The average consumer listens to over 4 hours of music per day. With the explosion of music streaming services, we’ve seen that number inch upward annually.

Given the sheer volume of music mediums that are out there, some confusion has been created in the market as to which way is the best way to acquire the songs you want to listen to. This is particularly true when it comes to downloading music if you’re not a fan of streaming.

To help you music download lovers out there discover your next go-to song acquisition method, our team has compiled a list of our favorite sites/services that we think are worth trying out!

Spotify

Spotify touts itself as being the number one music platform in the world. We don’t doubt it as it was the first well-crafted service on the music streaming scene and has served as the model for its competitors.

Spotify is a platform that’s predominantly used for streaming music. What many people don’t know though is that it can also be used for downloading music.

To unlock music downloads, you’ll need to be a premium member. After acquiring membership, click on the options of any song to download it to your device.

Tunes/Apple Music

Apple lovers are likely well-acquainted with iTunes. The platform revolutionized the music downloading industry roughly 2 decades ago and continues to offers users a means of purchasing albums and downloading them to their phones and computers.

More recently, Apple Music was launched which, like Spotify, is meant to be used as a streaming service. Still, users of the platform have the ability to download songs to their local devices for offline listening.

Google Play Store

The Google Play store offers music access in the same way that iTunes does. The big difference is that Google Play is targeted at Android-powered phones.

To download music from Google Play, simply boot up the application an navigate to its music section. From there, you can download singles and albums to your device. Downloaded songs can be shared between your suite of devices as Android features fewer restrictions when it comes to pulling files off of your phone, for example, and copying it to other places you listen to music.

YouTube

YouTube is the world’s go-to platform when it comes to streaming video. What a lot of people don’t know is that the site has also made its mark on the music industry.

Millions of hours worth of music exist on the platform and songs get streamed by the thousands every day. As a matter of fact, the popularity of music on YouTube inspired the company to launch its YouTube Music application which enables users to stream songs uploaded to the platform without having to watch associated videos.

YouTube Music, like other song streaming platforms, will ask for a monthly fee to unlock all of its features. One of its premium features allows for downloading music for offline listening.

As an alternative, you can use a YouTube to mp3 converter to download songs off of YouTube. Just be careful to only download songs that explicitly allow for that in their license.

SoundCloud

Are you a lover of Indie music? If you are, the number one music downloading platform that’s available to you is SoundCloud.

SoundCloud is essentially a public share drive that aspiring musicians upload their songs to. After upload, musicians can share their songs via social media, email and other means of transmission.

You don’t have to wait for someone to share their SoundCloud track with you to discover it though! You can hop onto the platform yourself and browse its millions of uploads by genre and other unique filters.

SoundCloud, by default, has an option to download an uploader’s tracks. This option can be disabled by an uploader on a case by case basis.

Amazon

We’re willing to bet that you already have an account with Amazon. If you do and you’ve opted into their Prime Membership, you’re in luck!

Your Prime Membership comes with access to Amazon music which, like Spotify and Apple Music, offers music streaming and offline downloads.

Amazon’s music streaming service is more restrictive as far as their catalog is concerned given the bundled nature of the service. For a wider selection of songs, Amazon Music has an “Unlimited” service that is more robust and not included in Prime membership.

If you don’t have Amazon Prime, in Amazon’s digital marketplace, they offer a handful of free/low-cost songs that are available for download. Many of these songs are part of the global royalty-free library or are produced by obscure artists. Still, there are lots of gems available that are worth digging up!

Direct to Consumer (DTC)

While music downloading platforms are a great way for artists to share their tracks, they aren’t the only way music gets released. Artists that don’t want to deal with third-party rules or can’t afford to pay commissions to platforms often release their songs through their personal websites.

If there’s an artist you discover when you’re out in the community, we recommend accessing their music through their sites before trying to look them up in other places. Downloading music through an artist’s direct to consumer channels, especially if the download costs money, will do more to support them than if you download a song off of their iTunes page.

Your Options for Downloading Music are Limitless

There are more options for downloading music in today’s market than we have time to share with you in a blog post. In our opinion, the possibilities we’ve shared are among the absolute best available so give them a try to see what you like.

We’re confident that after sampling a few mediums, you’ll bump into a downloading service that you can’t live without!

Are you looking for more tech advice? If you are, consider browsing additional, fresh content on our blog!