when you finish.
Step 7. Check the progress
Click on the "Transfer" tab to see two more tabs: Uploads and Downloads. The latter shows what you are currently downloading or what is waiting. Uploads shows what files, if any, other users are downloading from your computer.
- The light blue text means that the file is still waiting to download. If the entire album list stays blue for too long, right-click and choose Retry Download. Many users establish a certain number of downloads that are made simultaneously, which implies that you are in a row to have the file you want.
- Dark blue text indicates that the file is downloading, so you will see the progress bar on the right and the transfer bit rate indicator. Higher numbers mean faster downloads.
- Green text means the file was downloaded successfully. You will also find that the progress bar is complete next to the file name.
- Red text means the download was canceled or aborted. This can happen for different reasons. So wait for the rest of the songs to finish downloading and then retry the red downloads before looking elsewhere again. You can right click on the file and select Retry.
Step 8. Add the files to the library
By default, Soulseek stores completed music in a folder on your hard drive called “Soulseek downloads”, in the subfolder “complete”. Once you have the files you want, drag or copy them from the download folder to the music player of your choice.
Advice
- Podcasts often feature music, although you may need to listen to a conversation in between. AOL has a podcast called MP3 of the Day, which has one free song per day.
- You may want to consider playing music directly from the Internet, rather than downloading files. This allows you to listen to songs immediately without using up your hard drive storage space. Grooveshark, Pandora, and Last. FM are some popular websites that offer free audio streaming. YouTube is also a good choice for listening to specific songs, as long as you don't mind that videos are also playing.