Do you want to discover new artists, download chill or electro music freely and without having to pay?
Do you need soundtracks and musical background for a commercial video: Youtube channel, video for Facebook Ads, etc?
Before you fire up the bank card, here’s a selection of great free music downloads.
And also … we tell you the traps to avoid, so as not to risk a fine or potential prosecution.
Top free and legal sites
To listen to music at home, add an intro and sound effects to a video to upload it to Youtube, or even make a small commercial promotion clip, you don’t necessarily want to spend tens or hundreds of dollars. euros, pay SACEM, etc.
So we can all want to find free music.
Is there any free music streaming or download completely legal sites?
The answer is yes! You still have to go to serious and reliable websites.
We list the best to help you find the ideal audio track or discover a new talented artist.
Jamendo
For quite a few years, Jamendo has indeed been renowned for allowing the sharing, streaming, and downloading of royalty-free music.
The goal of this site has been clear for years: artists upload their tracks, and users can stream them and even download them at will.
This helps to introduce a new artist, often still amateur or semi-pro. He confronts an audience and sees if his work pleases.
If the success is at the rendezvous, then the author, musician, or the group to consider more serenely (since he or she will have already proven himself a little) to continue the adventure and to become professional.
Note that Jamendo has divided its service into two parts.
Jamendo Music
This is what we know about the platform historically.
Unlimited free streaming, and music downloads for personal use.
All is not the same, of course. But we can be amazed by the quality of the productions put online by some artists. Some songs still accumulate millions of downloads!
Jamendo Licensing
This second part has been adapted to the growing demand from producers of video content: Youtubers, freelancers in communication or marketing, agencies, SMEs…
Jamendo Licensing is a freemium service: access to a part for free, and to more functions by paying (premium).
Here you find thousands of songs. Want a purely instrumental sound, or a track with vocals? You will surely find your happiness.
In free use, the download volume remains limited.
On the premium side, Jamendo Licensing offers 49 € / month access to more than 250,000 songs, usable for commercial use.
Enough to feed your Youtube channel, create a podcast or make a video ad for Facebook Ads.
SoundCloud
Now a benchmark music platform, you can find everything on Soundcloud, from the most famous groups to independent artists who want to get started.
For professional artists who market their titles, only streaming is possible.
See also: You can easily download exclusive SoundCloud songs for free with the SoundCloud To Mp3 tool.
Be careful here and look closely at the conditions of the granted license: sometimes commercial use is prohibited.
SoundCloud can be used via the site or from the applications, for iPhone and Android.
Another big advantage: take advantage of the offline mode. It is thus possible to listen to favorite songs and playlists even offline, convenient in transport or not to explode your mobile data plan.
audio mack
Newer than the giant SoundCloud, Audiomack aims to compete with it.
A clean and easy-to-use interface, a fast and practical site, with cool features.
There too, there are very popular artists and singers (whose works are protected) as well as artists who want to launch their careers and allow free downloads of music.
Listening is possible by streaming via the site as well as on a smartphone with the Android and iPhone applications.
To facilitate sharing on personal websites and blogs, Audiomack has its WordPress plugin, the most popular and widespread CMS in the world for creating blogs.
Internet Archive Audio
Web pros are certainly already familiar with archive.org, a non-profit organization, and its famous Wayback Machine. The tool scans the internet and automatically saves a whole bunch of sites and content.
In the lot, we find of course the audio recordings: several million.
Besides, there are not only pieces of music, but also concerts and audiobooks, shows, podcasts, and a library of various sounds and effects.
Easyzic
Easyzic is a meeting place for amateur or professional musicians and singers.
Search for equipment, partners, people to compose a group, or even courses. It’s a bit the beauty of the internet at its core: connecting people wherever they are and who share a common interest.
Music lovers and artists will meet you there!
As far as we are concerned, ordinary users, we can also find free music there. Most of the time, the works are under a Creative Commons license, so check the rights given.
Youtube
Who still needs to be introduced to Youtube?
Young, old, memo names, YouTubers, singer or musician, labels, stars, and big groups… everyone knows and is on the platform which belongs to Google.
Just be careful here.
Because yes we find all the songs and music that we want on Youtube. But in the vast majority of cases, their download and use are not allowed. Especially since many videos are directly published by labels and production houses.
Fortunately, some artists share free, royalty-free content, sometimes including for commercial use.
We will mainly find these sounds with an English name: no copyright; no copyright sounds or even no copyright music.
In addition to these channels, it is also possible to directly discover the works of artists, musicians, DJs, or producers who seek to make themselves known and offer their productions for free download.