Five Free Ways to Legally Download Your Favorite Songs

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“Honey, seriously? You need to have an iTunes intervention,” is how my husband began a conversation with me a few weeks ago. He mentioned this after realizing that there was something like $60 worth of iTunes charges coming out of our bank account. He thought there was some sort of hacking situation going on, asked me if I’d downloaded anything recently, and I mentioned that I had downloaded a few songs. And by a few, I meant a lot. I can’t help it. Sometimes I’m in the car and the  music isn’t doing it for me (don’t even get me started on the fact that my husband does not understand that even with 1000 songs on my iPhone, I sometimes need something else) and I will download new music. Usually 5 or 8 songs at a time. It happens, okay? Don’t judge me.

My husband has stated that he never though iTunes would become something that a person needed to add to their budget because it’s reaching actual monthly expense numbers, or something to that effect. Okay, so sometimes I go a bit overboard, and I get it. But I like music. And that’s why I’ve been looking for alternative means to download music without  my husband raising an eyebrow and saying things like, “That’s half a book when our kids one day go to college, babe,” when he sees our statements. If you want brand new music, chances are good you will have to pay. But many of us spend a great deal of time downloading the old stuff, too, and we don’t always have to pay for those things. We can download them legally and without fear of shortchanging our favorite bands and singers on sites that are designed to offer legal downloads with no charge. Read on to find out how you, too, can download some music free of charge and save yourself a bundle on your musical entertainment selections.

Amazon

Did you know Amazon gives away free music? I did not know this either, but they do. They have so many freebies on the site that it’s almost worth spending an entire day online just checking them out for the heck of it. The site has so much to offer in terms of free items and things that will make you say, “Wow,” that it’s worth it. Sometimes the music that the retail giant offers free is stuff you know and love, and sometimes it’s stuff you’ve never heard of. Either way, it’s a great excuse to hear something new and exciting so that you can learn to expand your musical offerings.

Noisetrade

This is a website that is called a website built on generosity. What this means is that some people are so generous that they’ve offered their entire album free of charge and ready for download. This means you can get all types of music for nothing, which can expand your musical library and even your musical taste if you let it. This is a way that you can find new music you might not ordinarily listen to since you can get it without paying for it. If you love it, great. If not, no big deal.

Soundcloud

This is a site in which musicians download their music, offer it to you free of charge and even interact with you. Many famous artists even use this site because they are working on new songs, new sounds and new collaborations, and they want to know what you think of their music before they spend the money to make it big. It’s a great way for you to listen to the music you love as well as the artists that you consider your favorite without spending a dime. And who knows, you might even get the music that will be most popular later on when your artist decides it’s good stuff that people are responding well to and releases it the normal way.

iTunes

Okay, so I just told you that my husband is giving me a hard time about spending so much money on iTunes, but that’s because I had no idea that they have an entire section of free music. I mean, it might not be what you want or what I want, but someone probably wants this, which is what makes it such a great deal for anyone who is looking for some new music without paying any fees. It’s a nice way to download something for yourself without going over the (imaginary) music budget.

PureVolume

If you love music from a decade ago, you will love this site. Anyone that peaked around a decade ago in the music game will be on this site, free for you to choose their music. This is a site that offers the top charts from years ago free of charge, enabling you to download what you want for nothing. I wish I’d have known about this a week ago when my daughter and I were headed home from cheer practice and she wanted to hear my favorite songs from when I was her age. I spent the money to download a dozen of them on iTunes, but I could have found most of them on this site and ended up paying nothing. What’s that they say about hindsight having better vision than my blind eyes?

Bandcamp

Unlike the infamous “One time at band camp…” slogan we all grew up with, this is not a dirty site. In fact, it’s a site on which musicians share their work. They allow you to download their music free of charge when you choose your price and input “$0” into the price tool. You can then download their options and listen as often as you’d like. This is a site with unheard of aspiring musicians as well as famous faces you know and love and love to listen to when you’re in the car, at home or even getting ready for work in the mornings.

Photo by Michal Czerwonka/Getty Images

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