15 Best Places to Get Free Music Downloads Legally

Free Music Archive (FMA) stands out from the crowd because you can search for instrumental music only and filter searches by duration and specific licenses.

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, experimental, and novelty.

Something unique about FMA is that when you run a search, you can filter by usage to find only public domain music, tracks permitted for commercial use, and songs you can use in a remix or video. I also like ‘artist shuffle’ because it lets me find random music I otherwise might never have stumbled on.

All the free music downloads at Jamendo Music are made available through Creative Commons licensing, meaning 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 trending songs. The ‘latest’ sort option is what I prefer to use because I can see what’s new since the last time I visited the site. You can also search for artists you know to see if they have any music downloads here.

Another way to find great music here is by listening to one of the site’s radio stations. When you find a song or artist you like, you can download that single track or the entire album. Playlists include Cool Instrumentals, Time to Dream, and Fresh & New.

If you’d rather stream music instead of download it, Jamendo gives you that option, too. There are also mobile apps.

Known for its free public domain images, Pixabay also has a massive collection of tens of thousands of free song downloads. I like to download music here because I can stream everything first and there are several ways to filter the music.

There are useful categories like beats, relaxing, and energetic. On top of that, you can search by keyword or look through these song downloads by simply sorting the whole list. This lets you clearly see which songs are trending, which ones were added most recently, and which tracks are marked as Editor’s Choice.

Finally, there’s a genre, mood, movement, duration, and theme filter. Use these, and I have no doubt you’ll find the exact track you’re after for your podcast, music video, film, or any other project.

SoundClick is the ultimate portal into finding free music directly from the artists websites. These creators 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 online 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.

Compared to these other music download sites, I don’t like that this one mixes all the free and paid songs together. However, once you’re on a list of songs, there’s a price filter you can trigger to see only the free stuff. It’s super helpful.

YouTube Studio has royalty-free production music and sound effects that are meant to be used in videos you upload to YouTube. The best part? They’re copyright-safe! In fact, YouTube has compiled this list, so there’s no worry about legality.

There are over 500 song downloads available. You can filter the list to see only the tracks that don’t need attribution, plus define the duration, mood, and genre to find the perfect piece for your project.

One of my favorite places to find obscure music is Internet Archive. It stands out because it has millions of results for free downloads of music, audio, podcasts, radio programs, and, most notably, their Live Music Archive.

There are tons of ways to browse these downloads. You can sort by view count, 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.

One thing I don’t like about downloading music from Internet Archive is just the act of finding something. There are lots and lots of folders to browse through, and organization just doesn’t seem to make as much sense as similar sites.

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

Last.fm has several pages of free music downloads that fall into all genres. Just sift through the list to find something to save offline.

There isn’t much to this website, but my favorite feature has got to be the ability to download MP3s in just one click. No user account. No pop-ups. It’s quick and easy.

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

Something I don’t like about this website is that none of the free songs can be filtered or sorted, so you can’t actually see which tracks were recently added or browse by genre like pop or rap.

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. Most are available in several formats, including MP3, FLAC, AAC, OGG, and WAV.

Sometimes, there also isn’t a minimum price on entire albums, meaning you can actually grab an entire album at no cost! This is a neat way to share music, and I was happy to be able to use it without needing a user account.

Finding just the free songs can be a challenge, but the name your price page is a good place to start.

SoundCloud has been a long-time favorite. It supports streaming and downloading free music. The content is sometimes uploaded by professional artists, while others are shared by independent musicians. It’s one of my favorite websites for finding new music.

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

Some ways I’ve had luck finding free music is to browse through the Creative Commons section or search for music tagged as free. Although, I’ve found other free music downloads here, too, that weren’t in these areas.

Bensound is an awesome choice if you want free music for YouTube or other projects.

I like that all the music can be downloaded in just a couple of clicks without a user account. And you don’t have to worry about copyright claims because you’re given clear instructions on how to provide attribution. There are also paid plans if you don’t want to deal with attributions.

These tracks can be sorted by genre, mood, theme, instrument, energy level, and duration. And unlike similar sites, there’s a Free Music Only toggle that guarantees you’ll see only the free options. 

Something great about BeatStar’s offerings is that you don’t have to search all over the place to find the free stuff; just use the link below to get a list of all the free beats.

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. I think this is totally reasonable because it’s still free, and it only takes a few clicks to do it. Others have you provide your email to receive the download link.

You’ll like this site if you like SoundCloud and are interested in finding new music. All the music is 100 percent legal and free to stream, and depending on the artist, you’ll find music downloads, too.

The website is simple to use. You can search for songs, albums, and artists or browse the Trending or Top Songs sections. There’s also a Recently Added page to find all the newest music at Audiomack.

Some of the music genres on this website include afrosounds, Caribbean, gospel, pop, hip-hop/rap, and instrumental. I usually stick to the mood categories which let me find music good for parties or working out; others are marked as: sad, chill, inspiration, and feel good.

I like that I can download the music without a user account, but there isn’t an easy way to find just the free downloads. Most if not all the songs are in the MP3 format.

If you prefer to stream music from your phone or tablet, Audiomack works that way, too, via the app for Android and iOS.

Musopen is one of my go-to sites for classical music because it 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 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. I also don’t like that a free account provides access to only five downloads every day, and they’re standard, lossy audio quality.

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

I like that the music is discoverable through various sorting options, like title, artist, time, and release date. However, something I don’t like is all the ads for non-music products that are listed alongside these downloads.

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.

I wish it were easier to complete these downloads, but this is Amazon after all, so it makes sense that you “check out” like you do when buying physical products.