Music APIs
Free music APIs with tested curl examples: song and album search, artist metadata, album artwork and song lyrics. No API key required for the endpoints shown.
15 tested APIs with full docs · 15 need no key · 28 more listed
Tested, with full documentation
We called each of these before publishing. Every page carries a working curl command, the real JSON response it returned, parameters and common errors.
Audius
Free streaming catalogue API with no key: trending tracks, artists and playlists from a decentralised network, including streamable audio URLs. Tested example included.
Cover Art Archive
Free album artwork API with no key: pass a MusicBrainz release id and get every scanned cover, front and back, at several thumbnail sizes. Tested example included.
Deezer
Free Deezer API with no key for public data: artists, albums, tracks, charts and 30-second previews. Rich metadata and images. Tested curl example.
Discogs
Free music release database API: fetch any Discogs release unauthenticated, with full credits, tracklist, formats, marketplace stats and identifiers. Tested example included.
Genrenator
Free music genre generator API with no key: returns an invented, plausible-sounding music genre as a single JSON string. Zero parameters. Tested example included.
iTunes Search
Free Apple iTunes Search API with no key: search songs, albums, artists, apps, podcasts and books with artwork and preview URLs. Tested curl example.
ListenBrainz
Free open listening-data API with no key for reads: sitewide and per-user artist, release and recording charts linked to MusicBrainz identifiers. Tested example included.
LRCLIB
Free lyrics API with no key: plain and time-synced LRC lyrics for millions of tracks, searchable by title, artist or exact track signature. Tested example included.
Lyrics.ovh
Free song lyrics API with no key. Fetch full lyrics by artist and title with a single GET request. CORS enabled. Tested curl example and live response.
Mixcloud
Free Mixcloud API with no key for public reads: user profiles, follower and listen counts, and the shows they have uploaded. Tested example included.
MusicBrainz
Free MusicBrainz API with no key: open music encyclopaedia with artists, releases, recordings, labels and relationships. The reference music database. Tested.
Open Opus
Free classical music API with no key: composers, their complete works, periods and genres, curated for classical music applications. Tested curl example.
Openwhyd
Free curated playlist API with no key: human-picked tracks by genre, each linking to YouTube, SoundCloud or Bandcamp, with repost and like counts. Tested example included.
Radio Browser
Free radio station API with no key: 50,000+ internet radio stations worldwide with stream URLs, tags, country, language, bitrate and logos. Tested example.
TheAudioDB
Free music metadata API with a public test key: artist biographies, album artwork, track listings, banners and logos for media libraries. Tested example.
Choosing between these Music APIs
Music APIs are useful for search-as-you-type interfaces, album art, and metadata enrichment. The iTunes Search API is the most permissive of the group — no key, generous limits and high-resolution artwork URLs in every result.
Note that lyrics and full audio are legally restricted almost everywhere. The APIs here return metadata and, in one case, lyrics text; none of them provide streamable audio files.
More Music APIs in the directory
28 further APIs in this category, of which 5 need no API key. These are catalogued from the public-API lists and link straight to each provider's own documentation — we have not tested them yet, so treat the auth and CORS flags as the upstream list's claim rather than ours. They are promoted to a full tested page as we work through them.
| API | What it does | Auth |
|---|---|---|
| 7digital | Api of Music store 7digital | OAuth |
| AI Mastering | Automated Music Mastering | KeyCORS |
| AudD | Music recognition from audio files, URLs, and live streams | Key |
| Audiomack | Api of the streaming music hub Audiomack | OAuth |
| Bandcamp | API of Music store Bandcamp | OAuth |
| Bandsintown | Music Events | None |
| Freesound | Music Samples | Key |
| Gaana | API to retrieve song information from Gaana | None |
| Genius | Crowdsourced lyrics and music knowledge | OAuth |
| Jamendo | Music | OAuth |
| JioSaavn | API to retrieve song information, album meta data and many more from JioSaavn | None |
| KKBOX | Get music libraries, playlists, charts, and perform out of KKBOX's platform | OAuth |
| KSoft.Si Lyrics | API to get lyrics for songs | Key |
| LastFm | Music | Key |
| Mubert AI Music API | Integrate AI music into your app, game or service | Key |
| MusicGPT | AI Music Generator with text-to-speech, voice changer, remix & 20+ music features. | KeyCORS |
| Musixmatch | Music | Key |
| Musixmatch | Access lyrics, subtitles and music data | KeyCORS |
| Napster | Music | KeyCORS |
| Phishin | A web-based archive of legal live audio recordings of the improvisational rock band Phish | Key |
| Songkick | Music Events | Key |
| Songlink / Odesli | Get all the services on which a song is available | KeyCORS |
| Songsterr | Provides guitar, bass and drums tabs and chords | None |
| SoundCloud | With SoundCloud API you can build applications that will give more power to control your content | OAuth |
| Spotify | View Spotify music catalog, manage users' libraries, get recommendations and more | OAuth |
| Sunor | AI music generation API via Suno, with pay-as-you-go credits | Key |
| Vagalume | Crowdsourced lyrics and music knowledge | Key |
| Verome | Music API for searching, streaming and exploring music data from YouTube Music, YouTube, and Last.fm | None |