Ignore everything Charlie Lyne said earlier this week, if I were to rack up the possible bill I would’ve payed over the years for all the singles I’ve downloaded, I could pay a month’s rent, no sweat. Yeah, I support artists, but who’s supporting me? Why pay for stuff you know you can get for free - legally anyways, or else your hard drive needs hiding buddy, the feds could be knocking at your door remember OiNK?

Here are five ’scratch-free’ ways you can save your money for other things, like dirty magazines.

Do a full Google search:

Literally type in the whole track title. So let’s work with: ‘Friendly Fires On Board MP3′.

A knowledge of common file sharing sites here, can prove to be quite helpful. Adding extra tags like, Zshare, YSI, or Blogspot not only narrows down your search, it also gives you more legit material work with. This is what came up when I added ‘˜mediafire’ to my search:

Typing in this url code : -index:htm -inurl:html intitle:”index of” mp3 “artist name”

Another magical google trick, is searching through open content folders with the link above inserted in your search toolbar. You can find whole albums on these, practically more than you’d bargain for, this is the motherload of all mp3 searches. When searching for Friendly Fires (-index:htm -inurl:html intitle:”index of” mp3 “friendly fires”), you’ll get this:

The Hype Machine:

By now you’ve probably realized that hypem pops up, almost automatically - then you’ve also predicted this third method in our little How-To list.

The Hype Machine is your go-to guide for free exclusive music that has been recently leaked, released, or…hyped. It is perfect if you are a massive indie, pop, folk, rock or electronic junkie on the hunt for some good shit; trance and techno fans will have to dig a little deeper into the interweb.

RCRDLBL:

And then there was RCRDLBL, arguably the most sensible music entity on the web. It offers free downloads from notable bands and artists, like La Roux, Dananananaykroyd, and even delivers a weekly newsletter comprised of the entire download list. They also have ‘˜MP3 of The Day’ post, and I can’t say I’ve been disappointed so far.

They would hope you wouldn’t redistribute them on your own or on your blog (you dicks!),they’ve given you that much already, be grateful.

Create your own music blog:

Venturing into blogging does not only make you a reliable asset for potential up-and-coming artists, it also gives you access to the musical dibs you would usually get to hear months after they’d been released. Think of it as being a music promoter, musicians love promoters; they love promoters with a lot of friends even more - so spread your blog around, and you’ll be amazed at the amount of emails you’ll receive with the headline: “hey, check out my new track”. Best part is, you get to share the love with your mates, that’s what they want you to do.

So quit digging in record stores’ bins, and stop recording music from live shows on your mobile - you have here, five easy ways to avoid denting your cashflow. But If you’ve only purchased music from iTunes and Beatport, being the good kid that you are, just know that you’re contribution is appreciated - and possibly spent on the band’s boozing ratio.