Where To Find FREE, Legal, Downloadable Music

The RIAA is tightening it's grip on those downloading songs illegally. But there are still many online sites offering free downloads that you won't be sued over. Here are a few:

from http://www.digitalalchemy.tv

Digital Alchemy's "Complete Guide to Free Online Music"

1. We7: Free downloads with a 10 second advertisement inserted at the beginning of every track. Restrictions: None.

2. Ruckus: Free unlimited music downloads. 2.5 million tracks in library. Restrictions: DRM, college students only.

3. Slacker: Play music on-demand along with music recommendations. Restrictions: US only.

4. Pandora: Streaming music recommendation service. Restrictions:US only, not on-demand.

5. Last.fm: Streaming music recommendation service. Restrictions: Not on-demand.

6. eMusic: Limited to 25 MP3 downloads during free trial period. 2 million song library. Restrictions: Limited downloads.

7. Qtrax: Unlimited downloads and song plays with contextual ads. P2P-based client forthcoming. Restrictions: DRM(?)

8. Playble: A free music download service from The Pirate Bay. Forthcoming. Restrictions: None.

9. Broadclip: Like TiVo for Internet radio stations. Schedule recordings of your favorite music and download them later as MP3s. Free software download required. Restrictions: None.

10. iLike: Discover new music through your friends. Share your music library. Download free MP3s of new artists. Restrictions: None.

11. MyStrands: Downloadable application to tag, share, manage, and discover new music. Restrictions: None.

12. iJigg: Digg for music. Rate, stream, and download free music. Restrictions: None.

13. SoundPedia: Listen to free streaming music. Create and share playlists. Restrictions: None

14. Haystack: Social network for sharing and discovering new music. Restrictions: None

15. Deezer: Free streaming online music. On-demand. Formerly called BlogMusik. Restrictions: None

16. Seeqpod: MP3 search engine that lets you play music that you find in your browser. Restrictions: None

17. Jango: Free site that lets you play streaming music on-demand along with related artists. Sticks to more popular music selections than Pandora. Restrictions: None

18. Jamendo: Features free downloadable music from independent artists released under the Creative Commons. Feel free to tip the artists if you like their music. Restrictions: None

19. The Hype Machine: Listen to music gathered from blogs around the world. Restrictions: None.

20. Apple's iTunes Music Store offers a new free download each week. Past offerings have included music by Bruce Springsteen, up and comers The Cinematics and Amy Winehouse.

The Black Rider

A few years ago, Tom Waits came out with "The Black Rider", a spooky, dark album with a greasy black soul. Waits' music is an acquired taste to be sure. And if you thought Waits was strange before, hearing The Black Rider leaves no doubt.

The macabre themes in the album are made more eery with the use of strange instruments including bassoons and saws, along with Waits' low, seething voice- conjuring up images of devil's workshops, dark attics and deserted forests.

This record remains a favorite of mine around this time of year. Sure to quickly put you in the spirit and have you looking over your shoulder at imagined shadows and sudden movements.

Check out "Crossroads" from the album...

Crossroads

Sting Gets Stung

Blender Magazine recenty published it's Top 40 Worst Lyricists. While I don't agree with all the choices, they are intriguing. And Sting, responding to placing #1 on the list, responds by demonstrating that he is not too pompous or overblown to laugh at himself.

Blender's Top 10 Worst Lyricists

10 • Jim Morrison
Why would a guy who looked this good shirtless want to be smart, anyway?

09 • Donovan
LSD may be a lot fun—But not if we have to listen to entire albums made on it.

08 • Diane Warren
Love stinks.

The famously reclusive songwriter has never been married and doesn’t like dating. This estrangement from actual relationships may help explain her astonishing longevity as the world’s most successful author of creepily idealized cheesy love songs—from Michael Bolton’s “How Can We Be Lovers” to Brandy’s “Have You Ever?” and LeAnn Rimes’s “Can’t Fight the Moonlight.” She has enjoyed more than 100 Billboard chart hits. Unless you’re a big Cher fan, you haven’t enjoyed any of them.

07 • Paul Stanley (KISS)
This is what’s wrong with being sexy.

06 • Tom Marshall
The poet laureate of jam-band America—and a big fan of unicorns.

05 • Dan Fogelberg
John Denver, you’ve met your match.

04 • Noel Gallagher (Oasis)
Too busy being better than the Beatles to edit for clarity.

03 • Scott Stapp (Creed)
Just good friends with the Lord.

02 • Neil Peart (Rush)
An ace on the rototoms, a train wreck on the typewriter.

01 • STING

Mountainous pomposity, cloying spirituality, ham-handed metaphors: He can do it all.

According to Foxnews, Sting gets the last laugh. He sent this column a message by e-mail to relay to Blender.

"I am deeply honoured and proud to receive this tremendous accolade for my past efforts, especially when one considers all of the competition out there. Well, I guess somebody has to be top of the heap, so it may as well be me. I can only try and live up to this extravagant and unexpected honour in my future work. So once again, thank you, thank you and thank you."

$222,000.00 for 24 Songs!

On Oct. 4, 2007, a federal court jury ordered a Minnesota woman to pay $222,000.00 for copyright infringement stemming from sharing music files over the internet.

Jammie Thomas was been sued by six record companies including Capitol, Sony and Warner Brothers, who were awarded cumulative damages of $9,250.00 for each of the 24 songs the defendant illegally shared.

Thomas testified during the trial that she had never had an account with online file sharing service Kazaa, and had not shared the songs in question.

The RIAA hopes that this and 20,000 other pending cases serve as a deterrent to would-be file-sharers. However, the music industry may create such hostility and bad press with its campaign that it outweighs any short-term benefits.

It is not clear how many people may have downloaded copies of these songs from Thomas. The total cost of these songs, were they downloaded legally, is about 24 dollars.

New Releases- The Sadies, The Last Goodnight

"New Seasons" is the latest album from The Sadies. These melodic and haunting, introspective songs draw the listener in to a world of sadness and beauty. Drawing comparisons to John Doe, Gin Blossoms, The Smithereens and The Outlaws, The Sadies switch gears from straight ahead Country to Southern Fried Rock to Dears' inspired Next Wave.

Check out "My Heart of Wood"




Also recommended:

"Pictures of You" by The Last Goodnight




This is the current Free Single Of The Week on iTunes. Oh and did I mention that it's FREE?