Lure the spirit of the season into your home and get into the mood with festive Christmas music. Paired with Christmas cookies, mulled wine, and the best Christmas movies on Netflix, you and your family will soon relax into the holidays.
In this article, we have compiled legal and free resources for contemporary, classical, and traditional Christmas music downloads. We’ve also added a few sheet music sites, in case you’re a talented (budding) musician yourself.
Free Christmas Music Downloads
1. Feels Like Christmas
Our first site provides “free holiday music from top indie artists”. The collection includes contemporary and traditional tunes, as well as vocal and instrumental interpretations. In addition to holiday music, you’ll find seasonal sounds and audio files of Christmas stories for kids.
You can stream the music on the site or download MP3 files.
2. New Christmas Music
At New Christmas Music, you will find new (contemporary) Christmas songs and traditional Christmas carols. The collection includes “O Christmas Tree,” “O Holy Night,” “Silent Night,” “Joy to the World,” and “Jingle Bells”. Some songs are available in different versions. “O Holy Night,” for example, comes in an instrumental and a vocal recording.
Downloads come in several formats, including MP3, WMA, and MIDI. Some songs also feature dated Flash animations. You can preview MP3 and WMA files in your browser. To download a tune, right-click the file format, e.g. MP3, and select Save link as…
3. Free Christmas MP3
If you feel a little overwhelmed, start here. The site features only 24 traditional Christmas songs, one for every day of the Advent season. Each song comes with a brief description.
For example, did you know that “Jingle Bells” was originally named “One Horse Open Sleigh” or that the original version of “Silent Night”—“Stille Nacht” in German—was written by Austrian author Franz Gruber and then translated into 300 languages?
All downloads come in the form of MP3 files.
4. Free Music Archive
The FMA is the music archive of WMFU (recently acquired by Triebe of Noise), the longest running freeform radio station in the U.S. The archive includes a section with over 350 free Christmas songs across various genres.
You can sort their list by artist, track or album name, date added, or most interesting. To play the songs in your browser, click the Play Page button in the top right. When you found a Christmas song you like, you can download it to your computer; right-click the arrow and click Save link as…
5. Uncle Dave’s Xmas Tunes
For over 20 years, Uncle Dave has been recording instrumental versions of traditional Christmas tunes. You can stream the songs and download MP3 and MIDI files.
While all songs on this site are in the public domain, “these arrangements are copyrighted as derivative works by David M. Latchaw”. That said, you’re welcome to use Uncle Dave’s music if you provide a link back to the source.
6. A-M Classical
The Christmas Carols available on A-M Classical come with a Creative Commons Attribution license (what are the Creative Commons?) This license allows you free use of the recordings in any way you please, as long as you credit the original creator.
The site also features classical Christmas music and Christmas pipe organ music. You can play the files in your browser or right-click and download each file individually.
7. Amazon’s Free Christmas Music Downloads
Amazon offers 30 free holiday-themed songs. The selection is certainly unique, but these Christmas songs are all free, so who’s going to complain?
To buy a tune, add it to your Amazon cart and then check out for free.
Download Full Christmas Albums
8. NuBeat Music
All albums featured on NuBeat Music are free. In the Christmas Albums section, you will find instrumental music, beats, rhythm, and many traditional Christmas songs. You can stream each tune, and for most songs, you can also download lyrics. The only downside is that you need to download albums one song at a time.
In addition to the nine musical albums, NuBeat Music also features two storytelling albums: Christmas Special and Christmas Drama.
9. Bandcamp Christmas Music
Bandcamp is a great site to discover new music. Many artists offer entire albums to download for free, though you’re welcome to pay for what you enjoy. You’ll find both original recordings and interpretations of titles like “White Christmas,” “Santa Baby,” and other classic tunes.
The 2019 “A Very Furnace Christmas” (full release on December 13) is a must-listen for fans of alternative holiday music. It reinterprets mainstream hits like “YMCA” or “Gangsta’s Paradise” in a very seasonal spirit.
Before you download anything, you can preview the music in a free stream.
Download Christmas Sheet Music
Maybe you prefer to play your own music. Then these sites are for you.
10. Virtual Sheet Music
On Virtual Sheet Music, you can choose your instrument and skill level before you pick a song from their vast collection of over 3,000 Christmas carols. The online sheets feature a MIDI file, which will help you find the right tune.
All sheets come in printable PDF format. A premium membership will give you full access to all sheet music downloads.
11. 8notes.com
Regardless of what instrument you play or what skill level you’re at, this site has the matching sheet music. The Christmas section covers over 130 songs. For each instrument, you can stream a MIDI file, set the tempo, and follow green highlights through the sheet. Click a section on the sheet and the MIDI will jump to that section too.
To print multiple pages at once, you have to subscribe to the site.
12. Piano Song Download
If you play the piano, you will appreciate this Christmas sheet music source. Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced player, you’ll find sheets suitable for your skill level. Some songs even come with video tutorials.
True beginners can also review piano chords and basic piano tutorials.
Bonus: All Kinds of Christmas Music
13. mfiles
This last site has it all: classical and traditional music, sheet music, MIDI, and MP3 files, all on one page dedicated to Christmas music and carols. You’ll find arrangements for guitar and other instruments, along with printable PDFs of the sheet music, and media files you can download.
Each song has its own dedicated page, featuring its backstory, history, and all available files.
What Christmas Music Are You Downloading?
These sites offer all of the free Christmas music you could ever need. So, what Christmas music are you downloading?
With your Christmas music collection now freshly restocked, what else do you need to get into the mood for the holidays?
You could try one of these online Advent calendars for kids. And once the holiday season has passed, here’s where to download free legal music throughout the year.
Image Credit: janews/Shutterstock
Read the full article: 13 Royalty-Free Christmas Music Downloads
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