Is listening to songs on YouTube legal?

There are people here who apparently distinguish between downloading and 'listening'. They are the same thing, legally. If the copy you are listening to is not authorized for distribution, then your listening to it is, in fact, a copyright violation under current US copyright law. This is because the digital file is reproduced in your digital device for you to listen to, making another "unauthorized copy" during the time it is "buffering". That is legally sufficient to constitute an infringement of the copyright owners' exclusive right to authorize distribution, duplication, digital transmission and public performance of the music.

Whether you actually end up with a "download" copy to further share with people illegally is not the point. Your computer automatically made the copy as a step in the process, which is illegal, even if it only lasted a few seconds.

That's the law. You don't have to agree with it. The copyright owners don't have to enforce it. But you asked if it's legal and the answer is, no, it's not.

Many of us await the next ground-breaking federal court decision that whacks someone for this particular violation, which may trigger the long-overdue action by Congress to update the laws.

It's legal to listen to them but it's illegal to download them for free

yes it is 100 percent legal u can watch anything on YouTube it is the uploaders responsibility

u can watch anything that's on youtube. if a song violates copyright the uploader would hear about it, not you

who in the world told you that? it is not illegal