What websites exist for free music download that are legal?

I belong to a college campus that does not tolerate illegal website activity. Downloading things are fine, assuming they are of legal downloads. With so many recent laws and regulations, I can no longer tell what is legal and what is not. I remember not too long ago a year or so ago I heard that all music on the net was fair game because it was considered a "public venue". But with recent SOPA activity and whatnot... I am not sure what is availabe to me.

I thought about using audacity to record internal noises, but I cannot get that to work on my new mac for whatever reason (help in this issue would actually be nice by the way )

Anyway, I used to use 4shared.com and listentoyoutube.com for music but 4shared has only some music, and listentoyoutube downgrades quality (anyone know if either site is legal??)

Going home to "steal" music is not an option for me, just saying.


I'm not expressing the want for any backdoor solution, I simply wish to know my legal options that do not include buying the music (I'm in college and am poor )


Thanks ATS

All songs that have a creative commons license you can normally download for free.

reply to post by definity


How would I check that? Say I wanted a pop song from the 80s. That is likely not a creative commons licensed song right? Does that mean I cannot legally download it?

reply to post by PhysicsAdept

I usually download free radio podcasts, but I guess it wont help you much if you are looking for a specific song.

Bandcamp has a category for free downloads.
Mostly independent artists, but there are some gems there

Other than that I don't know, I must admit I'm a pirate and not much help
ETA: although in my defence, a pirate who supports the bands I follow.

reply to post by PhysicsAdept


You've probably seen this, but I'm going to have a look at some of these free sites for myself.

Top 5 Free Music Sites

Update: These sites are too confusing for me, but maybe it's because I'm old.

Go to a Mc Donalads, use their Wi-Fi, rip anything from YouTube using a MP3 download sites such as Youtensils.org or snipmp3.com .Then put onto a Card/Disk/Memory Stick - Bobs you're uncle, done.

Is this in the T&C's not to discuss this typ'a thing on here? I do apologize if that is the case =/

Well one option is to just stream instead of downloading...I really like spotify.
However if you must download I would first recommend www.last.fm.... They have a bunch of free and legal downloads...granted there is not a lot of mainstream free stuff. It is also a great site for music recommendations. If you have artists that you prefer, I would check out their official websites and follow them on a social network. Many bands post free download links or feature free songs on their websites.

In fact there is not a clear line between legal and illegal online music downloading. Supposing you are a music composer, are you willing to sell your music for free? There is not a specific law of copyright protection in some country like India.
The only thing you need to care is not to use it for commercial use. Just have fun with yourself, here are the top 5 free music download sites you can see: www.videoconverterfactory.com...

a reply to: PhysicsAdept

Get an Amazon Prime Student account and you can have access to the Prime Music.