Download Emo Music

What is Emo Music?

The word "emo" stems from the emotional nature of the music, along with highly emotional performances during shows. Beginning as an off-shoot of hardcore punk, emo has grown to encompass a number of musical styles including indie rock and pop. As bands like Dashboard Confessional and Fallout Boy enjoyed wide success, the term emo became even more amorphous, with bands being labeled "emo" for having only a vague resemblance to other emo artists or a stereotypical emo image.

Where to Download Emo Music

MySpace

MySpace has become the online community for spreading the word about hot new music, and that includes hundreds of emo bands. Check out "Today's Top Artists" for the top 100 emo artists in three categories: Unsigned, Indie and Major. If you'd like to support local music, you can search bands by state. Since each band creates its own profile on MySpace, the amount of available music downloads varies from page to page. However, there are hours of streaming and downloadable music to be enjoyed.

eMusic

With many emo bands signed to independent labels, it makes sense to download emo music from the largest online source for independent music. eMusic offers over 2 million songs from over 13,000 labels. The site offers a subscription service rather than charging a per-download price. After a free trial, subscriptions range from $9.99 per month for 30 downloads to $19.99 per month for 75 downloads.

MP3.com

MP3.com offers streaming previews for all the music featured on the site. If you like what you hear, the site also offers links allowing you to download emo music from a variety of other sites, from iTunes to Napster. MP3.com also provides a selection of free music downloads. However, the free music selection doesn't offer as many genre classifications, so you'll need to search for a specific band or browse the entire "rock/pop" collection.

Download.com

Download.com offers over 75,000 free downloads, including numerous emo artists. Look to the "Pick of the Day" and "Emo playlist" for recommendations. Download your favorites or enjoy streaming audio.

Peoplesound

Peoplesound is a London-based site offering streaming audio and downloads. Songs from big names like Simple Plan are only offered as 30 second to one minute samples, while entire songs are available from over 300 up-and-coming new bands. The only potential problem with this site is the all-inclusive "Punk/Emo" category. If you're more interested in bands that sound like Fall Out Boy than Black Flag, you may have to sift through some hardcore screaming to find the soulful lyrics you crave. However, band descriptions give you a pretty good feel for the band's style, so you shouldn't have to waste too much bandwidth with false starts.

Pahardcore.com

Pahardcore.com is part music site, part online social scene, dedicated to hardcore music, emo music, indie rock, metal music and hip hop. Search available mp3s by genre to easily download emo music. Prices vary from free to $10 for an entire album.

Amie Street

Amie Street is an indie music source representing a small selection of emo bands. The site offers a unique payment structure when allowing users to download emo music. The more popular a song is (determined by how often it has been downloaded), the more you pay. Try free songs to get in on the ground floor with a hot new band, or see what all the buzz is about with more expensive downloads. However, even the most popular songs never cost more than 98 cents.