It's boycott the RIAA week: a week-long protest against the RIAA lawsuits against filesharers. For me, it's not too hard to do; I can count on both, if not one, hand the number of new CDs I've purchased in the past year. Can't say I listen to commercial radio either anymore; there's just nothing played that interests me. If I'm not listening to things I have loaded on my mp3 player when driving, I'm listening to NPR.
So where DOES one find good new music now? Any suggestions?
My personal suggestion would be www.magnatune.com . It’s an online-based music label out of the SF Bay area. EVERY album in EVERY genre is available streamed, as well as genre-specific “stations” which play a mix of the artists/albums within that genre. As they say on the front page of their site:
Please don’t fall into the ‘if it was good, it would be on the radio’ trap. When a mere handful of media corporations decide what will be played on it’s stations all over the country, it’s all but impossible for anything ‘out of the box’ to get played...not to mention anything longer than a radio-friendly 3 or 4 minutes.
Contrary to the RIAA-model, Magnatune is working from the philosophy that a label CAN ‘share the wealth’ with it’s artists and succeed. The RIAA insists that it’s going after filesharers to ‘protect’ it’s artists; actually, it’s only protecting its own interests. There is something very very wrong with the RIAA “standard” contracts for artists when a group as commercially successful as the Backstreet Boys were during their heyday made not a penny in CD sales royalties despite the millions upon millions of CDs they sold.:nonono:
I’ve ordered several albums, in different genres; my personal favorite artists are in the ‘ambient’ and “new age” categories. Purchasers decide how much they want to spend when they buy an album from Magnatune…anywhere between $5 and $18. The ‘recommended’ price is $8; 50% of what one pays for an album goes to the artist.
Once PayPal goes through, you’re taken to a page where you can choose what format(s) you’d like to download said album in: .wav, 128k mp3, OGG, FLAC, or vbr-mp3. Download to your HD, burn your own CD, and you’re good to go. The only downside to this is if you don’t have broadband, a .wav download can take a LONG time. But the streaming works for everyone, as you can choose a hi-fi or lo-fi stream, depending upon your connection. I like to let the 'mix' streams run for a certain genre, then when something catches my ear, check WinAmp to see who/what's playing; if I like the artist enough, I'll stream their album(s)...then buy.
The “why” of the label, here: http://www.magnatune.com/info/ is very interesting, and eye-opening, considering all the news lately about the RIAA and filesharing,
Any other suggestions as to where to find good, legal downloads of music?
Thanks, and enjoy!
'mom
So where DOES one find good new music now? Any suggestions?
My personal suggestion would be www.magnatune.com . It’s an online-based music label out of the SF Bay area. EVERY album in EVERY genre is available streamed, as well as genre-specific “stations” which play a mix of the artists/albums within that genre. As they say on the front page of their site:
There’s something for almost anyone, unless you’re a ‘top-40 only’ listener: Classical, Ambient, New Age, Electronica, Punk, Metal, World, Rock…with more being added all the time.“We're a record label. But we're not evil. We call it "try before you buy." It's the shareware model applied to music. Listen to hundreds of MP3'd albums from our artists. Or try our genre-based radio stations. If you like what you hear, buy our music online for as little as $5 an album or license our music for commercial use. Artists get a full 50% of the purchase price. And unlike most record labels, our artists keep the rights to their music. Founded by musicians, for musicians. No major label connections.
We are not evil."
Please don’t fall into the ‘if it was good, it would be on the radio’ trap. When a mere handful of media corporations decide what will be played on it’s stations all over the country, it’s all but impossible for anything ‘out of the box’ to get played...not to mention anything longer than a radio-friendly 3 or 4 minutes.
Contrary to the RIAA-model, Magnatune is working from the philosophy that a label CAN ‘share the wealth’ with it’s artists and succeed. The RIAA insists that it’s going after filesharers to ‘protect’ it’s artists; actually, it’s only protecting its own interests. There is something very very wrong with the RIAA “standard” contracts for artists when a group as commercially successful as the Backstreet Boys were during their heyday made not a penny in CD sales royalties despite the millions upon millions of CDs they sold.:nonono:
I’ve ordered several albums, in different genres; my personal favorite artists are in the ‘ambient’ and “new age” categories. Purchasers decide how much they want to spend when they buy an album from Magnatune…anywhere between $5 and $18. The ‘recommended’ price is $8; 50% of what one pays for an album goes to the artist.
Once PayPal goes through, you’re taken to a page where you can choose what format(s) you’d like to download said album in: .wav, 128k mp3, OGG, FLAC, or vbr-mp3. Download to your HD, burn your own CD, and you’re good to go. The only downside to this is if you don’t have broadband, a .wav download can take a LONG time. But the streaming works for everyone, as you can choose a hi-fi or lo-fi stream, depending upon your connection. I like to let the 'mix' streams run for a certain genre, then when something catches my ear, check WinAmp to see who/what's playing; if I like the artist enough, I'll stream their album(s)...then buy.
The “why” of the label, here: http://www.magnatune.com/info/ is very interesting, and eye-opening, considering all the news lately about the RIAA and filesharing,
Any other suggestions as to where to find good, legal downloads of music?
Thanks, and enjoy!
'mom
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