How to stream ad-free music, for free

With the cost of living continuing to rise, we’re all trying to find ways of cutting back on non-essentials.

Just like TV streaming, music streaming costs can soon mount up. So, you might be thinking of cancelling a music subscription but unsure how you’re going to listen to your favourite tunes.

What does paying a monthly music subscription get you?

The main perk of paying for music is having more freedom. And for most, this means having no ads to listen to and to be able to skip tracks as often as you like.

Here are the big players in music streaming:

• Spotify

• Amazon Music

• Tidal

• Apple Music

• Deezer

All these platforms offer subscriptions around £10-15 a month, with various packages depending on if you want a single, joint or family account, or even an account with improved sound quality (think the Ultra HD of music).

They also offer free version, but these come with annoying ads every few songs, and restrictions on skipping tracks. Basically, listening to music becomes a bit frustrating!

Ways to stream music with no ads

1) Use free trials of each music streaming provider

The big 5 music streaming platforms offer free trials, meaning you can get months of free ad-free music just by using each one until your trial ends, cancelling and moving onto the next one. Tidal, Spotify, Amazon, Deezer and Apple all offer 30 day trials for new customers.

2) Listen to playlists on BBC Sounds

Moaning about the cost of your TV Licence? Don’t forget that it also funds the INSANE amount of radio content on the BBC.

And while BBC Sounds is widely considered a podcast app, it also features lots of music with no ads! In fact, several BBC radio stations are exclusive to the app.

Now its not like a regular streaming platform where you can search for tracks, but there are plenty of ready-made playlists you can listen to, and even skip through (well, fast-forward). You can even download to listen offline.

The only thing to remember is that these playlists tend to only stay on the app for a couple of weeks. That said, there are plenty of genres to choose, all related to the various BBC radio stations.

3) Listen to music on Freefy

This platform is, quite frankly, a revelation.

Its not as seamless in functionality as the main music platforms, but for a free music platform, it certainly does the job without having to pay a penny or listen to any adverts.

For Android users, there is an app. For IPhone, there is no app, so it’s just a website (which you can use on desktop or mobile).

Simply create a free account (no card details required) and start searching for music. You can create playlists or just play individual tracks as you search.

The search function seems pretty decent…try an artist or song title or combination of both.

There doesn’t seem to be a shuffle mode, but you can skip as often as you like (remember with paid streaming you’re often restricted to the amount of times you can skip).

Its not clear how big the catalogue is, but I’ve searched for some obscurer songs and found them. Its looks like the platform pulls the songs from YouTube.

I’ve been able to recreate Spotify playlists on Freefy very easily, give or take a couple of songs.

So there you go -a few options for getting uninterrupted music without paying a premium for it. Happy listening!