Written by Tatyana Phelps, Managing Editor

We’re college students, so most of us aren’t rich. Yet, a lot of us love music and can’t always afford to pay for a monthly subscription. How can we have all the access to the music we want without breaking the bank? There’s a new free music app that’s combining easy access to unlimited music and affordability—Trebel.

“Trebel is a free music download service designed by for young people, by young people; or, as we like to say, designed by millennials for millennials,” Corey Jones, chief of product of Trebel Music, said.

You’re probably thinking, “There’s no way that it can be completely free. There must be something I have to pay for.” No need to be in doubt; Trebel is completely free. Look at it as how you used to download music for free and go through all of the trouble to get it from your computer onto your phone before there was Spotify, SoundCloud or Pandora. Trebel eliminates all of the steps you had to take before and condenses it into only one step.

“The users we are targeting are largely users who are using video streaming sites or mp3 converters, because we know that’s kind of a big issue on college campuses,” Jones said. “What we’re delivering is a much cleaner, one-touch download experience.”

Trebel gives you the option to stream and download free music from both major and indie record labels, mix and match playlists with songs that are already in your iTunes library with songs that you download using Trebel, create and share playlists with other Trebel users, and even see the users near you who you are most musically compatible with.

The neat thing about Trebel is that it combines free music streaming with social media. The app allows you to connect with other people on your campus to see what they’re listening and to even see who has the same music interests as you. This college-specific app allows you to see a live feed of all the music being downloaded on your campus in real-time and to see the top downloads on your campus.

Think of Trebel as being a music-based Facebook. You can search through the list of all of the users who use Trebel either on your campus or on other campuses, and add their Trebel profile (if they make theirs available). You are then able to see that person’s activity feed which includes what music they’ve played, their song library, and all of their playlists. Also, when a Trebel friend discovers new music or new artists, you’ll get a notification on your phone informing you of that. From there, you can download songs from their playlist onto your own. It’s a great way to see others’ music interests and to also discover music you may not have heard before.

The app is extremely easy to use. All you have to do is click the menu icon at the top left of your screen, click either “Get Music” or “Search,” type in the song you want to search for, and click “Download For Free.” As your song downloads, you’ll notice that an advertisement plays at the bottom of the screen.

Although Trebel is not completely ad-free, you do get something out of watching ads. You’ll see at the top-right of your screen that there’s a number. As you download songs and ads play, that number increases. This is somewhat like a virtual currency. You actually get awarded for using the app receiving coins.

Each time you download a song, your coins increase. You can either send your coins to other Trebel users you know, or you can use them to listen to your playlists ad-free.

Trebel also offers a very interactive design that you won’t find on any other music app. As the song plays, the artwork spins on a turntable. You also have the option to view the song lyrics as you listen, or watch the music video if there is one available for the song. If you’re not a huge fan of the yellow and black theme that comes with the app, you can change it to match an album’s theme colors by simply shaking your phone. Pretty cool, huh?

Trebel is available to only a handful of colleges and is now available to Valdosta State students. All it takes is going to the App Store on your phone, downloading Trebel music HERE, and signing up for a free account.