Recently in Downloads Category

Now that we got your attention. This is not about music piracy. This is about the new album of Coldplay, which they are actually allowing people to download for free. I was happily checking the Trending Topics on Twitter when I saw Coldplay popping out. Curious, I clicked on the topic and was led to talks about free music from the band. So I went in and checked it out and found that it wasn't a hoax. But expect to wait because a lot of people are now downloading this free live album LeftRightLeftRightLeft from band, which incidentally, was slapped with copyright infringement by Joe Satriani (I wonder whatevery happened to that case). This free album was announced earlier as a gift to fans. According to Coldplay's website, this free live album is its answer to the economic crisis.

...the give-away is meant as a recession-busting mark of gratitude to everyone who's supported them: "Playing live is what we love. This album is a thank you to our fans – the people who give us a reason to do it and make it happen." The album was recorded over the past year in various cities around the world on the Viva La Vida tour. Its tracklisting is as follows: 1. Glass of Water 2. 42 3. Clocks 4. Strawberry Swing 5. The Hardest Part/Postcards From Far Away 6. Viva La Vida 7. Death Will Never Conquer 8. Fix You 9. Death And All His Friends

By Clarence Yu AEROSMITH’S Joe Perry pays homage to his idol Chuck Berry with his own recording of "Run Rudolph Run," and it’s about time. According to Aerosmith’s official fan website, AeroForceOne, "Joe has always loved Chuck Berry’s and Keith Richards’ version of this song and has wanted to record it for years now. He also wants to share it with all the fans right here at AF1." A diverse list of artists who have covered the song include Bryan Adams, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Grateful Dead and Billy Idol, a testament to the long lasting recognition of the song first made popular by Chuck Berry in 1958. Perry is reputed to be an ardent admirer of Berry, and it shows in his previous guitar work on songs like "My Girl" off Aerosmith’s Pump (1990) and the axeman often employs Berry’s trademark double-stop licks on his own guitar solos. The recording, available for free download at AeroForceOne, follows the tradition of a swinging, rockabilly beat as previously recorded by Keith Richards. Perry’s voice is ice cool in its lack of emotion, and it is obvious that the recording was engineered to sound like a classic ‘50’s rock and roll song: high on the reverb, with a lot of bar chords, heavy on the crash drum cymbal, with bits of piano flourishes. Perry adds his own mark on the song with his signature buzz sounding solos throughout the song. An accompanying video recorded for the song can be viewed at YouTube. While the song may only be of interest to die-hard Perry and Aerosmith fans, much can be said about Perry’s gesture of making the song free for download. The legendary guitarist has nothing more to prove, and in making this his gift to his fans, it shows a tender side of Perry that he rarely reveals in the rock arena. It can be viewed then as a simple gift from a human being using his God-given talent. Which is, in essence, part of the true spirit of Christmas. Download it now.

GOOD old rock music served differently. Six years since last churning out an album (2001's Black Mantra), Basti Artadi and the boys find themselves waking up to a digital age. Hence, their sixth installment rocking its way into mobile phones. All ten songs in Villains (not at all related to the hit TV show Heroes, Basti says) will be available for download via Smart's Music Store. The album is released independently via Semenelin Music put up by the band itself, obviously referencing their 1996 major-label debut album. Three tracks off Villains have been released almost simultaneously: "Ibrahim," "John of the Cross," and "Novus Is Burning," the last one written for online game RF Online. Months before the official release, Basti has been dropping hints about the new album on Friendster and other social networking sites. In today' press launch, he was the most outspoken -- well relative to guitarist Manuel Legarda and bassist Mon Legaspi. All three admitted to jetlag, arriving in time for the album launch. By Basti's own account, the road to a new Wolfgang album started last year when the band reunited for the Alive 2007 concert. Their set then included a new song "Death Squad," now included in Villains. Since then, the boys have learned to embrace digital, swapping tracks off the Internet before recording a proper album. So by their own account, the album was recorded in three cities: Basti was holed up in San Francisco with his own band, Mon doing gigs in Hong Kong and Manuel staying behind, occasionally seen jamming with Razorback. The obvious question is: is Wolfgang ever the same without drummer Wolf Gemora? Wolf was last seen with California-based Lokomotiv but wasn't in the launch. So it looks like Francis Aquino is doing drumming duties from hereon.

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net FILIPINOS overseas who long to listen to the sounds of home can access a new online music site and download an entire library of Filipino music. PinoyTunes.net has over 3,000 all-Filipino songs ranging from the latest pop and rocks songs to classics of the 80s and 90s, as well as hard-to-find songs released during the 60s and 70s. The songs are encoded in high-quality MP3 format and have been encoded with digital rights management security. which allows the copying of the downloaded songs up to five times. The songs come from such record labels as Alpha Music, Star Records, GMA Records and Villar Records. It also includes songs from independent labels giving these artists an opportunity to promote their craft. PinoyTunes.net is founded by Bambi Fonacier, who also owns music retail store Odyssey and the Touch Music Video digital entertainment station. Her aim is to reach Filipinos abroad who might want to hear the songs that they used to listen to while in the Philippines as well as show the latest music trends in the country. The site was launched during a Philippine trade exposition in New Jersey. Fonacier noted that the US is perhaps the single biggest market for their service. “Since around 70 percent of the US population is connected to the Internet, it is safe to assume that there are about three million US-based Filipinos who have access to the internet. Translated to sales this means a multi-million dollar business opportunity not only for our company but also for the Filipino music industry as a whole,” Fonacier said. Fonacier said that even artists are excited about her online library as their music can be heard worldwide and artists can earn royalties when songs are purchased and downloaded. Registration is required to download songs, with an annual membership fee of $11.99, which can be paid through online payment service PayPal. There is also a five-day trial membership worth $3.