Wondering if you can download music to your devices from the Spotify app? We’ll answer your most pressing questions and give you all the information you want to know about downloading music from Spotify. To start, we’re going to tell you whether or not you can download music from Spotify.
Can I download music from Spotify?
The short answer is: not really. Now, here’s the long answer.
There was a time when Spotify allowed people to purchase and download songs through the Spotify application. This was, of course, above and beyond the services available through Spotify’s paid subscriptions. However, in late 2012 and early 2013, they decided to phase out this practice.
Spotify gave little information about why it decided to discontinue its download store. However, the general consensus around the Spotify user community was that it cost Spotify too much money to license their library of songs for sale, as opposed to just for playback.
Is there any way to download Spotify music now?
Well, sort of. There are two partial solutions that we can recommend when it comes to downloading music from Spotify.
1. Download playlists for offline listening
You can create playlists of songs on Spotify, and then download those playlists in order to be able to listen to them even if Spotify isn’t connected to the Internet. However, there are two things to keep in mind with this solution:
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You must have a paid subscription to Spotify Premium in order to use this feature. See our How Much Does Spotify Cost article (here)to learn how to sign up for Spotify Premium at a discount.
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The songs on the playlists that you download are encrypted, so they can only be used on your Spotify application. They cannot be used with any other audio player device, or otherwise moved off the Spotify program.
Our Spotify Playlists tutorial will walk you through how to listen to your Spotify playlists while not connected to the Internet.
2. Use an alternative to Spotify that allows music downloads
There are some services that are similar to Spotify — perhaps even ones in our Spotify Alternatives article — that do allow you to purchase music, or at least direct you to places where you can do so. Some of these services even allow you to import your Spotify playlists, either on their own or through the use of a third-party program. For example, you can transfer your Spotify playlists to rival service Deezer through the use of a website called Spotizr.
One last thing that we’ll mention: there are also some third-party programs that allow you to download songs from Spotify for free. However, since most of the music on Spotify can be accessed with a free account anyway, you’re basically getting to own something for free that you would otherwise have to pay for in order to own. Therefore, using these programs is tantamount to stealing, which is illegal. We recommend that you refrain from using these programs, and avoid the risk of being caught breaking the law.
That’s the lowdown on downloading music from Spotify: why you can’t do it anymore, and what you can try instead.
