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Finding a completely unlimited music listening experience can be a real challenge, but it’s worth it if you’re tired of maintaining thousands of music files downloaded online for free legally 7 Sites Where You Can Download Free Music (Legally!) 7 Sites Where You Can Download Free Music (Legally!) If you're the type of person who loves tending to a vast music collection, there are still ways to get free music. Here are seven websites to get you started... Read More .
Which music streaming service is right for you? Google Play Music, Pandora, and SoundCloud are free but ad-supported. Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music Unlimited will cost you a monthly or annual subscription fee. The free version of Spotify not only includes ads, but also limits the number of songs you can skip.
So, if you want complete control over your listening experience, check out these six completely free options with no, or very few, restrictions instead.
1. TheSixtyOne
TheSixtyOne is kind of like Reddit for music. Listeners can upvote (or heart) songs and the most popular music ends up on the homepage. But those songs aren’t the ones you’re going to find on Spotify’s or Billboard’s charts.
Instead, TheSixtyOne is home to quite a lot of music that is uploaded by the artists themselves, and presents a chance to discover new music before anyone else 7+ Easy Ways to Discover New Music You Will Love 7+ Easy Ways to Discover New Music You Will Love The depth and breadth of music to be discovered these days is mind-boggling. The problem is knowing where to look. We're here to help with an incredible list of resources just for you. Read More . That said, you’ll find some well-known artists on TheSixtyOne including Imogen Heap, MIA, and MGMT.
Features:
- Playback continues as your browse the site
- Can download select tracks
- Skip and replay songs
- Skip within the song
- Save your favorite songs
- Listen by genre
Who’s it for? People looking to discover new music.
2. Cliggo
Cliggo is a great free Spotify alternative. It doesn’t have some of the premium features you get with Spotify (like offline listening), but it gives you the option to create and save playlists and listen to genre radio stations. As you navigate the website to look for additional music to add to your playlists, playback will not be interrupted. Cliggo pulls most of its music from YouTube, so it’s easy to find just about any song, and then presents it in a way that makes it easier to create playlists, and skip within songs.
Cliggo offers apps for Android, Blackberry, Firefox OS, Windows, Mac OS, and Linux users.
Features:
- Playback continues as your browse the site
- Skip and replay songs
- Skip within the song
- Create playlists
- Mobile apps
- Listen by genre
Who’s it for? People who want to create tailored playlists.
3. Jango
Another unlimited streaming service that offers mobile apps and genre and artist radios, Jango is not completely ad-free. That said, all you get is one ad per day, so it definitely deserves a spot on this list. Create new stations by searching for your favorite artists, or browse suggested stations by genre or decade. You can also “ban” specific songs so they don’t show up in your radio stations, but you can’t skip within songs to a specific spot in the song you want to hear.
You can also search for and play specific songs, but Jango pulls up the YouTube video so if you’re looking for specific songs – Cliggo is a better choice. Adding songs to your favorites as you listen to radio stations will be played back in this way as well.
Features:
- Playback continues as your browse the site
- Skip songs
- Skip within the song
- Mobile apps
- Listen by genre
Who’s it for? People looking for unlimited radio listening with a little bit of control.
4. Noon Pacific
Another great site for discovering new, obscure music, Noon Pacific is a super clean website offering a great listening experience. You can choose from over 200 mixtapes each with 10 tracks, or nine collections with over 20 tracks each. Noon Pacific also offers a free iOS app which will deliver a new mixtape to your iPhone daily. So where does the music come from? The songs offered up are curated by Clark Dinnison and the playback is powered by SoundCloud.
Features:
- Playback continues as your browse the site
- Skip and replay songs
- Mobile apps
Who’s it for? Anyone interested in daily and completely random music discovery.
5. Hype Machine
Hype Machine is the original music discovery service completely powered by music blogs. You can find new or up-and-coming artists featured on the site as well as remixes of established artists. You can select to listen to music by genre or artist, add songs to your favorites, and create a personalized music stream. With Hype Machine, you can also sign up for a custom compilation delivered to your inbox once a week. You can take Hype Machine on the go thanks to the accompanying Android and iOS apps.
Features:
- Playback continues as your browse the site
- Skip and replay songs
- Skip within the song
- Mobile apps
- Listen by genre
Who’s it for? People interested in tailored music discovery.
6. YouTube
Needless to say, YouTube is a great source for all kinds of music, and there are many Chrome extensions that make it easy to plug into that endless music collection, as well as websites like MusixHub.
Of course, YouTube is not completely free of advertising, but for the most part you are able to skip ads and get back to your music listening. YouTube also has a leg up on services like Spotify and Apple Music, with artists happy to upload their videos to the site. So where you might not find Taylor Swift or Beyonce on Spotify, you can still find these songs on YouTube.
You can create private or public playlists yourself on YouTube, follow other users’ public playlists, or use Google’s own YouTube apps for iOS or Android to create your tailored lists.
When you search for any given artist, you’ll find a list of their top tracks and even complete albums available on YouTube How to Listen to Full Music Albums on YouTube for Free How to Listen to Full Music Albums on YouTube for Free Want to listen to full music albums for free? YouTube can do that. Read More . If you want music to continue playing in the background as you browse YouTube, you can install the Chrome extension Picture in Picture [No Longer Available].
Features:
- Playback continues as your browse the site (with Chrome extension)
- Skip and replay songs
- Skip within the song
- Mobile apps
- Create playlists
Who’s it for? People looking to listen to the latest hits.
There’s Almost Always a Catch…
Truly free, unlimited music services are hard to come by. There’s almost always a catch. These services give you a combination of radio and playlist options, and music ranging from new and obscure artists to established chart toppers.
Out of all of the services listed above, Cliggo is the most robust option complete with mobile options, the ability to create playlists, and listen to radio stations. If you’re more interested in music discovery, Hype Machine and TheSixtyOne are your best bet.
Want free options for live streaming and on-demand streaming too? Try these free alternatives to paid streaming services The Best Free Alternatives to Paid Streaming Services The Best Free Alternatives to Paid Streaming Services If you're looking to save some money, we have found the best free alternatives to paid streaming services. Read More .
Image Credit: H4g2 via Flickr
Explore more about: SoundCloud, Spotify, Streaming Music, YouTube.
My school has managed to block everything so I'm sad. Even youtube is blocked now which is extremely stupid since I use that for music. Even googleplaymusic is blocked.
none of this worked for me so f*** this webbsite
Hype Machine has been my favorite for a long time now. I wanted to try TheSixtyOne, but the site appears to be down. Cliggo looks interesting too, thanks for sharing.
Cliggo works but it plays the instrumental version no the actual song itself.
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Of the legal paid streaming and download music services, Youzeek is by far the least expensive.At £18 a year in the U.K.
No ads on the paid version,ads on the free version.It has an android app and a website.
Spotify web is great with an adblocker
You should check this: Music catalog for artists, albums, etc. like spotify, but free and legal: https://music.cliggo.com
Check out T-Mad's Music at http://www.outofprintsoulandfunk.com - mixture of Black music from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s. Soul, funk, jazz, disco, gospel, old school rap, etc.
Thanks for sharing!
http://playlistnow.fm/ is very good too.
Here in Finland Spotify is the only choice! You can listen most new albums in Spotify at the same day than they are relased.
Nah. Neither one impressed me. Although it's not a music a music streaming service it definitely suits my needs: YOUTUBE!
Features:
- you find non-american non-popular music;
- you find live streams ( rock listeners surely know what I mean );
- there's no music you can't find.
Still Grooveshark is my 1st choice :)
I am listening to http://www.977music.com from past two years !!! really amazing !!! :)
I am listening to http://www.977music.com from past two years !!! really amazing !!! :)
My fave is this: http://bit.ly/mFlowInvite
I just moved to it after leaving spotify :)
My fave is this: http://bit.ly/mFlowInvite
I just moved to it after leaving spotify :)