The music industry was fundamentally changed by the digitalization of music. Where once people needed to buy CDs, and before that records and cassette tapes, in order to listen to their favourite musicians, now they merely need to click a button and download a song. In a lot of ways, this has been great, both for music fans and working artists. It’s now much easier for people to listen to music no matter where they are and to discover artists that they never would have known about otherwise. Furthermore, it’s simpler for artists to make their music available and to make money off of their music. The issue is that it’s also easy for people to download music without spending any money on it at all. Unless an artist has made their music available for free, this usually would involve illegal downloading. Illegal downloading is a controversial issue, and it doesn’t just apply to music, also being problematic in the film and television industries. Now that books are available in digital form, it’s also an epidemic within the publishing industry in general. But many would argue that they have good reasons to illegally download music, citing a desire to save money. But you don’t need to spend a lot of money to stream or download music legally. Illegally downloading music is not only harmful to the artists whose property is being stolen, but to the downloader themselves. Keep in mind that downloading music illegally is really a form of fraud, no better in terms of criminality than identity fraud, which affected 16.7 million people in 2017 alone.

Fortunately, there are plenty of ways you can avoid downloading music illegally. Listening to the music that you like doesn’t mean that you have to spend a lot of money. It really depends on the types of sites and services that you depend upon. With that being said, let’s look into some of the music downloading sites and services that you may want to consider if you’d like to listen to music legally — as well as why you may not want to try illegal downloading at all.

What Are The Best Sites For Legally Enjoying Music?

Obviously, some of the most prominent sites through which you can legally download or stream music require some degree of payment. For example, each time you download music on iTunes, most of the time you will need to pay per song or per album. In the same sense, Spotify doesn’t involve downloading, but rather streaming. While it has varying subscription packages, most that people can use on a regular basis will involve payment. If you’re operating on a limited budget, however, there are other options for you to consider. One of the most obvious services to keep in mind would be the YouTube Audio Library. YouTube’s Audio Library is most often used by people who may be making YouTube videos themselves. These people, as well as other content producers, rely upon royalty-free music to play against the background of videos and more. The library, as orchestrated by the YouTube library, offers as much royalty-free music as you need. But as much as you may rely upon royalty-free music, that isn’t going to encompass every genre that you may need.

Of course, there is also the Free Music Archive, which is run by WUFM, a freeform radio station in New Jersey. While it largely includes smaller, growing artists, it also includes some songs by notable names as well. All of the songs are available for free, but if you’d like to use them in a more commercial setting, you’d need to look further into licensing issues surrounding the specific song. This is in contrast to royalty-free music, which is specifically meant to be used for free. While many don’t necessarily expect to become famous off of royalty-free music, a site like Jamendo is meant for unsigned artists, who can use it to offer their music for free. This could potentially allow them to get the attention they need to launch their careers to the next level. It’s a great way for artists to build up a fanbase and cultivate attention. Jamendo makes it easier for both artists and listeners to navigate different genres by relying upon communities. These communities might be centralized around Rock, Pop, or a variety of other genres.

You don’t have to download music in order to enjoy it legally. Streaming apps like Spotify and Pandora have basic plans that allow users to utilize them for free. Spotify’s free plan, however, forces users to listen on shuffle and relies upon a wifi connection. This means that you can’t listen to a specific song at any time. The same can be said for Pandora’s free platform, which operates similarly. These services do require that free users listen to ads as well.

Why Shouldn’t I Download Music Illegally?

Illegal downloading has existed for some time now. In fact, the popularity of P2P file sharing has been clear since the invention of Napster in 1999. But just because we can do something, doesn’t mean we should. The main reason why you shouldn’t illegally download is that it is a crime and can carry potentially harsh fines. The last thing you want is to end up paying thousands of dollars when your original intent was to save just a couple. Potentially, you could spend up to five years in jail and be fined as much as $150,000 if you’re caught illegally downloading.

The other issue to consider, of course, is that you’re essentially stealing from not only artists but also those working for them behind the scenes. Buying music, or downloading it legally through a site that is likely compensating the artists in other ways, is simply the right thing to do.