Forbes has compiled a list of the Top 20 Richest Women In Music - the "Cash Queens Of Music", as they are calling them. In order from richest first, they are:


1. Madonna
2. Barbara Streisand
3. Celine Dion
4. Shakira
5. Beyonce
6. Gwen Stefani
7. Christina Aguilera
8. Faith Hill
9. Dixie Chicks
10. Mariah Carey
11. Hilary Duff
12. Avril Lavigne
13. Martina McBride
14. Britney Spears
15. Carrie Underwood
16. Nelly Furtado
17. Fergie
18. Jennifer Lopez
19. Sheryl Crow
20. Norah Jones



The article said that Forbes put the list together by "examining concert grosses, merchandising revenue, album sales and other revenue from clothing lines, fragrance deals and endorsements."


I guess we all make them a little richer when we listen to their music, right? Well, how about getting some of their songs for free? Just sign up at http://www.mpfree.com/default.asp?offer=blog!

I was really glad to hear that Amy Winehouse is going to be performing again. After all of the drama she's been through recently in her life, it will be good to see her on stage. All of her US performances had been cancelled which her record label said was "in a continued effort to support Amy Winehouse's well-being". Amy Winehouse's songs are a modern twist on smokey, sultry blues with a sexy twist. Her song "You Know I'm No Good" is just really different from what you usually hear on the radio. It's really gritty, and I do hope to hear more of her songs in the future. As a nominee, she will be performing on November 15th, at the MtvU Woodie awards, which is MTV's 24-hour college network.
Some of the other nominees include Linkin Park, Gym Class Heros, Lily Allen, and more.
If you haven't seen it yet, go ahead and check out Amy Winehouse's video:







Hope her performance goes well!

I was just talking to a co-worker and she told me something interesting. As she was listening to the radio in her car this morning, she realized that in a 30 minute commute to work, she only got to hear 3 songs. That's right. Three. The rest of the time she was listening to commercials. Anything from advertisements for mattresses to cosmetic surgery...and we both agreed that it was ridiculous. In hopes of hearing new music or maybe a song that she already likes, she stayed tuned in. But, by the time she got to work, she really felt duped! It's my opinion that radio stations are run by greedy station managers who really only care about one thing: getting advertisers to give them money. Who cares about loyal listeners, right?

The solution? An MP3 player. And lots of MP3's. That way, you can listen to whatever you want, whenever you want. You can burn them to cd's and share them with friends. When I mentioned that to my co-worker, she complained about having to pay an average of $0.99 per song or download MP3's illegally - neither of which she is willing to do.

So, I told her about http://www.mpfree.com/. All you have to do is sign up and spend a few minutes of your time - and you can earn free MP3's. I bet tomorrow, she won't be listening to the radio!

Just fall in love? Maybe these top 50 songs can help capture your heart’s emotions for that special someone.


50. “Come Away With Me” – Norah Jones
49. “Chasing Cars” - Snow Patrol
48. “From This Moment”- Shania Twain
47. “Sunday Morning” – Maroon 5
46. “Have You Ever Loved A Woman” -Bryan Adams
45. “Nothing Fancy” - Dave Barnes
44. “Colors of Love” - Boys II Men
43. “Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You” - Lauryn Hill
42. “1,000 Miles” - Vanessa Carlton
41. “Come What May” - Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman
40. “Groovy Kind Of Love” - Phil Collins
39. “Let’s Stay Together” – Al Green
38. “And I Love Her” – The Beatles
37. “Steady As We Go” – Dave Matthews
36. “First Day of My Life" - Bright Eyes
35. “Every Little Thing She Does” – The Police
34. “You Get Me” – Michelle Branch
33. “Accidentally in Love” – Counting Crows
32. “I Miss You” – Incubus
31. “God Only Knows” – Beach Boys
30. “Cupid’s Chokehold” – Gym Class Heroes
29. “At Last” – Etta James
28. “Amazed” – Lonestar
27. “Flying High” – Jem
26. “Book of Love” – Peter Gabriel
25. “Brighter Than Sunshine” – Aqualung
24. “Got You Under My Skin” – Frank Sinatra
23. “Day Before You” – Rascal Flatts
22. “Please Forgive Me” – David Gray
21. “Love Soon” – John Mayer
20. “Better Man” – James Morrison
19. “Oh My Love” – John Lennon
18. “For Once in My Life” – Stevie Wonder
17. “High” – James Blunt
16. “I Love You” – Martina McBride
15. “Summer Love” – Justin Timberlake
14. “Head Over Feet” – Alanis Morissette
13. “Crazy For This Girl” – Evan and Jaron
12. “My Girl” – The Temptations
11. “I Knew I Loved You” – Savage Garden
10. “Grow Old With You” – Adam Sandler
9. “Crazy in Love” – Beyonce
8. “If You’re Not the One” – Daniel Bedingfield
7. “Have I Told You Lately” – Rod Stewart
6. “Back at One” – Brian McKnight
5. “My Best Friend” – Tim McGraw
4. “I’ll Be” – Edwin McCain
3. “Til Kingdom Come” – Coldplay
2. “Better Together” – Jack Johnson
1. “You and Me” – Lifehouse

Feel free to post your own favorite love songs.

Download these songs and many more for free at Mpfree.com.

Have you ever stolen a CD from a store? Or perhaps a piece of clothing from the mall? Hopefully you have answered no to these questions, because for lack of a better phrase, stealing is just plain wrong. Now let me ask you this: Have you ever downloaded music from LimeWire, Kazza, Morpheus or any other free downloading program? Unfortunately many people have because they haven’t known any better. The problem is, not knowing isn’t an excuse anymore.

It is disturbing how many people are unaware that downloading and sharing music files on these programs is illegal, and even more bothersome is how many people just don’t care. When you download copyrighted music on these programs without the consent of the copyright holders you are stealing; you might as well go into target, stick multiple CD’s into your jacket and walk out. We all know that is totally unacceptable behavior, so why is it being tolerated and accepted by people all over the world? Just because the stealing is happening through a computer screen doesn’t mean it’s not a felony. You are still committing the same crime and there are still serious consequences for these actions.

I was curious if LimeWire, Kazaa, or Morpheus had any intention of lying to their customers to make it seem like sharing illegal files through their program is okay. I figured, so many people download these programs each day, that how could they continue to do so if they really knew the repercussions of their actions? But then, in fine print, at the bottom of the page I saw: “Using Morpheus™ or Morpheus Ultra™ for the uploading or downloading of copyrighted works without the permission or authorization of the copyright holders may be illegal and could subject you (or the ISP subscriber) to civil and/or criminal liability and penalties. For more information about U.S. copyright law, please visit http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/and http://www.copyright.gov/title17.” These programs warn you that sharing music is illegal, but do they really care if you do it or not? As long as they can make their actual application legal by writing a warning on the bottom of their website, they are off the hook. The creators of these programs aren’t going to get sued for allowing illegal file sharing to go on, you are.
Now, I don’t mean to sound naïve but if people aren’t sharing music on these programs what else are they doing? I’m not saying that all of these programs are illegal because they are not. And if you want to use them to maybe share an ebook with distribution rights, be my guest. But let’s get real here. People are downloading hundreds of illegal tunes on a daily basis, and even though they may not have been caught yet, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is constantly watching and waiting to catch another violator of these programs. The RIAA has even stated that under copyright law, violators could be held liable for up to $150,000 per violation.

Now just because downloading music from these programs is illegal, doesn’t mean you can’t find free and legal music in other places. Just visit MpFree.com and join thousands of members who have learned it is possible to download free music without breaking the law.

Over the last seven days, MPFree users have been feverishly downloading all their favorite songs absolutly free!
Your top 10 downloads for the past week are:


1.Daughtry---Home
2.Carrie Underwood---Before He Cheats
3.Maroon 5---Makes Me Wonder
4.T-Pain Featuring Yung Joc---Buy U A Drank
5.Shop Boyz---Party Like A Rock Star
6.Gwen Stefani---The Sweet Escape
7.Avril Lavigne---Girlfriend
8.OutKast---Hey Ya!
9.The Killers---Mr. Brightside
10.Pink---U + Ur Hand

Keep Downloading!

Hello my fellow music lovers! Thanks for stopping by. Chances are if you are here, you looking for a way to download music that is not only free, but also legal. Well for those of you unfamiliar with how www.Mpfree.com works, I’m here to give you a quick overview of how easy it is to participate on this site, and get the kind of quality music you deserve.

I’m sure you all have heard of programs such as iTunes or Limewire. Although iTunes is legal, paying 99 cents for 1 song can really add up; before you know it you will have spent much more money than you bargained for. Limewire is a legal program that seems too good to be true, and well, that’s because it is. Although the program is technically legal, sharing music files is not. So http://www.mpfree.com/ has come up with the perfect solution to give you the free and legal music you have all been waiting for.

It’s as easy as becoming a member and visiting our site. Once you are a member, you can click on links to exciting offers and discounts from some of the best online companies. You will be rewarded with free music just for partaking in some of these amazing free trials. You will never be required to spend any money on these offers; all you will have to do is check them out, give them your zip code, possibly fill out a survey or two, and you will earn numerous free downloads of your choice! In addition to these offers, if you refer your friends to the site through the Referral Program, you will also earn free downloads, maybe even more than you can handle.

Unsure of what you want to download? Mpfree.com also offers an Artist Profiles page where you can skim through many artists and find out more information on any singer or group of your choice. You will be able to view the artist of the month, as well as a music video from that artist.

Now that you have a good idea of how the site works, I want you to know that I am going to be using this blog as a way to communicate with Mpfree.com members about any new information about our site. As well as keeping you updated about any new offers and other news, this blog will be a place for you to add comments and give feedback about your experience with the site. Check back with me often for new posts, and interesting reports about Mpfree.com. Look forward to hearing from you!

-Lauren

Downloading music can be easy; finding the legal music sites is the hard part. There are several things to keep in mind when looking for music online. First, one has to make sure that the site is legal, and that the music files being downloaded are not being shared by an illegal source. There are many music sites on the internet that offer cheap or free music downloads. It will come in handy to get the legal songs not only for peace of mind, but also for better quality.

When illegal music is downloaded, it is done so without the permission of the music artist. Finding and tracking down people with illegal music is getting a lot stricter. Depending on how many songs the user has, will determine how much trouble they get into. This is being done so that music artist can still make money, and so that legal music downloading sites can get their credit back for having high quality music.

One way to know if someone is downloading illegal music is to look at where the songs are coming from. For example, some songs are recorded right off of the radio, and when the file is downloaded, there will be radio DJs or something else in the track.

Many people wonder why there are such big problems with illegal music downloads. The problem is that the music artist is missing out on a lot of money, and the user is missing out on a lot of good quality music. It is hard for someone to resist the temptations of free music, but they do not realize that there is better music quality out there. There are in fact, millions of music sites that offer free legal music.

There are even plenty of music sites that have music for free. It is a matter of knowing which ones are legal or not. Typically, the peer to peer music sites are the illegal ones, or close to it. Basically, anything with file sharing is or will soon be illegal. Keep in mind, that there are some download sites that offer file sharing, but this is for listening purposes only. The program does not let the user download music onto their computer.

Finally, finding the free music sites can be easy with a little bit of effort and research. Anyone that likes to listen to music and discover new music artists are encouraged to look for these music sites. It is fun and exciting to listen and download free music, and to get songs from up and coming music artists.

Most people will choose not to like the music artist Arctic Monkeys, based solely on the fact that most people automatically place them among the stereotypical Euro Rock music genre. Their debut music album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, sold 360,000 copies its first week in England. The first of their music hits was a hit in downloadable music, and got the buzz going throughout Western Europe. With the release of that single on downloading music sites, the music album became their country's fastest-selling debut CD, making them one of the most liked British bands of all time. Music experts and fans alike took to their liking, and quickly made the music artist more than Europe could handle. This led them over to the United States, but they didn’t fair well with most people over here.

Because they not only looked like “that” type of British Band, but seemingly sounded like them too, it was easy for music fans in the States to want to dismiss the music band. The music band quickly changed the minds of many hearts, at least the ones that love loud, fast, witty rock songs. And while their second music album, Favorite Worst Nightmare, may not be as revelatory as the first set of music hits, it remains at the top among the music hits, and suggests they may eventually live up to the most heartfelt praises. Despite the music hits, and the rocking out, the band still has some work to do to get to the core of every person’s music hits list. Despite ranking high on numerous 2006 best-of lists, Whatever's introductory sales haven't even matched that first week in England. But they are warming up to music fans.

Nightmare's lead music download single, ''Brainstorm'' seems to be a sort of tribute to a ladies' man. While many people say that it may not be the best as far as American style and lyrics go, it demonstrates a musical thrill ride that seems engineered for the famous dance clubbing scene, with its high-speed, fuzzed-out bass line, explosive heavy-metal opening, and spectacular false ending. Just when you think it’s over, the song jumps right back into the same tune, almost without missing a beat. Many people have no doubt that they will become like their predecessors, The Strokes, and other popular Brit Rock music bands, but they will not be there for quite some time. They still do not have the right music hits and beats to distinguish them from the others, and instead are being the echoes.

Until one listens to their lyrics, however, then their music hits stand out. Their songs have verses that can stand among the top rhyming music artists. One of their genius lyrics include ''Now the shaggers perform and the daggers are drawn,'' heard in the song ''Balaclava.'' This does not mean they are put into the rap music genre, by any means. But they can rock the lyrics as well as any other to create beautiful melodies.

Nightmare is less culturally specific, which might not make enough of a stand as most would like. But on the best tracks, when Turner dreams of a distant lover (''...lying on your side, with your hands between your thighs'') or an unhappily reformed party girl (''You used to get it in your fishnets/Now you only get it in your nightdress''), it feels more intimate, which more people like.

Some people do not need a crystal ball to predict the outcome of the online music industry. While it is somewhat premature, some experts are even preparing the death notices of a popular music download, as we speak: the MP3. At various times in the past, experts that research this type of activity have predicted the downfall, or the overtaking of various newspapers, magazines, TV, the U.S. political system and America Online--all enterprises that were apparently healthy. The internet has been ever changing and it is to no fault of these powers that they have fallen short of the constantly changing internet technology surges.
It seems the MP3 is being taken over, but not quite yet. In fact, it is still on the rise, and the foreseeable future could predict against a downfall coming any time soon. Never mind what the abbreviation stands for; MP3 refers to a technology that allows someone to squeeze CD-quality music down to less than a tenth of its digital size, while retaining virtually all of its lovely sound. That makes it small enough to send to anyone music online--which is exactly what's happening.
Many of these online MP3 music sites are transferring millions of songs per second, through various servers. Countless search engines host millions of people through the music sites, which allow people to share music, and download music online through different users. These music sites are devoted to finding the vast archives of MP3 music that exist online. A lot of the music, from the Beatles to Beethoven, is on underground "pirate" sites, which specialize in the illegal practice of giving away copyrighted music. The recording industry employs an army whose job it is to root out pirate sites. This proves to be tough work since some of these music sites spring up for only days or hours at a time. (Note: while it's technically illegal to download copyrighted music, this prohibition is no easier to enforce than the one against videotaping baseball games.)
As popular as it is now, the MP3 craze is only going to get more popular. In recent times, many music sites are making it possible to get music loaded directly onto a music device, so that the illegality is not able to be caught, unless right at the moment the music is being downloaded. In fact, more and more MP3 players are able to be in sync with certain downloading sites to make it more possible to get music hits from the internet without having to pay.
Many people believe that far from being the music industry's undoing, MP3 will be an advantage. The recording music industry has always made a profit by giving away product for free, using radio as the obvious example. He said lots of savvy music bands are already using the technology to put free music samples online legally. The gambit especially works for folks trying to break into the music biz who are eager to get radio airtime. In fact, a new music bands released a few MP3 songs online in hopes of being discovered.