Free Music List (audio download and streaming)

Martin Brinkmann
Dec 3, 2005
Updated • Nov 5, 2017
Music, Music and Video
|
90

I published an article about living without the music industry a month ago. In the article I added some good sites that offered free music downloads.

Lots of people replied to this article and added more sites that they used to get free music. Free, meaning free of charges and free to download without breaking the law.

I think that this is a good way to listen to great music for free, support the artists that contribute their music and show the music industry that there are other methods of distribution than forcing the customer to buy copy protected, rootkit infested overpriced music cds.

Update: I published a new updated list:  Free Music List July 2007

Free Music List

Today I decided to compile a big list of free music sites on the internet, I hope you enjoy this selection.

I encourage you to add his site to the list and give a rough intro to it. The list does not include internet radio stations or streaming services, only sites that allow downloads in mp3 format (its fine if they offer additional streaming services) . I made an exception to sites that offer a huge list of streaming titles, those have been added as well.

Name registration remark
3 Hive no review site with downloads and streams
Altsounds no great assortment, not all songs downloadable
Noisetrade yes thousands of free albums for download and streaming
Artist direct no showcases artists, streaming and downloading
Artistopia no downloading and streaming
Bluebeat yes only streaming
CC Mixter no only mixes
CC Trax no mostly electronic music, download and streaming, Flac
Feels like Christmas no christmas music
Classic Cat no provides links to download sites
Digitalsounds no downloads and streams, german language
Dmusic no downloads and streams
Last.fm no
Epitonic no Streaming and Downloading
Etree Live Concerts no bittorrent downloads
Foem no
Free Kids Songs no songs for children
Free Sound Project no free sound samples
Garageband no good selection, hard to navigate
Free  Music Archive no good selection, lots of genres and music
Into Music no downloads and streams
Internet Archive no more than 3 million audio clips, songs, podcasts for download

and streaming.

Jamendo no bittorent or emule downloads
Kahvi no
Karadar no classic music only
Legal Torrents no bittorent downloads
Magnatune no downloads and streaming
Mixposure no
Mp3.com.au no downloads and streams
Mp3 Jackpot no downloads
Muzie no japanese site
Overclocked Remix no computer and video game remixes
Oddio Overplay no links to artists homepages
Op Sound no
Purevolume no
SoundCloud no Music streaming site
Singfish no only streaming, lots of known bands
Soundclick no few downloads, mostly streaming
Soundlift no streaming and downloading
Starfrosch no german site
Superhits no german, mostly german songs
Tonspion no german site
Summary
Free Music List (audio download and streaming)
Article Name
Free Music List (audio download and streaming)
Description
Check out this big resource list of free music sources on the Internet; download millions of songs for free, or stream them instead.
Author
Publisher
Ghacks Technology News
Logo
Advertisement

Tutorials & Tips


Previous Post: «
Next Post: «

Comments

  1. monk said on July 10, 2010 at 12:57 pm
    Reply

    There’s also a lot of new online tools ot there online.

  2. Six sigma said on June 7, 2010 at 8:57 pm
    Reply

    i think the list is great and worth to watch.

  3. Pete Smith said on April 19, 2010 at 10:30 am
    Reply

    Give it away I say

    Songs from our catalog have been played by hundreds of radio stations and podcasters worldwide and it didn’t cost them a penny, in return we got exposure and promotion…..sounds like a good deal to me, that’s why many of our tracks have been released under a creative commons license and are free to download. So what if you lose out on lost sales, you gain more in the long term by increasing your fan base (If you can survive that long)

    With such an overcrowded market place giving away your music is essential in my opinion. The biggest problem for emerging indie artists today is obscurity, not piracy. To find out more listen to The Antiqcool Podcast
    http://antiqcool.podbean.com/2010/01/22/the-antiqcool-podcast-episode-1-how-can-you-be-a-part-of-our-success/

  4. bollywood music said on March 18, 2010 at 11:32 pm
    Reply

    i think they all work very nice.

  5. Gal said on July 28, 2009 at 12:04 pm
    Reply

    No way record firms will be able to take free music from the internet, this is just unrealistic

  6. Classical Connect said on July 24, 2009 at 10:23 pm
    Reply

    Our free site, Classical Connect (www.classicalconnect.com) features more than 2,000 pieces of classical music. It serves as an alternative venue for hundreds of talented musicians. The site is well organized: users browse it by instrument and composer or search for any name.

  7. Michael said on July 7, 2009 at 9:04 pm
    Reply

    DUDUKI.NET :: Music portal :: Music albums, Discography, Band/Performer/Artist profiles

  8. lindamood bell said on July 7, 2009 at 12:15 pm
    Reply

    hi nice article list great work and thanks for u sear this with us

  9. nick said on July 5, 2008 at 12:05 pm
    Reply

    Thanks chap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    This plethora of information has really been a great advantage. Hope you continue this service in its intact way.God Bless!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  10. storm said on April 28, 2006 at 7:18 am
    Reply

    For more free music… mandyleigh.com .
    fantastic singer/songwriter. very eclectic, but mainly mellow on the site.

  11. Tabitha said on March 8, 2006 at 9:51 pm
    Reply

    Lots and lots of live shows from our great rockers

  12. dnial said on January 31, 2006 at 1:49 am
    Reply

    another huge legal mp3 wiki, inspired by a kuro5hin thread:
    http://www.redferret.net/pmwiki

  13. Mark Branden said on January 9, 2006 at 8:44 pm
    Reply

    SignHereOnline.NET provides unlimited free mp3 downloads of music composed by unsigned artists. I like this site because it allows you to voluntarily rate the artists featured on the site.

  14. ChinaCat1120 said on January 4, 2006 at 8:32 am
    Reply

    There’s TONS of great downloads to be had at http://www.archives.org...
    music, video, text, software and all FREE!!

    GREAT selection of old school films (Coronet, Mr. Bungle)

  15. Jesse said on December 15, 2005 at 11:12 am
    Reply

    Don’t forget soundclick.com

  16. gothesque said on December 12, 2005 at 1:37 am
    Reply

    Just to say that you list ampcast.com as only allowing streaming but it does allow some downloads
    try searching for ‘three dead trolls in a baggie’
    i believe it is to do with the artists decision

  17. Prod_gy Archives said on December 12, 2005 at 12:54 am
    Reply

    classic rock, discographies of famous artists

  18. rickdog said on December 11, 2005 at 1:35 pm
    Reply

    my favorite site for downloads, and music in general, is Tilos radio in Budapest.
    Fantasic shows 24 hrs a day with extensive archives.
    Since it’s in Hungarian, it’s tricky getting around.
    Using FaganFinder to translate helps a lot:
    http://www.faganfinder.com/urlinfo/

    Here’s some main pages:
    http://tilos.hu/musorok/hetfo.html – daily show downloads
    http://tilos.hu/extra/letolt_djk.html – specials
    http://tilos.hu/index_real.html – main index
    http://tilos.hu/index2.html – index 2
    http://timea.tilos.hu/ – another view of shows, some kind of rating system
    http://tilos.hu/djk/index.html – DJ page

    most shows have their own blog pages with playlists, e.g.
    http://blog.tilos.hu/roadmovie/

    Live Stream: http://yp.tilos.hu/tilos_high.ogg

    blog: http://blog.tilos.hu/


    Here’s a wonderful world music blog from Budapest:
    http://nomax.sarok.org/

  19. John said on December 11, 2005 at 5:56 am
    Reply

    http://www.pandora.com has streaming services, but they offer a ton of music options, so I thought I’d mention it.

  20. Molly O'Poverty said on December 10, 2005 at 8:36 pm
    Reply

    i’m a little saddened no one mentioned my site as their favorite… so i will:

    Molly O’Poverty’s Guide to (Mostly) Free Music is just that, terrific music i’ve found that’s offered freely and legally (either by the artist(s) or the labels themselves). the Guide got a big write up on Lifehacker back in June when it was launched, too

    http://www.mollyopoverty.com

  21. tmillsap said on December 7, 2005 at 6:12 pm
    Reply

    need music for an ipod – subscription sites like MP3Musiq are they
    good quality and the subscription a really good deal. Mom in need of advice

  22. dnial said on December 7, 2005 at 3:42 pm
    Reply

    this french wiki has tons of links to sites with excellent free mp3s: http://rezal404.org/wikini/wakka.php?wiki=Mp3Legal

  23. Sam said on December 6, 2005 at 8:29 am
    Reply

    http://www.thepowerless.com

    this band offers all their tracks for free and they have high production quality.

  24. Brad said on December 5, 2005 at 6:47 pm
    Reply

    Aurgasm: http://aurgasm.us/
    Eclectic

  25. bart said on December 5, 2005 at 12:07 pm
    Reply

    Vitaminic (http://vitaminic.com) does, contrary to your comment, offer mp3 downloads, besides the Real streaming. Only, you have to dig deeper into the site, and go to the artists’ own pages, first. The streams are far easier to reach, directly from the charts.

  26. logu said on December 5, 2005 at 12:02 pm
    Reply

    I translate your informations in italian, on http://www.liveweb24.net , I wrote the source of information linking the post with your site, I hope you agree with it.

    Regards, and compliments for the site.
    logu
    http://www.logu.it
    http://www.liveweb24.net

  27. KAMI no kodomo said on December 5, 2005 at 10:40 am
    Reply

    http://muziek.o-c-g.nl : 6 complete CD’s of the OCG avriable for download in MP3 and OGG Vorbis!

    Site is in Dutch but its easy to understand huw to click. Music itself is in German.

  28. dcdjason said on December 5, 2005 at 2:33 am
    Reply

    A handful of major label act mp3s can be found on AOL Music at http://music.aol.com/songs/downloads/mp3_main?icid=songs:mp3

  29. drefty said on December 4, 2005 at 7:19 pm
    Reply

    Another point to note, there are websites that offer
    lawfully free mp3 downloads whose primary purpose is not necessarily
    to offer music for free. For example, stinsonstudios.com is a music studio whose purpose is to get musicians to buy studio time with them. They offer mp3 demos of what they can do, and, for obvious reasons, the demos are particularly good. This phenomenon is what an economist would refer to as ‘positive externalities’ and there are many other examples just like it.

  30. Ron Landreth said on December 4, 2005 at 10:10 pm
    Reply

    Check out my piano solos for free here: http://www.ThirdEyeNow.com/music/

    Click on ‘New Doors’, ‘Beyond the Apex’ or ‘Sound Bucket’.

  31. Administrator said on December 4, 2005 at 8:26 pm
    Reply

    22. I agree with you. Nothings for free in live. I think the main purpose for sites like the ones in the list is to give the bands a certain degree of promotion and maybe also to gain money by selling music. Money for the sites and the bands of course.

  32. tomw said on December 4, 2005 at 7:56 pm
    Reply

    http://www.lawrence.com/mp3/top/

    This site represents the music scene for a University Town in America that has a thriving music scene. The best thing about it is that the 1000 or so MP3s are sorted by popularity.

  33. fafco said on December 4, 2005 at 6:40 pm
    Reply

    MPFree.com is probably the best site for getting free music that’s legal. They have more than 750,000 free tracks from every major lables and many indie labels.

  34. Rob said on December 4, 2005 at 6:39 pm
    Reply

    what about http://last.fm

  35. asdf said on December 4, 2005 at 6:08 pm
    Reply
  36. david said on December 4, 2005 at 4:48 pm
    Reply

    My site, Largehearted Boy, lists ten free and legal music downloads (live shows, selections from bands, singles), as well as ten live shows/demos available via bittorrent:

    http://blog.largeheartedboy.com

  37. somaamos said on December 4, 2005 at 4:39 pm
    Reply

    Try here http://www.legaltorrents.com/index.htm

    You will find:
    2063music netlabel MP3 Archives – Volume 1 – 735MB MP3
    8 Bit Peoples netlabel MP3 Archives – Volume 1 – 584MB MP3
    Best Of Webbed Hand Records Vol.1 – 671MB MP3
    etc.

    Scroll down a page or two to get to the music section.

  38. Ed. said on December 4, 2005 at 4:30 pm
    Reply

    Concrete and Clay: a “netlabel” filtering creative commons licenced mp3s for your ears. Experimental, alternative, iconoclastic.

    http://www.concreteandclay.com/mp3/

  39. stefan said on December 4, 2005 at 12:08 pm
    Reply

    I miss http://www.artistserver.com in this list :)

  40. dm said on December 4, 2005 at 11:35 am
    Reply

    the witness exchange

  41. hi i'm Hans said on December 4, 2005 at 10:55 am
    Reply

    This site also got the free music: http://foem.info/index.php

  42. Dillon said on December 4, 2005 at 9:23 am
    Reply

    Singingfish isn’t streaming only. A little trick I like to call “right-clicking” the link, then combo with “Save (whatever) as.” Don’t tell them I told you ;)

  43. Peter said on December 4, 2005 at 6:22 am
    Reply

    My favorite site for music is http://www.slackermag.com/

    It is relatively new, but is coming up fast.

  44. Tom Parker said on December 4, 2005 at 6:01 am
    Reply

    I write music and offer free MP3 downloads. Some of it ain’t half
    bad. :-)

    http://music.tparker.net

  45. DementedD said on December 4, 2005 at 3:58 am
    Reply

    http://www.pandora.com/ for music exploration.

  46. Anonymous said on December 4, 2005 at 3:54 am
    Reply

    Magnatunes offers both downloads and streaming

  47. Shaggy said on December 4, 2005 at 3:35 am
    Reply

    My favorite site for free music is:

    http://www.tractorgrease.com

    Its a collection of independent musicians from Vancouver, BC, Canada, that offer many free downloads of mp3s as well as videos.

  48. alienprotocol said on December 4, 2005 at 3:23 am
    Reply

    don’t forget about MP3 4U and mp3jackpot, providing only the best free and legal mp3’s on the internet for over 5 years now.

Leave a Reply

Check the box to consent to your data being stored in line with the guidelines set out in our privacy policy

We love comments and welcome thoughtful and civilized discussion. Rudeness and personal attacks will not be tolerated. Please stay on-topic.
Please note that your comment may not appear immediately after you post it.