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The Aquabats rock. Other nerd rockers I like are: Nerf Herder and Atom and His Package.

A great example of this are so-called "hate crimes". I mean, holy crap, crimes against anyone are "hate crimes". Are the "thought police" going to divine what's in someone's brain when they commit these crimes? It's that way today.

Having to "not offend" someone by not using the politically correct term for something they might say is another example of this. I'm not talking about using derogatory terms against someone...that IS offensive.

and you'll go wah wah wah you're so PC
and i will say hey wait
my my my how have the table turns
to be a fucking prick is a desirable trait

I think that we need to go back to mass f2f (friend to friend) trading of bootlegs and cassette tape copies, you know, get a whole group (like 500 or so.) of people to burn a cd or tape, get off of their computers, and meet in a public place and just trade with each other, or just do it like we did in the early 90s when America discovered Grunge (Nirvana, Perl Jam, etc) from friend to friend through a combination of word of mouth and cassete copies. I think the RIAA wont even touch this with a ten foot pole. Of course, I can sort of imagine little music riots if the RIAA does try to touch it with said pole. P.S. There are plenty of bands who are willing to sell you their music. Try them. Also, for the more daring there is a place to go for some choice tracks.

First time I've ever seen guys compare packages and size doesn't seem to matter.

Not compared: my favorite package

any slashdotter worth his weight in trolls should be nerdy enuf to knwo about atom and his package

I'm dubious. You may not *like* best-sellers, but dismissing all of them as low-quality is, frankly, ludicrous. Yes, much of the music industry is influenced by pure marketing. However, quality of music is the dominant factor -- if people do not like your music, they will not buy it.

"Quality" is such a loaded word; what exactly do you mean? I doubt that either of you meant recording quality; if that's the deciding factor, then noone would listen to MP3s, most of which sound no better than an analog tape. You clearly can not be talking about the technicality of the music; if that determined "quality", the top 40 would be covers of paganini, coltrane and lizt.

I suspect that marketability - not "quality" (whatever that may be)- is the dominant factor in music sales. If the public likes it, and they are exposed to it, they will buy it. The things that the majority like are what will sell the most copies. Labels do extensive research into listener preference and try to release albums that will appeal to the most people possible. That's no surprise. 0x0d0a also expressed doubt as to the validity of Snork Asaurus's claim that indie music offered more "Choice and variety".

You deliberately avoided buying mainstream music to *increase* your choices available?

Amazon listed MoFro's album blackwater as one of the top 10 R&B albums of the year, and it is minor label. Atom and his package is one of the funniest synth-punk musicians out there. Kraig Kenningis an unsigned slide guitar player who can play circles around signed artists, as his song Sonic Blues clearly demonstrates.

Ever hear the song "What we do on Christmas" by Atom and his Package? Hilarious. And he's actually Jewish, so it's okay. (Interesting logic, but it's what people tell me)

And let's not forget the inimitable Atom And His Package. Geek punk, accompanied by a Yamaha QY700 sequencer no less! Great stuff.

For instance, I am follower of jazzy easy listening band Fila Brazillia. I do periodic searches on napster for anything containing the words Fila Brazillia, and when I find a user with a significant amount of Fila Brazillia songs I add them to my hot list and browse their archive, looking for songs I am interested in.

It was via this method I learned of another lovely group called Wagon Christ, a band with a very simalar style, who's CD I immediatly bought.

Multiply my experience by all other people interested in purchasing CDs who are using napster and you've got quite a bit of money moving around for music, which, if analyzed, is not very different from normal, current distribution channels, with a few notable exeptions;

1. I wasn't 'fed' this band through a radio or over the television, I sought it out from someone who liked it enough to take the time to seek it and then store it on their computer.

2. An artist selling a CD through normal distribution channels makes (AFAIK) aproximatly .30 to .40 cents off of each and every CD sold. Basically about the same price the CD itself before overhead, so why am I not paying $2 per CD? After all, if I can write lovely music and find someone to print my CDs at .30 cents a pop and then I add .30, if enough people listen to me I can still make money, right? so where is the extra $15 going? To making sure they sell a lot, to everybody. To make sure that you are listening to them and not Atom and his Package. To the stereotypical suit with a pony tail and a cocaine habit who has managed to convince the artist that they don't own the music they wrote and played.

3. Therefor, when I purchase a CD from an independant artist who manufactures his own CDs and works to distribute them he keeps the entire profit and has no need to be in your face all of the time. He can make a tidy living for himself off of the fans that wish to purchase his album, relieving the strian on bands to continually come up with music suitable for the lowest common denominator (AKA 'larger market share')

If this were any other commodity it would a clear variant on the classic protection racket, you pay us (using the formula (15-(.30 + .30))/15=) 94% of the earnings off your CD and we makes sure your CD gets sold. Otherwise you're another one of those 'independant' bands we're always hearing about but never hear.

Mp3 is the means, Napster is the way. Mp3 by it's very existance has already changed our lives for the better, those of us who know how to utlize it to our advantages, and Napster gives us the way to realize what we want to do, namely listen to something NEW. I don't want to listen to the radio, I don't want to turn on my television, I don't want to be 'fed' another second of the same pre chewed overhyped music of the month enviornment that has stifled the creativity of the past three generations of musicians and encouraged conformity over diversity for the simple reason that conformity means conforming to them and continuing to offer them $14.40 for every $15 I want to spend on the culture that surrounds me.

No more. I have seen the future and I am going to follow it even if I have to become a criminal in order to do it. Living in a democracy I was taught that if the laws do not conform to public opinion than by the nature of our governmental system it would attemt to conform itself to the wishes of the people. If people have no respect for a law than it is in essence a bad law, rife for disregard by those who would choose to think for themselves.

Metallica, on the other hand, owns none of their work, are held on a contractural basis to Elektra which prevents them from having any attitude that does not comply with the wishes of their label under threat of legal action, unless they choose to opt for a buyout which I have heard described as 100% of current assets plus 10%. They contribute to society only at one end of the flow, while Napster contributes to the fabric of the society itself, making a richer world for all of us who wish to listen to something else for a change, because frankly I heard my fill of the current distribution channels when they started their current exclusive policy, which occurred slightly after they realized that they were the bottleneck of society and were in the perfect position to reap huge profits off an art form that extends back to the dawn of human history.

Who owns the patent on music, anyways?

Sincerely;
Rommel Fox
http://spikesahead.net/