The music industry has changed drastically over the years, and with it, the way we consume music. Gone are the days of buying physical CDs and cassettes, and now we have access to a vast array of digital music sources. But what happens when you download music without paying? The music you buy from the iTunes Store isn't related to subscriptions and requires a one-time payment. These purchases are usually downloaded and added to your library.
You can re-download previous purchases linked to the corresponding Apple ID from the iTunes Store (if they're still on sale there). YouTube's audio library is mainly aimed at people who need royalty-free production music for use in videos. However, anyone with a YouTube account can access the library through YouTube Studio and download as many songs as they want. It's important to note that downloading music from YouTube is not legal unless you have a YouTube Premium account.
This also means that there is less money for music producers, sound engineers and sound technicians, as well as for people who work in what are known as “artists and repertoire”, or A&R, the talent scouts responsible for giving new blood to the music industry. Finding free legal music download sites may require some research on your part, but if you do the groundwork, you'll be able to find a lot. With a variety of downloadable music sources, you're sure to be able to find music that you'll enjoy listening to for a long time. The Apple Music library (which is slightly smaller) has songs that you can play or download (but not move or copy) as long as you have a subscription (the first three months are free).
Streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube have paid plans that allow you to download music to listen to later. Other artists like Nine Inch Nails are part of a growing movement to make music free and allow fans to download songs and albums for free directly from their websites. That means you can be the coolest kid in school by downloading music from tomorrow's hottest artists before they become famous. While it's nice to be able to get free music downloads legally, there are plenty of ways to pay for the biggest and most recent releases.
One way to legally download music is to get it from a website that asks you to pay for each song individually. I think that downloadable music should benefit the artist more, since it costs the same as buying a CD, but it costs much less to deliver it to the customer. Those justifications seem empty considering that legal download sites such as iTunes, Google Play and legitimate streaming sources offer low-cost alternatives to music piracy. It's important to understand that downloading all the music you find on YouTube is not legal. However, there are options available to find music that is free and legal and that doesn't harm the artist when you download it.
