There are many ways to download music from the Internet, but most often they are illegal. This applies to many sites where songs are in mp3 format, but there is no license for their legal use. This means, for example, that you will not be able to use it in your YouTube video - you will immediately get a strike.
We found several popular sites where you can download foreign music for free and legally. The copyright owners themselves have allowed this to happen! Of course, they won’t have many famous hits, but you can spend a little time and find tracks that are no worse. The sites mentioned in this list mainly provide English songs, with the exception of SoundCloud, which offers a decent collection of Hindi.
SoundCloud
SoundCloud — is a music community for streaming music, where users can upload and download songs. It's like YouTube, but with music instead of videos. Artists share their tracks for free in the hopes of getting a lot of plays, similar to YouTube video views. Users include both amateurs and professionals of all genres. If the author has allowed downloading of their track, then there will be a corresponding button, if not, then you can only listen online.
You can listen to music without creating an account, but if you want to download it, you will have to register or log in via Google+. The site has a convenient search by title, artist, popularity and genre. There is also a special section dedicated to tracks released under a Creative Commons license.
SoundCloud is great for those interested in searching for new performers. You can always find interesting music here, since the portal is the main way of promotion for many artists. After all, it is visited by 174 million people every month!
An application is available for Android And iPhone.
Jamendo
Jamendo — is an open community of independent artists and music lovers, which contains more than 700,000 tracks and 25,000 albums available for free download under a Creative Commons license. Audio files for listening are in MP3 (96 kbps) format, and for downloading MP3 (192 kbps) or Ogg Vorbis. The site is available in Russian.
There is also a radio with different genres: jazz, classical, rock, hip-hop, trance. You can create your own playlists for different genres. Each artist has a profile that displays uploaded albums, as well as his biography. You can not only listen to songs of your favorite artists, but also subscribe to their updates or donate via PayPal.
The search engine allows you to search for specific artists or tracks by title, as well as search by tags that musicians use to describe their songs (genre, instrument, mood, theme). Famous artists periodically upload their tracks to Jamendo.
Chapter Royalty-Free Music offers over 200,000 inexpensive music tracks for use in various projects (advertising, movies, mobile apps, YouTube videos).
Audiomack
Audiomack — is a relatively new but very promising project. There are a huge number of rap and hip-hop tracks from leading world performers. All music is legal and free to listen to, and, depending on the artist, available for download. Artists themselves decide whether to make a track available for download or not.
Audiomack is very easy to use. You can search for specific songs, albums, or browse the Trending or Top Songs sections. There’s also a Recently Added page to find tracks that haven’t become hits yet. There’s currently no limit to the number of songs you can download, and you don’t have to register. The mobile app also lets you play audio files stored on your phone, such as MP3 and AAC. To do this, go to the My Library tab and follow the instructions to grant access to your local storage.
If you want, you can follow an artist or DJ you like, track their new uploads and other activity. The main page regularly publishes popular music that listeners like.
An application is available for Android And iOS.
SoundClick
Website SoundClick has been operating since 1997 and contains a huge library of files available for download. The service is similar in functionality to SoundCloud, but it has a slightly different specialization - amateur music. There are millions of tracks of different genres: hip-hop, country, jazz, alternative and much more. SoundClick reports 4.5 million songs, 530 thousand artists and more than 4.5 million registered members. The artist page can contain news, a tour calendar and information about the band.
The download option depends on the user who uploaded the file to the server. If he allowed it, there will be a corresponding button. Most songs are available on a non-commercial basis. Songs can have a free Creative Commons license or be distributed on a paid basis.
Last.FM
Service Last.FM was launched in 2002, initially as an internet radio station, like Pandora or iHeartRadio. But in 2005, the service launched the Audioscrobbler system, which collects data from dozens of media players and music streaming services. This information is transmitted to the Last.fm database or via a music player (including, among others, Spotify, Deezer, Tidal and MusicBee). The data is then displayed on the user's profile page.
Last.FM is now a repository of free music. It is located in the Free Music Downloads section, the link to which can be found at the bottom of the page. The selection is very large, from Sufjan Stevens to Glitch Mob. But some files are only shareware.
All files are in MP3 format. However, not everything can be downloaded. The free collection is very limited, as most users who download content do not want to lose profit. But Last.FM has a big advantage - there is no need to create an account, just click on the download button if there is one.
Bandcamp
Launched in 2008, Bandcamp is a portal for music fans, artists, and labels. It features a filter for 25 genres, as well as a list of the most popular and new songs. Bandcamp allows you to download individual songs and entire albums without having to register. Artists share their music here on a “name your price” basis. This means you can put a zero in the payment field to download it for free.
The interface is a bit confusing, there is no way to filter by location and genre at the same time. It is a bit disappointing that you cannot listen to the entire playlist continuously or in shuffle mode. These small minuses can spoil the impression, but the service gives users the opportunity to feel a connection with the artist through the donation system. For some, this will cover all the shortcomings voiced.
Unfortunately, not every song you find will be free and available for download. And there is no special page with only free tracks. So you will have to search by trial and error.
An application is available for Android And iPhone.
ReverbNation
On ReverbNation you can find such famous artists as Alabama Shakes, Imagine Dragons and many others. They all started with this portal, trying to get popular and find their audience. After all, anyone can upload their music. There are many different genres here, but most of them are in the hip-hop style.
ReverbNation creates a chart for every city around the world. To climb the chart, artists must improve their Band Equity: continue to get new subscribers, more likes on social media, more plays, Twitter followers, and so on. A registered user can create a personal playlist for themselves.
DatPiff
DatPiff was launched in 2005 by Marcus Fraser. Today, DatPiff is considered the largest rap and hip-hop music portal from established and emerging artists. Only here can you find free music from such world-famous artists as Future and Drake. The key feature of DatPiff is that unregistered users are allowed to download for free any mixtape uploaded to the site that is sponsored by the artist or label.
There is a lot of free music on it, most of which comes in the form of mixes of different tracks. For over ten years, DatPiff has been involved in promoting and releasing thousands of successful mixtapes. Each artist tries to show their individuality by reworking famous hits, composing their own or performing works by popular authors.
You can register as an artist or a fan - the main difference is that the former upload their work to the site, while fans can only listen to it. Many famous rappers have used DatPiff as a launching pad to start their careers.