The days when you had to go to the old disco-stores to buy the fashionable musical hits, are definitely behind us. Radio stations have lost the power they had on the musical tastes of the public.
Today, everything is within reach of a click. And to own a song, just download music from the network.
Everything is digital, music files fit on a computer, on a mobile phone, on a pent drive. The cassette is in disuse, as is the compact disc. The story with vinyl is another. It is still fashionable in certain circles, thanks to the fact that new technologies allow the format to offer unmatched sound fidelity. Also for romanticism.
YouTube Music Empire
YouTube dominates much of the music market. Even many record companies work alone in search of millions of views and "likes" in the audiovisual social network owned by Google. Apps like Spotify and Apple Music are also chasing a big piece of cake.
However For most music lovers, having music online is not enough. They also “need” to tell about it anytime, anywhere, without having to rely on a Wi-Fi connection.
Download music legally and safely
Although music file distribution processes are faster and more comfortable today than a couple of decades ago, the music industry has suffered (and greatly) the presence of piracy.
An issue that has generated and continues to generate many controversies. Are the downloads legal? In most of the cases, no. The damage that is being done to music production is great, and we see it in the Spanish music scene.
The incentive for creating discs is no longer the same. In many cases, thinking a priori that the new songs on an album will be available on the net, free of charge, puts back groups and composers.
The solution could be in different platforms, which allow the download of music for small amounts of money. In theory, a portion of that revenue should go to the creators or composers of the music. But it seems that all this is not yet well developed. And music producers still do not have the necessary incentive for songwriting.
With the massification of the internet, cyberspace was filled (among other things) with thousands of options to download music for free, many illegal. A crime that also allowed the spread of a good number of computer viruses.
Some options
You don't always have to have the feeling that you are stealing. To download music safely and completely legally there are several options. Both in the case of mobile devices, and from computers.
Amazon: the queen of e-commerce that also "sells records"
From the largest virtual store in the world, not only music is sold. More than 46 thousand tracks in MP3 format are also available for free download.
Finding what to buy on Amazon is very easy. You just need to place the desired song, artist or genre in the search box and that's it.
Members of the “old school” generation can review everything available, randomly, very old-fashioned. It is something similar to when you went to the disco-stores. They wanted to find something unknown that would generate excitement and surprise. And that can also be done now, but in digital format.
Spotify and Apple Music: competition for Amazon (and YouTube)
The queen apps of streaming allow their users, not only to listen to music without having to endure advertisements. Too "Download" files from "the cloud", to store and play them at any time or place.
All Apple Music users pay a monthly membership. For its part, Spotify still maintains a free option. In both cases, enjoying Premium services has a cost of around 10 Euros per month.
Spotify grants its paid users the right to download up to 3.333 songs on a single device. Additionally, each account can register up to three different devices. All this in the end raises the possibilities up to 9.999 music files to download.
For its part, Apple Music allows its subscribers to add or download content to personal libraries for free".
Interesting proposals are offered for those who wish to buy a specific song or album. Apple Music keeps the mobile app of the iTunes Store or the iTunes portal active from personal computers.
MonkingMe: a Made in Barcelona bet
Designed for emerging artists, MonkingMe's premise is to offer free music to all its users. Always with the compensation that the artists benefit from it.
Created by a group of students from Barcelona, Both the web version and the mobile apps for iOS and Android offer unlimited streaming without advertising.
It also allows you to download music to enjoy it "offline". All for free. To make the bet profitable, They promote merchandising materials from the artists, as well as concerts and shows.
Musicians looking to promote themselves can use a payment option to gain more exposure.
Last.fm: the true music social network?
Allow your registered users organize a profile, based on musical tastes and personal experiences.
The most striking thing is undoubtedly the possibility of downloading songs and even entire discs for free.
Vimeo has its own thing too
Many call this website "the serious" or "professional" version of YouTube. The truth is that it goes beyond being a site built to share videos. More than 100.000 songs are available in MP3 files. About half are available to download for free.
Searches can be advanced by gender, mood or responding to other values. But most of the artists who have music files to download are completely unknown.
Freegal, legal (and free) music for iPhone users
It is available from the App Store, (which undoubtedly generates a lot of peace of mind). This mobile application allows you to download music without many complications, directly to the iPhone.
More than 9 million tracks are available in MP3 format. Although there are many unknown artists, you can also acquire some of the hits of the moment.
Image sources: DJ TechTools / Christian Home / Softpedia News