How To Get Free Music On iPhone

Radio, independent artists and free trials: free music is everywhere. Here's how to get your hands on it.

Streaming services such as Spotify, Google Play Music, and Apple Music offer an all-you-can-eat buffet of songs for around £8 per month. That's great, but what if you want to enjoy music without paying? Well, you can do that too.

We show you several ways to find new, or indeed old, music that you can listen to for free on iPhone.

For more advice on digital music, read Apple Music v Spotify and Apple Music v Google Play Music.

Apple Music Radio:

If you're not a subscriber to Apple Music you can still enjoy access to the live Beats 1 radio station that's fronted by Zane Lowe, Julie Adenuga and several other notable DJs.

This bespoke creation has music from many new, as well as established, artists and can be a great place to discover emerging acts.

To listen to Beats 1 you just need to open the Apple Music app and look along the bottom of the page. Here you'll find the Radio icon: tap this, then tap the Beats 1 option.

The station is broadcast live 24/7 so you'll never be without something to entertain your ears.

Subscribers to Apple Music also have access to a number of curated, genre specific stations, all without adverts or presenters. Check out our Complete guide to Apple Music for more details.

My Tuner Radio:

There was a time when the radio was the sole repository of music for the masses. Things might have changed now that on-demand services have turned us all into DJs, but if you want free music then myTuner Radio is the place to go.

This app gives you access to around 30,000 radio stations from around the world as well as more than a million podcasts.

In the UK section you'll find BBC Radio 1, Capital, Classic FM, Magic, Heart, Kiss, Absolute Radio, Planet Rock and loads of others.

The app is free but you can upgrade to the ad-free version for £2.99, which also unlocks an equaliser for enhanced audio.

TuneIn Radio is another fantastic free Radio app worthy of your attention.

Sound Cloud:

Over the past few years SoundCloud has become a central node for fledgling bands as well as seasoned favourites. The free music app is therefore an excellent place to mine for musical treasure.

Download the Sound Cloud app from the App Store, create a free account, and you'll have access to a phenomenal number of tracks, artists, playlists, podcasts, and even audio books.

You can search by genre, explore the charts, or delve into one of the many playlists recommended on the main page. It's a great way to stumble onto the next big thing, or happily enjoy the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack one more time.

Jamendo:

Another app that includes music from independent artists is Jamendo. There's a decent range of new songs that you can download or stream, plus a selection of radio stations that you can listen to for free.

The interface is clean, easy to navigate, and you can leave comments on the songs just like on YouTube.

Streaming service trials:

You might not want to pay for a subscription to a streaming service, but if you time it right you can go for several months without having to.

Each of the main options - Apple Music, Google Play Music, Deezer, Tidal, Spotify and others - offer free trials that range from a couple of weeks to three months.

Try signing up to one, enjoying the music, then cancelling your account before the trial runs out.

When you finally exhaust all of the available trials you'll know which service you like the best, and will be in a more informed position to sign up to one if you choose.

Amazon Prime Music:

One last thing to consider is that if you happen to be an Amazon Prime member then you can take advantage of the recently launched Amazon Prime Music.

Unlike Amazon Music Unlimited (which is basically its Spotify), Prime Music gives members access to around two million songs as part of their Prime account.

Download the Amazon Music app from the App Store, sign in with your existing Amazon account, then have a perusal through the store to find something you like.

So there you have it. Several methods of getting free tunes on your iPhone. Turns out that the Village People were right after all. You really can't stop the music.