Music: Good Lyrics Make a Good Song It is difficult to speak about music in general, as it will either take a lot of time or just one sentence to explain our attitude. It is an art which truly reflects life. It reveals our thoughts and wishes, stirs our memories and fills our minds with new ideas. We listen to music, we dance to music, finally we relax to music. In fact, music is all around us: in our iPods, Mp3 players, on TV, over the radio and in our hearts. The world of music has no limits and everybody can discover there something which will meet their preferences and needs. Without music our life would be colourless and monotonous. We take delight in music, because it influences our mood and imagination, truly reflects our inner state and features of character, stirs deep emotions and makes us think. With its help we reduce stress and get new strength. When we speak about music we commonly mean songs. Songs are all based on lyrics and melodies. Countless studies have showed that words considerably effect our way of thinking, actions and state of mind, and mostly outside conscious awareness. Favorite songs are listened to over and over, thus affecting our understanding of the world and people aroun us and awakening our emotions. Lyrics are believed to be the most recognisable part of any song. It makes one song sound different from another. It makes it appealing to listeners. No doubt, there is also the rhythm that makes a song sound unique. But words are far easier to remember compared to instrumental music. In addition, they can be easily translated to somebody else. Thus, you will quicker find a CD, if you remember some main lyrics of a song you have heard over the radio. Lyrics are a significant part of any song which fans give special attention to. Nevertheless, there are good and bad song lyrics. Good lyrics are comrehensible and clear to a large circle of listeners, because they highlight crucial life situations and tell touching life stories. Bad lyrics mainly concentrate on trivial things that are unimportant and have no profound meaning. Sometimes they are simple slogans one step away from sheer gibberish. Many fans download songs which have meanings. Hence, good lyrics combined with pleasantly sounded tunes turn a song into a musical masterpiece which will be listened to over and over by people of different age groups and nationalities and passed down from generation to generation. Prince Heads Michael Jackson Tribute at Monaco World Music Awards Not long after the untimely death of Michael Jackson, Prince will present a tribute to the King of Pop this autumn in Monaco. Some fans think that Prince is the least likely candidate to cover the late Michael Jackson's hits. Still others feel that Prince can pull off such a feat as few others could. Monaco was long favoured as the location of choice for the World Music Awards. The ceremony returns to the small but wealthy principality this fall. Here Prince will perform his much talked about tribute to Michael Jackson. With titles like Prince and King of Pop, no location better fits the regal overtones of this extravaganza. Monaco, Monte Carlo in particular, has long been a destination of the rich and famous as well as the world's royalty. The unexpected death of Michael Jackson in June has prompted a flurry of tributes to the former King of Pop. Television documentaries, artist covers and concerts have been forthcoming on a regular basis in the weeks since his passing. Suspicions surrounding Jackson's addictions and those who helped him obtain his substances of choice have helped fuel these events. Some of these tribute events have been less flattering than others. Some may be considered downright ridiculous, little more than grabs for advertising dollars. Still, the desire of true Michael Jackson fans to fittingly honour the fallen star continues. Legitimate and dignified events, such as the World Music Awards in Monaco, offer such fitting venues. Producers of the upcoming Prince tribute to Michael Jackson have been somewhat tight-lipped as to what songs will be performed. However, it has been revealed that Jackson's sister, artist Janet Jackson, will accept an award on her brother's behalf. Both Prince and Michael Jackson had particularly illustrious careers at the height of their popularity in the 1980s. They frequently rivalled for spots on the billboard pop charts. Both catered to sold out venues during music tours in the '80s. This very rivalry gives both Prince and Jackson fans pause. It might have been hard for anyone back in the '80s to envision Prince paying tribute to the King of Pop. Yet, the two had a similar effect on pop music history. Given the contemporary nature of their careers, Prince may be one of the most fitting to present such a tribute. The forum itself will be something of a bittersweet one. Michael Jackson himself performed at the World Music Awards in London back in 2006. His appearance was to have been something of a comeback, one of several such 'comeback' appearances during those years. The much-touted World Music Award performance by Jackson was to have featured him performing his hit 'Thriller.' It was reported at the time that hundreds of Jackson fans paid several hundred dollars for tickets to hear 'Thriller.' Instead, producers pulled the song from Jackson's own line-up. It was instead performed by Chris Brown. The King of Pop performed a roughly thrown-together version of 'We are the World' with an ad hoc choir. The two performances elicited boos from disappointed Jackson fans. Critics wonder if fans might have had a different feeling in 2006 if they'd had the benefit of seeing into the future. The question likely won't be answered. It's probably a safe bet that fans at this year's Monaco World Music Awards will respond more favourably to the Michael Jackson tribute. Other artists who will be appearing at the Monaco World Music Awards this fall include Avril Lavigne, Celine Dion, 50 Cent, Ciara and Nickleback. The star-studded event will draw all kinds of fans. However, Prince's Michael Jackson tribute will likely be one of the biggest highlights of the event and put the spotlight on Monte Carlo. Good Vibes From Good Music So you've been struck with the bug to write music because your significant other just dropped you for the drummer in your old band and you need to get the hurt out! It's understandable that this would be the natural outlet since you're the creative sensitive type. However, when you go to put paper to pen your hand cramps up, you get a cold sweat and you think you're about to get sick. Its writers block and it's not going to go away until you relax! One of the first things you need to know in order to write your Magnus Opus is relaxation is the key! If you rush it or schedule time to write it's a guarantee the outcome will be frustrating and sub par at best. The creative process is supposed to show up at 3:00 in the morning or while you are driving. If you could structure creativity it would be called work, not creativity! When inspiration strikes be prepared to get it down on tape or paper to ensure you don't lose it. A good tool to use is voice mail. Call yourself and leave a message with the lyrics you've just come up with while sitting in traffic. You'll thank yourself later when you are trying your hardest to remember. Another great tip to follow is to make the song resemble you. Most people think a powerful song or a well written song must have a flow that's pleasing to the ear and essentially in 4/4 time. If you are writing a power pop radio ready song an easy flowing highly structured 4/4 beat is absolutely the way to go. However, don't fret if you are off the beaten path. If you're one of those people that would rather hear ZZ Top sing "Sports Sunglasses" and you'd like to hear it at 160 beats per minute played over top of blast beats and heavily distorted guitars you'll still find your audience. Be true to the music that moves you and it will be true to your audience. Trying to force the lyrics about how much you hate the drummer that stole your girl into a 4/4 stringed quartet ballad is fail if that's just not you. If you write aggressive music, then write aggressive music. You'll get used to people walking away shaking their head in disbelief. A great song is in the eye of the beholder and to the right listener your song could be the next must have single. The sole reason a song becomes one of those timeless classics isn't the structure of the song or the genre that it gets classified in. It's the feelings that the song provokes inside of people that makes it an instant classic. When you feel in the mood to write, take a few days and get inspiration from the songs that move you. When you're ready to put paper to pen you'll find the process much more relaxing, productive and fruitful. How to Pay Less For On-line Music Downloads Almost everyone used to purchase CDs with tracks in disc shops. But at the present time it happens rarely. Nowadays it is typical for music fans to download brand new tunes from the Web to their MP3 players. Still, before you were aware that CDs with tunes you had obtained were licensed and you were not breaking any copyright laws. At the present time it is crucial to be aware of music copyright rules and regulations in order not to be sued by a recording company for violation of copyright. Well, how to purchase the best tunes at a reasonable price & not to be taken to court? Firstly, stop browsing at any music download website that promises you loads of music absolutely free. Certainly, from time to time young gifted but not yet famous singers or bands offer their tunes free at their sites. But if you have been granted free access to tracks of music celebs, run away from there as quickly as possible! Does this mean that you have to download expensive songs from now on & save on other things that you have been enjoying to the fullest before? No way! The world of on-line licensed music download sites offers you a great range of membership and purchasing options. Here's some introduction into pricing that might be useful to you. First, some online music download sites have traditional fees for downloads. No membership commission is included, and you are allowed to view short clips of tracks before buying the one you truly like. The charges commonly range from $0.99 up to $1.29 per song. If this means of purchasing music online does not appeal to you, there are sites that offer you a paid membership along with reduced fees (commonly about $0.67) for downloading tunes. And then there is also a monthly subscription alternative, which means that you can download a definite number of songs per month. They also offer a client a free trial period to get acquainted with the music they have available. More than that, they will let you download some tracks (APPROXIMATELY 10 - 25 tracks) free within this period. If you do not take the membership offered after the so-called trial period, all the tracks you have downloaded from a site will be for ever yours. Make Downloading YouTube Videos Easy and Fast YouTube is known worldwide as a site with loads of video clips widely available for viewing and downloading. There are both professional and amateurish videos that will offer you hours of amusement. Anyone will find something to their liking there. Everybody who has ever visited YouTube has asked themselves a disappointing question whether they can download YouTube video clips to their personal computers, DVD players, Mp3 players or cell phones to watch them anytime anywhere. It can be an amusing video clip that you want to send out to your friends via e-mail or an instructional video you wish to keep on hand. However, the most frequent reply to this disappointing question is "no". The YouTube site makes it extremely difficult for users to download video files. If you are not computer-literate or have got little experience in using the Internet and computer, you are unlikely to succeed in downloading video clips online even though you have been told how to do this, since the process is complicated. The easiest and the quickest way to save video files to your personal computer is by using a third-party application which will allow you not only to download videos, but also to convert them into a format that is used by a number of programs. So, you can view video files on your laptop, media players, DVD players or cell phones. Today, there is a range of software packages for these purposes offering numerous options. Certainly, they vary in the interface, but they function in the same way. All you have to do is to copy and paste the URL of a chosen video into the text field and click on the download button to start the procedure. Naturally, the program will ask you to specify where you would like to download the video file to and what you would like to have it transcoded to. In fact, it is a one-click operation that usually takes seconds to save a selected video file to your computer. Later on you can burn it to a DVD by means of Nero. Or you can use Infra Recorder which will allow you to burn videos to both DVDs and CDs.