The best way to make money (even though you probably won't make the big time without PERFECT songs and HEAVY touring schedules - sorry to break it to you) is through licensing your music.

In order to do this, your music needs to be broadcast quality (good enough to hear in the background of radio and tv commercials, playing in the background of a tv show, etc.) Start to build a catalogue, and start to submit your music to these online companies.

All of these are non-exclusive, meaning you don't sell the rights to your song only to them, but you are able to shop them to others, even use all of these to your benefit! I am just doing a quick write-up on each to help direct musicians, you can find out more from their web pages.

1. Audio Sparx

   This company has a large catalogue of independent artists' music and sounds, and once approved, you are in complete control of pricing. It appears that most of the buyers of this music is for online productions, but it is a great way to add some passive income for your music. It is free to join (once approved) and you can upload as much music as you want. Audiosparx takes 50% of the licensing fees it gets for you.

2. Pump Audio

   This music site is owned by Getty Images, and it provides music for advertising, internet, tv, and film clients. You are not in control of the pricing, but it has some great tools for endusers to use. It is free to join (once approved) and you can upload as much music as you want.

3. CD Baby

   For $35, CDBaby will take your CD and sell it online, also making digital content available through iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, etc. They claim to have supplied 150,000 artists with $65 million is sales since 1998, and it is a pretty useful tool to insure that people can purchase downloads of your music.

4. Taxi

   I think this site is better used for its resources rather than what they are selling, but they offer (by purchasing a subscription) to send you a biweekly list of music industry requests for independent musicians, songs, artists, and tracks. It costs $5 for each submission, where as Taxi listens and decides whether or not to send the song to the person providing the listing. You will get feedback for the submission from whoever listens to your song.

5. Broadjam

   This site does the same thing basically as Taxi, but you must sign up as a Broadjam artist. From there it costs $5 for each submission, but these go to the source, and is not "blocked" by another listener.

Check out all of these sites, and hopefully there is something here for you! Remember, the most important things - have great songs, good quality recordings, and learn from your mistakes!

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The order that the free music websites appear in is the order that has received the most hype from Internet chatter that has been collected during the research sessions. This way the actual order of the top music sites appear in has been predetermined by thousand of users across hundreds of chat platforms.

1. Pandora

   Fall in love again, with the possibility of stumbling across a brand new artist, group or band that have been captured through Music Genome Project and overseen by Pandora, so that the flow of new musical talents don't go unnoticed. If you enjoy sampling the sounds of a creative crop of new and still probably new, undiscovered talented, then you will find a whole new world of sounds to delight your listening pleasures.

2. Last.fm

   Last.fm offers more music than you can shake a stick at. Join the community and make new friends who share the same interests as you do. Last.fm members can play full tracks and customize your playlist according to your own unique tastes.

3. IMEEM

   If you really dig your music, then you have come to the right place. IMEEM is the biggest and most comprehensive music resource on the web to get great music. Join the IMEEM community and share your music interests with others or watch music videos if you are not too busy.

4. Songza

   Songza offers music fans the opportunity to search for and listen to the artist or song that they want to on the web. Users are not required to subscribe or pay for the services unlike Last.fm or Rhapsody does. An added bonus Songza pays for licenses from all of the major performing-rights organizations (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC) and these companies pay the publishers and writers in proportion to the number of plays they get on Songza, so the artists are getting paid and the listener are getting to listen to free music on the web.

5. thesixtyone

   This website offers music lovers great music to listen to, but not to download. The unique twist is that listeners can earn points by bumping up songs that you like that catches on with other listeners and they too can bump the song up, too. Listeners are the ultimate judges of the song's success or failure. It's kind of like American Idolon steroids.

6. Grooveshark

   Use this music sharing website to discover new artists and songs through its community of music loving listeners. Share your favorite music with others in the community and earn credit, so that you can use to get free songs of your own. Listeners can also review and recommend the music that they listen to and download music without restrictions.

7. SpiralFrog

   Signup at Spiral Frog and get access to over 1 million songs that you can download legally and free. Discover new artists that you probably haven't ever heard of before or stay with the tired and true recording artists that are known for packing large stadiums of screaming and adoring fans. You must register for a Spiral Frog free membership before you can start downloading your favorite music that you like to jam to.

8. Mp3eq

   Check the latest music charts from around the world starting with the Billboard Top 50, European Top 50, UK Top 50, USA Top 100, Germany Top 20, Dance Top 20 and download free Mp3s or add your own Mp3s.

9. Ruckus

   This website came highly recommended by a few of my readers that had left comments in my other two TOP 10 Music Lists, so it earned its nomination. Ruckus is a music network that allows students the ability to download and listen to, free music that have been archived in its network. Students can download unlimited free and legal music with the option to choose from more than 3 million songs. Additionally, students can also legally download hundreds of popular movies and television shows through the Ruckus service.

10. Jamendo

    Open your ears to a whole new world of music talent at Jamendo. This site offers its members full free albums to download from the emerging new pool of artists and musicians from all four corners of the planet. Wanting something new to listen to, then Jamendo is the place for you.

11. Live Music Archive

    Live Music Archive provides the highest quality concert downloads on the Internet. There are more than 49 thousand items and 2,912bands to choose from, so this is an excellent tool to use when enlarging your free music collection.

12. Songerize

    Use Songerize's straightforward music search engine to find the precise song or artist that you are wanting to listen to, and when you want to listen to it. Simply type in either the name of the song or the name of the artist that you want to hear and Songerize will do the rest. Songerize is more like a radio than a music-downloading site. No membership or special software is required.

13. Free Music Zilla

    When you get past the lame name of the site, Freemusiczilla is a free music application that give you the power to download music directly from social music services from places such as; IMEEM, Last.fm, Pandora, Myspace, eSnips, Mog, Digg, Radio.blog.club and almost all social music services. Freemusiczilla supports all web browsers, has no adware or spyware and is super light, micro-sized and resource-friendly. Best of all, it's free to download.

14. DEEZER

    Are you ready for a home away from home and listen, download or join a lively community that eats and breaths music from various genres? If so, then DEEZER is ready for you. Listen to or download your greatest music icons' masterful works for free or participate in the DEEZER online community and make new friends who enjoy the same music as you do.

15. SeeqPod

    Seeqpod offer its users an opportunity to explore its vast multimedia directory to play, listen to and enjoy playable web content that includes audio, video and Adobe Flash rich media files. According to Seeqpod “It is legal to use its technology”. Music is just the beginning at Seeqpod.

16. MOG

    MOG's slogan says it best “Where Music Junkies Get Their Fix”. Listen to millions of full-length songs for free or share your music playlists and opinions with others in your community.

17. MACIDOL

    Do your own an iPod and want to download new songs and Podcasts from your favorite artists for free? MACIDOL allows its members to download free music for your iPod legally. You name it - MACIDOL probably has it.

18. Slacker

    Slackers offer its users a customizable radio allowing the users to edit and share their favorite stations with other users. Listen to the some of the hottest songs and artists in the world and performing in different music genres.

19. Jango

    Jango is a custom radio that plays the music you want for free. Create your own music playlists to store and play on your own radio channel or choose from the stations that Jango provide. Membership is required to participate.

20. OurStage

    OurStage is an unique concept that gives its users the opportunity to listen to and vote to indie recording artists and musicians, and then the artists or musicians who's song is voted to the top of the charts during a specified time period could be rewarded with one of many excellent prizes. The prizes that can be won by the artists and musicians are focused on helping the winners to become more successful in the music industry. It is a win-win opportunity for both the fans and the artists.

21. Allmusic

    Get to know your favorite recording artists better than ever before and listen or download some free music at Allmusic. Read the Allmusic blog or watch a music video, but by all means relax and have some fun.

22. Sideload

    Sideload offers its users a place to store all of their favorite tracks into their own personalized Sideload Locker. Users must download the Sideload Plugins, so that any time the user discovers a new song or track that they want to keep track of, then just use the Sideload toolbar and store it in the Locker. Sideload offers a large collection of music tracks in a variety of genres. Users will discover 452,995 free tracks from 50,045 artists from around the world.

23. MyBloop

    MyBloop allows anybody the ability to store files for free and share them with anyone else for free. Works with both Windows and Mac, so anyone can listen to their favorite music, create playlists, back up files or simply share your personal music tastes with the world in minutes. With over 1.5 million files already stored on MyBloopthere isa fantastic selection to choose from when you are ready to get started.

24. Unsigned Band Web

    There is nothing more satisfying to a music lover, then the day that you discover a new band to rock out to. Unsigned Band Web delivers on the promise that new bands are discovered everyday, because at Unsigned Band Web visitors will be introduce to musical geniuses that have yet been signed to a major recording label and are waiting for their chance to shine before their audiences. Discover the sounds that you have been missing out on, before they were major rock stars.

25. Soundflavor

    Users of Soundflavor can play, watch and share their favorite music by music genre, lyrics, decade and songs and search for their favorite music the same way, too.

26. Live365

    Live365 offers its users the opportunity to listen to or create their own Internet broadcast, so that they can be shared with the rest of the Live365 community. Some free downloadable music is offered, but most music can only be listened to and not downloaded.

27. iLike

    With more than 20 million using this website to listen to and share music interests and playlists, iLike is an excellent place not only to listen to new music, but to learn about new artists and concerts together.

28. Dizzler

    Dizzler offers its users to search online and play free music, videos, games and radio stations on their computer or mobile device legally. Dizzler is committed to keeping any spyware, adware or storage constraints flushed out of their system, so that the users will have a more enjoyable and safe Dizzler experience. So, wanting to listen to or play new music, then checkout what Dizzler has to offer you.

29. finetune

    Users at FineTune can create their own personalize playlists to share or post on their blog or MySpace page. Users can listen to great music or socialize with other FineTune users and share their favorite playlists.

30. Digitally Imported

    Get ready to burn up the dance floor to the electrifying electric dance music with highly addictive elements of the unique style that only electronic music can bring. Get free radio channels featuring recording superstars, DJs and the hottest exclusive shows anywhere.

31. Tagoo

    Tagoo offers its music listeners free music to listen to on the Internet. Build your own playlist featuring the biggest names in the business or from the least known garage bands that are just starting out in the music industry. Tagoo is still in Beta, so expect a few bugs here or there.

32. purevolume

    PureVolume offers music fans the opportunity to discover and share new music from emerging artists and the artists chooses to give their music away for gaining exposure or to make the music buy only. Not all music is free on this site, but there is enough to rank PureVolume at number 34 on this Top 100 List.

33. The Hype Machine

    The Hype Machine user community gathers to share their common love for music and blog and post their favorite musicians and music on their blogs to share. Users can personalize and modify their favorite music and share with everyone else.

34. GarageBand

    Users of this cool little site can listen to some great free music from mostly undiscovered bands and musicians from across the globe. User can vote and write reviews about the music that they have listened to and compete in monthly drawings to win prizes. Musicians and bands can also enter their music into contest to get reviewed by fans and gain some valuable exposure. The winning Artists will win additional exposure from Feed Partners giving the winning Artists a much larger audience platform.

35. musicovery

    This website offers its listeners the ability to listen to or build their own playlist via its own radio channels. Discover new music from different music eras and/or by selecting your favorite music genre.

36. Music

    Looking for the hottest popstars and rockstars on earth, then what are you waiting for, because music.com has it going on and a little of that, too. Watch music videos, listen or download the hottest music for free.

37. Jamwave

    This website offers its listeners the opportunity to listen to free music on the Internet and discover new artists, musicians and bands that you probably haven't ever heard of, until now. Listeners can join a Jamwave group, keep tabs of the charts or browse through the upcoming events when not tuning in the Jamwave radio.

38. Opsound

    Opsound is an experiment in applying the model of free software to music and its users can download, share, and remix the songs and sounds that participating musicians and sound artists have uploaded into the Opsound database. A wide selection of Creative Commons music awaits new listeners.

39. MySongCast

    MySongCast is an ongoing music competition where independent musicians go head-to-head for a chance to win real cold cash. Music fans listen to each music entry, and then cast their votes for the winning song. The more votes for a particular song results in that song raising through the charts and thus receiving more valuable exposure. This is a good site to discover new artists.

40. Magnatune

    Magnatune has something to offer to both the musician and the music fans and a nice variety of music genres to choose from, too. The music fans can listen to high-quality MP3s and albums in their entirety before buying or becoming a member. The musician earns valuable exposure for their work and receives 50% royalty for each song or album of theirs that is purchased.

41. liveplasma

    Discover new music and movies using the Liveplasma search tool either by selecting the artists, band, movie, director or actor. Make your own maps or bookmark your favorite music, so that you can share them with others in your community. Membership is required to access the full site features.

42. Project Playlist

    Start building your own music playlist and share them with other music fans in the Playlist community. Listen to great music from a large selection of genres. Search for your favorite music, just by simply entering the artist's name or song title into the Playlist search engine. Membership is required to receive full membership benefits. Share the playlist that you create on your MySpace, Facebook, hi5, Blogger pages or on your on website.

43. Newgrounds

    Visit this website if you are in the mood to discover new music options from aspiring musicians and Flash artists from around the world. Listeners can vote for their favorites or listen to other member's favorite songs, bands and musicians.

44. Roxwel

    Metal rock rules! Get all of your metal rock, rock and roll and indie rock all on one comprehensive website and download the music that you like for free. Where as metal rock rules, Roxwel rocks!!

45. Artists Direct

    Are you ready to rock the house down? Artists Direct is the place to visit when in the mood to listen to the likes of Hip-Hop rapper Lil Wayne to pop queen Britney Spears and everyone left in-between. Download free music or watch free music videos to reserving your concert tickets in advance with the speed and convenience found at Artists Direct each and everyday.

How is someone to find the perfect podcast? First, I guess I'll send you to some great sites that help you find those podcasts that have been patiently waiting to be found by you.

This is by far the best site to find podcasts (in this author's humble opinion). Podcasters submit their programs to be listed on the site. Once the show is successfully listed, the popularity of the podcast on the site is entirely dependent upon the listeners who must vote for the show. Vote tallies are reset every month to keep up with the changing popularity of shows.

Many podcasters list their shows on numerous sites, but I've noticed that there is a vast difference between the top one hundred shows on this site versus podcast alley, so I thought I should list it. I haven't found as many gems from this site, but it definitely lists some shows worth your time.

This, I suppose, is the most obvious to list. Simply go into the itunes store and select podcasts from the main menu. The main page will load with a wide variety of podcasts separated by categories. More importantly, itunes makes an effort to keep the front page from being dominated by any one media.

These resources should be useful in helping you find that perfect podcast for you. Now let me throw out some suggestions. The shows I'm about to list here are ones that I have been listening to for over a year. The audio quality is always good, which is important if you want to listen to the entire show.

As the name indicates, this is a political podcast. If you are left wing or liberal, this show will appeal to you. The host, Jack Clark, does an excellent job of presenting his opinions and viewpoints as well as backing up anything he says by citing the source. It is also important to note that the sources he uses are reliable and often used by the right wing which helps validate his arguments.

This is another political podcast that I use to help balance out my listening. Although not an all around right wing view point, the host Dan Carlin shares interesting and thought provoking non partisan opinions and ideas.

Yes, I know that this is a political podcast as well, but you have to admit that host Bill Maher is one funny guy. This podcast is the audio from Bill's weekly show on HBO. You don't have to subscribe to HBO to be able to download the show.

For those of you who want to gain knowledge from your podcast, I recommend this show. Host Mike Duncan does an excellent job of talking you through Roman history without falling into the trap of being boring. The information here is broken up by show into sort of chapters which helps keep all those repeating names from running together.

Another show meant to expand the horizons of its listeners, this show is a rebroadcast of the NPR intelligence squared radio debate show. The topic of discussion is always up to date and controversial. The debaters are well educated and notable in their respective fields. Listening is a little dry, but hearing the arguments is worth the suffering.

Host BJ Harrison weekly reads classic short stories from the public domain. The recording quality is excellent and BJ has an interesting voice that helps to present the stories nicely.

Stand up comic Keith and girl friend Chemda host this daily hour long show from their home in New York. They push the boundaries that radio cannot, due to their freedom from the FCC. The show contains explicit content but is very entertaining.

Host Tim Henson puts on this daily show of politically incorrect entertainment. The show is unique in that listeners can subscribe to a free side or to a paid subscription. The paid subscription provides more content to listeners. This show is also explicit and the humor is controversial.

This list would fall short of complete if it did not hold some video podcasts. The downloads from this show consist of up to five minute videos taken from National Geographic documentaries. They are as interesting and educational as you would expect from National Geographic.

This show, which is not anywhere near as edgy as the title suggests, is incredibly unique and entertaining. It features the video diary of a young girl with a made up disease that causes her to look like a middle aged man.

Hopefully this list will contain at least one show that you want to add to your subscription list. Feel free to leave comments of any shows that you think should have been included.

Finding nearly every song at the known universe

There is a giant number of songs out there at the World Wide Web. And there is Deezer! This site (formerly known as Blogmusik) has a tremendous database of them. In the search field you simply type in a song name and the music is on the way. Best thing all about is the possibility to store playlists from your favorite songs, so you can lean back and listen. Unfortunately there is no way to download these songs for "offline" use, but keep on reading, in the last paragraph i´ll show you a site where you can!

Finding the song that fits your mood

Say, for example, you search for a song that is relatively unknown. You keep searching and searching...but nothing to listen to. So you likely get angry about that. Thats wonderful! Because with Musicovery you´ll find exactly the appropriate song for your angry (and happy) feelings. Simply click on the panel that is showing on the left side. You can choose how the song should sound, more calm or energetic, positive or dark. Of course you also have the choice on different music genres and even the time from where the song should come to your speakers. Test it for yourself, it´s worth it!

Finding the song that´s ready for your hard drive

Last but not least i will show you Skreemr. As mentioned in the first paragraph this is the site where you can download songs. Basically it´s a search engine that permanently crawls the web for new MP3´s on webpages, blogs and so on. At the search results page you will be presented with a list of songs that you can directly listen to AND download with the link provided. Enjoy it.

Is this legal?

For the first two sites mentioned here, namely Deezer and Musicovery, i can say it´s legal because you can´t download the songs but only listen to them. Skreemr should be legal as long as you are just listening to the songs directly from the website, but if you download one to your hard drive it could be illegal!