The Best Free Music Sites on the Web

The government may have made it difficult to acquire free music these days, but thanks to bands that recognize the marketing potential provided by the internet, there are still a few sites where you can legally get music without paying a dime. Be it in the form of streaming songs or promotional downloads, these websites have found the middle ground between Napster and the record store.

Check them out for your free music fix…

The Free Music Archive

FMA was created in an effort to compile one of the largest catalogs of high quality, legally down-loadable music on the Internet. Tracks are arranged by genre, with everything from classical to noise rock represented, and although a lot of the music on this site is from lesser-known artists, it’s entirely possible to stumble across a great sounding group whose music will be available to you for nothing more than the time it takes to download it.

Visit the Free Music Archive!

Pandora

Although it doesn’t let you download any songs, the Internet-radio service Pandora is an excellent resource for music aficionados looking to broaden their musical horizons. Users plug in a desired artist or song, and Pandora generates tracks with similar qualities. The ability to skip and rank songs helps the program match your specific tastes.

It’s a great site if you’re too busy to make a mix for your next party. If you’re looking to discover new or less-known bands, your best bet is to create a station based on a band that isn’t as popular as say, Justin Bieber. Type in “Red Hot Chili Peppers,” and you’ll just get a bunch of 90s songs you’ve heard a thousand times before. Type in something like “Sonic Youth,” however, and you may come across a cool experimental band that no one else knows about.

Visit Pandora!

Wolfgang’s Vault

For classic rock fanatics and hippies struggling to hold on to the glory days, Wolfgang’s Vault is Heaven on earth. Like Pandora, the team behind this site is unable to offer free downloads (although most music in the site can be downloaded for a small fee), but they make up for it by supplying listeners with a vast collection of streaming, rare concert recordings from The Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, and just about anyone else who had a hand in defining rock ‘n roll in the 20^th century.

And no, these aren’t low quality bootlegs where anything resembling a song is drowned out under the noise of concertgoers and recording glitches. Wolfgang’s Vault offers clean, great-sounding music that will get you hooked for hours.

Visit Wolfgang’s Vault!

Last FM

Last FM boasts that it is “the largest online music catalog,” and like Pandora, it is a site which helps you to develop your musical tastes by taking stock of what you listen to regularly and delivering suggestions to you based on your tastes. Although downloads are unavailable on Last FM, streaming radio is still free there, and the site is one of the better “music recommendation” machines.

Instead of relying on a generic system of genre categorization (“you are listening to Metallica, so we will now recommend every major heavy metal artist to you”), the site is able to compare what you’ve been enjoying against the statistics of all its other users, generating a more sophisticated list of bands and artists you might be interested in.

Visit Last FM!

Sideload

Sideload has a great collection of free downloads, although it can be a little inconvenient for some users. With recordings from such artists as Pink Floyd and The National, this isn’t another free music site that specializes in bands who have three fans and would probably pay you to listen to their album, but unlike other sites, Sideload does not allow you to download the music directly to your own MP3 player. You have to set up a “locker” on the site and store your music there; if you want to listen to it, you have to have an Internet connection so that you can access the site. That’s great if your phone has that capability, but if not, you’re restricted to using Sideload in whatever room your computer happens to be in.

Still, it’s not a bad service if you’ve got the technology to make it work optimally for you.

Visit Sideload!

Stereogum

Stereogum is the cyber-equivalent of that friend who obsesses about music and insists on exposing you to all the obscure bands he’s been listening to. Supplying users with the latest indie music news and staffed by knowledgeable bloggers, the site’s a goldmine for anyone who is hunting down the latest up-and-coming artists. These are the bands that need to get their music heard by as many ears as possible, and as such, they graciously allow Stereogum to give free samples of their songs to the site’s guests.

An extensive catalog of downloads is available, featuring everything from hip, underground bands and rare recordings from more well-known groups.

Visit Stereogum!

What are some of your favorite free music sites? Tell us in the comments!