How to Download Music Legally: Tips and Insights

In the digital age, legal music download practices are essential for preserving the integrity of the music industry. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), paid subscription services accounted for 84% of the first half total of all U.S. music industry revenues in 2023, while 29% of digital music consumers used ad-supported services, which often provide legal, free access to music. By choosing to download music legally, whether through purchase or authorized free sources, users not only support artists but also contribute to the sustainability of the music ecosystem.

Since the well-publicized trials of music downloading websites like Napster® and Kazaa®, music fans who want to download songs or albums from the Internet might be nervous about having legal action taken against them. Downloading music without paying for it is considered a crime, and there have been cases of individual users being punished for having illegally downloaded music files on their computers, or for sharing those files. Digital storage and recording make it very easy to share and copy music files, but it is even illegal to download music from legal peer-to-peer file sharing sites like Limewire™.

One way to download music legally is to get it from a website that asks you to pay for each song individually. iTunes® and Amazon.com are both companies that let users choose songs and pay for them before downloading them. Users can also download whole albums by paying for individual songs, which might be advantageous for people who don’t like every song on an album. Amazon.com also has a limited selection of free songs for downloading. This list of tracks changes regularly.

Other websites offer customers a subscription service to download music. Superpass™, Napster®, and eMusic® all ask users to pay a monthly fee which allows them to download a certain number of songs each month. They all have large song catalogs, and some of these sites offer other perks with the subscription fee, such as radio streaming or free games.

There are a lot of musicians who want their fans to download their music, which they might make available on their own websites, their MySpace® profiles, or through their record companies. Some of these artists might be on small, independent labels and giving their music away is a way of marketing themselves to a broader public. Other artists like Nine Inch Nails are part of a growing movement to make music free, and they allow fans to download songs and albums for free directly from their websites.

In some instances, it’s perfectly legal to download music off of YouTube. However, it’s important to understand that it’s by no means lawful to download all of the music you find on YouTube.

Downloading music off of YouTube can be done from the website itself or through the use of a third-party application. Just know that circumventing YouTube’s terms of service by using a third-party application to download content is against the law. 

The only music you can download legally from YouTube is non-copyrighted content. Many artists and creators on YouTube make their content available for free. In those cases, and only in those cases, it is legal to download YouTube music. However, all copyrighted content cannot be legally downloaded, including music videos. Doing so violates the law, as well as YouTube’s terms of service. 

The only instance in which you can legally download music from YouTube is if you have a YouTube Premium account. Through a paid subscription, you have the option to download content for use offline. 

If you’re not sure whether the content is free to download, you can look at the YouTube page where you found the content. If downloading is authorized, you’ll see a “download” option. If you don’t see a download link, you’ll need to contact the copyright owner to see if or how you can download it.

There are quite a few free legal music download sites. However, be aware that these sites typically don’t offer music from well-known artists. Instead, you’ll find lesser-known artists, music that’s royalty and copyright-free, and other audio content.

If you enjoy indie music, you’ll be happy to know that finding indie music for free isn’t very difficult. Some sites, including ReverbNation and NoiseTrade, offer a place for indie artists to upload and promote their music. In addition, listeners can download their favorite artists’ songs free of charge. In some cases, you’ll need to provide an email or mailing address in exchange for the product. 

The Internet Archive is also another place to get free music and other audio content. For example, you can find concerts for many artists in various genres, all of whom have opted to allow fans to listen to and trade certain tracks for non-commercial purposes. The Internet Archive also has newscasts, radio shows, and audiobooks, among other things. 

In some cases, artists might encourage their fans to download their music for free. In the past, there have been artists who made their music available free of charge. One prime example is when U2’s Songs of Innocence was dropped into the music boxes of every iPhone owner in 2014. Radiohead’s In Rainbows is another example. The band released their album on their site using a “pay-what-you-want” model, which was practically unheard of at the time.

Finding free legal music download sites might take some digging on your part, but if you do the legwork, you’ll be able to find quite a bit.

If the legal music download options listed above don’t suit your tastes, a paid subscription service will likely be your next best option if you want to download music legally. Paid sites often offer both download and streaming options. Downloading music legally will require a subscription of some sort.

Streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube have paid plans that allow you to download music to listen to at a later time. However, these services have digital rights management (DRM) software attached to the music that puts restrictions on the content you purchase. 

However, it’s important to note that not all paid music sites offer legal downloads. Many do the exact opposite and instead sell pirated music to consumers. So when you find a website that provides inexpensive music downloads, be sure to do some research to make sure the artists are getting paid.

Also, sites that offer inexpensive downloads are more likely to have low-quality content if their services aren’t legitimate. So although you might have access to the top-selling artists, the tracks you download may be subpar at best. 

In short, if you want to download music legally, you'll need to do your homework. A paid subscription service will ultimately offer the best selection. However, there are options available for finding music that's both free and legal that won't harm the artist when you download it.

There are only a few ways to legally download music for free, but you can often download music for a low monthly fee. A variety of websites and subscription services will let you do so legally. Here are just a few of the many options available.

Widely known for its Wayback Machine, letting you look at past versions of websites, the Internet Archive is a non-profit organization committed to bringing you millions of free books, audio, video, software and websites. The archive has 14 million audio recordings, including 240,000 live concerts. Its music collections include The Grateful Dead; Music, Arts. & Culture; Hip Hop Mixtapes; the Archive of Contemporary Music; and Folkscanomy: Music.

There’s no subscription for the Internet Archive; all its offerings are free for the taking. Their mission statement says it all: Universal Access to All Knowledge.

NoiseTrade helps musicians and music labels connect with music fans by offering a free service to legally download music. Many of the artists are not well-known, but some big names have songs or albums on NoiseTrade.

It’s free to sign up for NoiseTrade, but artists will receive your name and email address so they can send you emails about products or promotions they may be running. NoiseTrade itself will use your name and email address for both social media and email marketing.

ReverbNation markets itself more to the music artists as a way to jumpstart their careers. They offer more than 100 opportunities for musicians to improve their visibility in the music world.

On the fan side, which you only find after signing up for a free fan account, ReverbNation offers up to over 3.5 million indie artists for your listening pleasure. The service features a free app, ReverbNation Discover, to allow you to listen without ads on any device.

Amazon Music has over 75 million songs just waiting for you to come and listen to them. About 40,000 of these songs can be downloaded for free, without paying for the premium subscription that lets you listen ad-free.

If you have an Amazon Prime account, the paid subscription is $7.99/month. If you don’t have a Prime account, you’ll pay $8.99/month.

Last.fm’s motto is “Music counts.” This is evident in their selection of songs available for free, legal downloading. There are more than 200 songs from all genres in their free download section.

There is a pro version of Last.fm, where you pay $3.00/month for features including:

Apple Music boasts of having over 90 million songs and more than 30,000 playlists for your listening pleasure. Apple Music allows you to download up to 100,000 songs to your phone or another device. It’s also available through Siri.

Apple Music is already on your Apple devices. It’s also available on PCs, Android devices, smart TVs and gaming consoles. Subscriptions begin with a free trial, then prices start at $4.99/month for Siri Voice and student accounts, $9.99 for individuals and $14.99 for a family of up to six people.

According to Spotify, “listening is everything.” They offer millions of songs and podcasts for you to enjoy. They have a web-based player and a free app to download. One interesting feature is the “Discover Weekly” playlist, where Spotify’s algorithm will take a look at the music you listen to most and create a mixtape for you. There’s also a social aspect, where you can see what your friends are listening to and share playlists back and forth.

Spotify has a free plan and a premium plan. The premium plan starts at $9.99, and offers an ad-free listening experience with unlimited skips. Spotify often runs a promotion to give you two months of premium free if you’re a new subscriber.

How you download music to your phone is going to vary widely across the different music downloading services. On Spotify, for example, you click on the album or playlist you want to download, then tap the down arrow just below the name and duration of the playlist. With Apple Music, open the app on your phone, tap and hold the song, album or playlist, then tap the download button.

Legally downloading music is usually going to require either a paid service and/or payment for each individual song. With a variety of sources for downloadable music, you’re sure to be able to find music you’ll enjoy listening to for a long time to come.

Online music retailers like iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon Music are among the most well-liked legal ways to buy music. You can buy single songs or complete albums from these stores and download them to your computer or mobile device afterward. You could also be able to stream music straight to your smartphone, depending on the shop. Other legal ways to obtain music include using streaming services like Pandora and YouTube Music, as well as platforms like Bandcamp and SoundCloud that let independent musicians share their work.

Indeed, there are several legal ways to download music for free. Most of the aforementioned streaming providers, including Pandora and YouTube Music, provide free versions of their services with constrained features. Additionally, several record companies, independent musicians, and music blogs provide free music downloads for fans or just as a promotional gimmick.

It is important to use caution if you find a website advertising free music downloads. As many of these websites are fraudulent, downloading music from them can violate copyright. Be sure that the website is reliable and that the music is being distributed lawfully before downloading any music from it.

When you download music, a copy of the file is downloaded to your device, which is how downloading music differs from streaming music. This indicates that you can access the file even if your computer is not online. The ability to listen to music without actually downloading it is provided through streaming. You often accomplish this through an app or website; to access the music, you must be online.

Of course, downloading music comes with some hazards. Copyright infringement may occur if you download music from an unauthorized website, which could lead to legal action. Also, downloading music from unreliable sites exposes your machine to malware and virus threats. You must make sure that any websites you use to get music are reputable and safe.