Legal Music Download Sites - Categorized by Copyright Type:




If you're searching for legal music download sites, then you've come to the right place. Here, we'll check how and where to get 100% legal music downloads. There are many illegal file sharing websites spreading all types of copyrighted materials and even viruses. It is often hard to find a legitimate place for legal music downloads.


Be very careful when you are downloading music online, otherwise you can be in serious trouble for copyright infringements. All below music sites are legal to use and you can download your favorite music without breaking the copyright laws. Copyright owners have the exclusive right to control the accesses of their works for a particular period of time. There are always some exceptions for home users, such as fair use, which allows copyrighted works to be used for noncommercial works.



1. Public Domain Free Legal Music Download Sites:


A music file is in public domain once the copyright for that particular file expires. That means, public domain music files are not covered by copyrights and so you can use it free for any purpose, personal or commercial. Below are the top free legal music download sites in public domain. We've all the tracks from these websites in our music download store.


  • Archive.org
  • Musopen.org
  • Gutenberg.org
  • Mutopia.org
  • IMSLP.org
  • Classical Archives


Free Public Domain Legal Music Download Sites



2. Creative Commons and Copyleft Music Download Stores:


Creative Commons license allows you to copy and download copyrighted music files for non commercial use. If you want to distribute these files, you just need to mention the author's name and website address while publishing the copyrighted work.


Jamendo and ccmixter stores have lots of tracks with "creative commons" licenses. All music files in Jamendo are licensed with creative commons licenses, allowing you to legally copy and distribute those files. Also, Jamendo allows you to listen to their tracks and albums online without any restriction.


We've around 4 million tracks with creative commons licenses in our music store. You can legally download all of these tracks to your computers for free.


Then, we have "Copyleft" music downloads. Copyleft type license ensures a music file remains available for free download. Opsound.org comes under this category. 


Creative Commons and Copyleft Music Download Stores 



3. Royalty Free Music Download Stores:


Royalty free music needs a one time fee to use these files, but there is no recurring fees to use them again. These files can be used for all types of commercial purposes including website promotion, marketing, advertisements etc.


Following are the most popular royalty free music websites online. We've around 15000 royalty free tracks in our music store. You can use all of these tracks for free as we've already paid the royalty fee for all these tracks.


  • Ccmixter
  • Royaltyfreemusic
  • Jewelbeat
  • Sound Jay


Royalty Free Music Download Stores



4. Free Music from Unsigned Music Bands:


There are lots of unsigned music bands giving away their works without claiming any copyright on them. Usually these are new music bands who need some exposure for their works. You can get completely legal and free music downloads from them, but the downside is that you won't find many mainstream artists here.


There are some popular artists also who are ready to give away their tracks for free. Below are the top websites offering free legal tracks from unsigned bands. Thousands of unsigned bands and indie artists are registered with us and we've a huge collection of tracks in our music store in this category.


  • Myspace
  • Nine Inch Nails
  • Purevolume
  • Soundclick


Free Music Download Stores Offering Tracks from Unsigned Bands 



Audials - Our All in One Legal Music Download Software:


By using our music download software, Audials, you'll get free legal music downloads from all of the above listed legal music download sites. You can either visit each one of these sites separately or install our music download software (Audials) and get unlimited access to all of these tracks from our music store.


Following legal music download sites are our main sources for legal music tracks. You may install our music download software to get unlimited free legal access to almost all tracks from all the below sites.


  • Public Domain free legal music downloads
  • Creative Commons and Copyleft free legal music downloads
  • Royalty Free Music - One time fee for commercial use
  • Unsigned Music Bands - Giving away music for promoting themselves
  • Cheap legal music download sites - Small fee
  • Free streaming music sites - Free online music, not downloads
  • Free Internet music radio stations
  • Miscellaneous free legal music download sites


We use time shifting technology to be inline with the "fair use" provisions under the United States copyright laws. This software is already tested by many musicians and music lovers worldwide, and you too can use them for all your music download requirements. Audials can make music and video files available to download immediately, or you can play them at a later time more convenient for you. It is completely free and legal to download music by using our software.




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