Hotel California

The Eagles is one of the most famous rock bands in the history of music in the United States. This band, which formed in Los Angeles in 1971, is composed of Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, Bernie Leadon, and Don Henley. Over its life in the limelight, it has reached five number one singles, won six Grammy awards, and topped six albums. The band is among the most successful recording artists during the era of the 1970s.
Its most popular song is undeniably, Hotel California. This song ranks 37th in the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stones Magazine. Over 16 million copies of this song were sold in the United States alone. The song was written by Don Felder, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey. The original recording featured Henley as the lead vocals.
The lyrics of the song tell about a luxury hotel where one can check out any time but can never leave. Literally, it is about a troubled traveler who gets trapped inside a horrible hotel that at first appeared to be warm and irresistible. But the song, according to writer Don Henley, is actually a metaphorical interpretation of lifestyle in Los Angeles.
Because of the symbolic nature of the song's lyrics, varied interpretations emerged over the years. The most controversial of which is the claim of Christian evangelists that the Hotel California referred to a San Francisco hotel that was transformed into a Church of Satan. Others, meanwhile, alleged that the Hotel California referred to the Camarillo State Mental Hospital. The bands denied all these claims.
Other hit songs of the Eagles include New Kind in Town, Life in the Fast Lane, The Last Resort, Wasted Time, Victim of Love, and so many more.

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Madonna: Legendary Music Artist

Madonna Louise Ciccone or more popularly known as Madonna is one of America's most successful music artists. Born in Bay City August 16, 1958, Madonna began her career as a modern dancer inn 1977 in New York City. She performed in groups like Emmy and Breakfast Club. After that, she released a debut album in 1983. A series of albums followed. The melody and lyrical content of her songs made her popular among music fans.
During this time, Madonna's songs were a constant hit. Those that saw the top billing on the charts include Like a Virgin, Like Prayer, Vogue, Music, Papa Don't Preach, 4 Minutes, and Hang Up. She has sold over 300 million copies of records around the world. It's no wonder she is hailed as the world's bestselling female recording artist in the history of music by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Aside from being one of music scene's greatest pop divas of all time, Madonna also tried her hand in acting. Her film appearances started in 1979. She received critical acclaim for her lead role in Evita (1996). Her other film roles though didn't receive as much positive feedback as her role in Evita. After that, Madonna kept on pursuing more careers such as fashion designing, writing of children's books, producing music videos, and directing films.
Although Madonna has been the subject of various controversies over the last few years, she remains a strong icon in the world of music. She remains as an influential musical artist idolized and revered by many.

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Music Legends - The Beatles

The Beatles went on to become the most influential and successful pop music group of the rock era. No artists except Elvis Presley had achieved the success, critical acclaim and broad cultural influence as the Beatles did. It all began when John Lennon decided to form a group in 1957, little did he know that he had laid the foundations of what was to become the most famous rock band of all time.
The group had a few band changed before settling with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Star. Lennon and McCartney were the principal songwriters but as the band evolved Harrison and Starr made significant contributions.
Their biggest year was 1964 which saw them conquer America. It was kind of like being in the right place at the right time because Americans were mourning the death of President John F. Kennedy. With Elvis in the Army there was a gap in the market. Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens had sadly been killed in an plane crash so when the Beatles hit the scene it was just what Americans needed. They brought fun and excitement back into rock and roll.
Not only were they a musical phenomenon they were also fashion icons, lads wanted to dress like them clothing designers would copy their look. They also transformed the record industry which was quite an accomplishment for that time. They brought about royalties for artists and producers, completely changed the face of music tours and were first to film promotional films which went on to become the music videos we see today.
They all dabbled with drugs including marijuana and LSD which influence some of their music. They played their last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on August 29, 1966, but their last public appearance was on top of the Apple building in London on January 30, 1969. This wasn't the end of their music though as their album 'Abbey Road' went on to become their biggest selling record in history. The time from Sgt. Pepper's through to Abbey Road were considered to be their studio years because they rarely got together unless to record.
The Beatles became true legends and they will always be the greatest rock 'n' roll band in history. If your still a fan and can't get enough of the fab four then you should go on the Beatles tour of London. You can see the studio where the Beatles recorded Hey Jude and Dear Prudence. You can stop by the art gallery where John met his true love Yoko Ono and where they played their rooftop session. Also on the tour is the London home Paul McCartney has lived in since the 1960's. A tour of the Beatles wouldn't be complete without a visiting the famous Abbey Road studios where you can get a picture on the most famous zebra crossing in the world!

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The Best Music Software: Zune or iTunes?

Zune and iTunes are different programs and choosing the right software will make a huge difference in one's music experience. The music software will determine your experience, for you will be playing the music and organizing the songs from your PC to your device. This is why music software will play a significant role when choosing a music player.
The best music software so far are Zune and iTunes. Here are the important factors to help you with your decision:
Importing music: Zune imports the existing iTunes database automatically. It grabs playlists and non protected music from iTunes, but you cannot grab any songs you bought from the iTunes store. And you must set up some folders to drag and drop music file onto the Zune, which is not as convenient as iTunes do.
Purchasing songs: Apple has millions more songs than Zune, so Zune has a bit of catching up to do. Thus, Apple wins when it comes to purchasing song. Through iTunes store, you can buy songs for as low as $0.99. Zune has a 150 dollars monthly subscription plan for you to rent music, which is great if you want to load up your entire music player with songs that you don't currently own.
Searching Music: Both software can search songs while typing, but Zune is obviously faster. Store searches on local databases and the online marketplace are pretty fast. Another good point to Zune is that if you search for something you don't have, it'll show a link to Zune's Marketplace automatically. So if you're on a subscription plan, you can go and download the song quickly.
Creating music playlists: While Zune can transfer playlists from the iTunes database, they both can play smart playlists. It can play auto playlists, but they are hidden and cannot be edited.

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Licensing Music In Ads

When an ad agency is hired to create a commercial for radio or television, one of its' jobs is to decide what kind of music will be used in the commercial. The ad agency will determine whether or not its' client wants and needs to use an existing song or whether a new song is needed for its' clients campaign. This will depend on the clients budget as well as the nature of the advertising campaign.
If the ad agency does not have an in house music department, The ad agency will then usually hire an existing jingle production company, which specializes in advertising music, to write a song and produce a demo for the advertising campaign the ad agency is working on. Jingle production companies usually have a staff of writers and engineers that are prepared to make custom music that is tailored to the needs of ad campaigns.
How you can get involved
As an independent writer, if you are interested in writing music for ad campaigns you have two different methods of pursuing this type of work. You can either contact existing jingle production companies regarding your talents as a songwriter or you can alternatively contact ad agencies directly and offer your services. Ad agencies typically prefer to work with existing jingle production companies but do sometimes make exceptions and hire independent songwriters to work on ad campaigns.
Some writers with their own recording studios who are interested in this type of work choose to form their own jingle production companies. This typically involves starting by working with companies on a local and regional level and expanding to bigger campaigns as the company grows.
Production companies typically command much larger fees for the music they create based on their experience and wide range of services they offer. For example, a 30-second commercial a production company creates can command anywhere from $5,000 to well over $50,000, depending on whether the commercial is to be aired locally, or is to be used as a part of a national campaign.

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Sweet Music To Those Who Invented The MP3 Player

Digital players of all sorts were happily sharing the market. The advent of the MP3 player probably caused many of their sales figures to come to an abrupt standstill as this latest gadget boasted more capacity to fit into the palm of a hand or a pocket.
Its history began with the need for music compression by those in the digital audio industry. Courtesy of the Motion Pictures Expert Group, they came up with a format called the MPEG Audio Layer 3. Aptly concatenated to MP3, this format shot to worldwide fame as audio files became many times smaller than their original uncompressed versions. Acknowledged as the infamous five who invented the MP3 player, Karl-Heinz Brandenburg, Ernst Eberlein, Bernhard Grill, Bernd Kurten and Thomas Sporer all hailed from Germany. Accredited with the patent, they conducted their research work at the Fraunhofer Insitut. Although his name was not mentioned in the patent of inventors, Dieter Seitzer was duly acknowledged for his assistance on audio coding.
There were many obstacles in the initial stage. Failure upon failure to achieve a working digital player nearly caused work to stop. Finally in 1989, the group tasted sweet success. Initial market mainly resided within the research and music community as their need for file compression was greater than other groups. By the mid 90's, the market extended to home users who happily exchanged their cassettes and audio CDs for the more portable player. Swapping of music files over the internet became extremely popular, sometimes to the blight of production houses and artistes in terms of copyrights and royalties.
Towards the end of the 90's, a South Korean company became the first of many who invented the MP3 player for portable use. With immediate effect, music on the go became the next best thing to the ice cream cone. Although there were some hitches to the formula, it was not long before this device became a must-have gadget for most everyday man.

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Rename MP3 Tags - How to Rename Your Broken MP3 Tags

Downloading songs from the internet is a habit forming practice today. It is less expensive than buying an album from a store and it is easier to purchase online. Thus the popularity of MP3s and other digital encoding format. Getting the songs you want as soon as it is available is liken to a birthday present. You would anticipate what is in store for you even if it is still days away. Once you have the song, you will listen to it over and over again until it is time to move along.
Building you music library is really so much fun until you have thousands of them already with missing tags, misspelled titles and missing album artwork. To rename mp3 tags is a nightmare if you are going to do them manually. It can take you months and even years just to complete all details. You have to manually search for their album cover, the right artist name, year and genre, and the right song title. You even have to take out all duplicates one by one if you plan on doing it yourself. Imagine the time and effort you are going to waste if you do not have an automatic program that can do all these work.
Fortunately, to rename mp3 tags is easy if you have a program that is designed to make your life easier. They can be done automatically without you having to type anything yourself. These programs that will let you automatically repair mp3 tags are there to fix all of the wrong details in your music library including wrong artist name, wrong album year and wrong genre. They are available online for a fee and all you need to do is purchase, download and use. With the technology today, you are assured that these programs can do the job better, easier and in the fastest way possible.
TidySongs is one such program. Backed by a powerful online database, TidySongs will clean up your music library real good. And with their price of $39, you will be saving a lot compared to other famous plug-ins that cost more but works less. Aside from renaming mp3 tags, TidySongs can also fix misspelled song titles, delete duplicate songs and add missing album artwork. All of these can be done because of their huge database. You only need to be connected to the internet and it can retrieve the data and input all the right information to your music files.
In terms of accuracy, the online database of TidySongs continuously updates their files so you need not worry about getting outdated information. The speed will depend on your internet connection but if you have a fast one, then you will surely get an organized music library in the fastest time possible. Great isn't it? You don't need to get another program or plug in for your music files ever again. You only need TidySongs and you are assured of a complete and organized collection of songs. Of course there is some maintenance required, but the program really takes the busy work out of the equation.

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