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1. We carry 34,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists. We've paid over $3 million directly to musicians already.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 34,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

1. We carry 34,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists. We've paid over $3 million directly to musicians already.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 34,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

1. We carry 34,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists. We've paid over $3 million directly to musicians already.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 34,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

1. We carry 34,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists. We've paid over $3 million directly to musicians already.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 34,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

1. We carry 34,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists. We've paid over $3 million directly to musicians already.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 34,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

1. We carry 34,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists. We've paid over $3 million directly to musicians already.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 34,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

1. We carry 34,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists. We've paid over $3 million directly to musicians already.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 34,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

1. We carry 34,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists. We've paid over $3 million directly to musicians already.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 34,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

1. We carry 34,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists. We've paid over $3 million directly to musicians already.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 34,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

Thanks to CD burners costing dirt these days, you can find individual bands all over the net who are publishing on their own. CDBaby.com offers a storefront and listening booth for hundreds of these bands. Dig around a little and listen with an open mind. You will find something you like.

If they still offer it, try and get your hands on one of the sampler discs (100 MP3 tunes from different bands, broken down by genre) and see if you don't find a dozen albums you want.

There's a HUGE amount of good stuff here, and the bulk of the cash goes to the band. You pay less than you pay for most mainstream commercial music, and sometimes the band even writes directly to ask what you thought of the disc afterward. Virtually all of the bands are accessible and love it when you write them to chat as well.

After the band, the rest of the cash goes to the guys you see on the CDBaby website. NO RIAA GOUGING HERE. No subsidizing bastard lawyer cabals. They even run OpenBSD and Apache. It's ALL good! :-)

No, I don't work for them, I'm just a very happy customer. I've bought over a hundred discs, and I don't miss pouring through the old over-hyped and mass-produced sludge to find the rare gem one bit!

Can you tell I like CDBaby?

Thanks to CD burners costing dirt these days, you can find individual bands all over the net who are publishing on their own. CDBaby.com offers a storefront and listening booth for hundreds of these bands. Dig around a little and listen with an open mind. You will find something you like.

If they still offer it, try and get your hands on one of the sampler discs (100 MP3 tunes from different bands, broken down by genre) and see if you don't find a dozen albums you want.

There's a HUGE amount of good stuff here, and the bulk of the cash goes to the band. You pay less than you pay for most mainstream commercial music, and sometimes the band even writes directly to ask what you thought of the disc afterward. Virtually all of the bands are accessible and love it when you write them to chat as well.

After the band, the rest of the cash goes to the guys you see on the CDBaby website. NO RIAA GOUGING HERE. No subsidizing bastard lawyer cabals. They even run OpenBSD and Apache. It's ALL good! :-)

No, I don't work for them, I'm just a very happy customer. I've bought over a hundred discs, and I don't miss pouring through the old over-hyped and mass-produced sludge to find the rare gem one bit!

Can you tell I like CDBaby?

If the only reason you aren't buying new cds is because of the RIAA, why not buy from independant artists?

CD Baby has a great selection, and actually has pretty reasonable prices too. You can even browse by location, which is really is raelly nice to check out groups that around you.

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.

I'm tired of people (on both sides of the music sharing issue) trotting out the same rhetorical arguments all the time. There's nothing new here. Snyder's arguments about growth in other media don't prove his point; rather they show that the decline in record sales can't be blamed on the slowing economy. I believe I bought fewer CDs from major labels this year, not because I was downloading them from the internet, but because I wasn't interested in them. My money instead goes to new, independant artists (via CD Baby a fantastic way to buy music that doesn't make you feel like a criminal.)

I for one don't believe that we're going to (or that we should) do away with copyright. I just believe that the current music industry is going to be end-runned. I hope that we don't end up legislating it's continued existence. By that I don't mean that we should permit illegal file sharing, but that we shouldn't mandate a technological solution which only allows big media to create content.

-c

Exactly. We have sites popping up like CDBaby and MapleMusic that handle their own distribution and serve as sort of a "Sure you can sell that CD here, if you're willing to pay for it" storefront.

Quite a few performers I know in music are going this route. Martha's Trouble is one of them. (Check out their CD "Sleeping Dogs", if you're into folk/alternative sounds) (I know!!! I know! Shameless plug!_

Exactly. We have sites popping up like CDBaby and MapleMusic that handle their own distribution and serve as sort of a "Sure you can sell that CD here, if you're willing to pay for it" storefront.

Quite a few performers I know in music are going this route. Martha's Trouble is one of them. (Check out their CD "Sleeping Dogs", if you're into folk/alternative sounds) (I know!!! I know! Shameless plug!_

First, downloading from Kazaa isn't theft, piracy or copyright infringement if you're using it to find tracks to an artist that someone recommended to you. If you download an entire album or ten, YES, that's wrong, but I regularly track down (with varying success) artists I've heard about to try to find 3-4 songs to see if I like them. If I like them, I go buy the CD, if I don't I delete the tracks.

As for no alternative, check out CDBaby when you have a moment. 30,000 artists, artists get everything except $4 an album, and more variety than you can shake your booty at. No contracts, no abusive clauses, and the artists set their prices, not some record labels.

Peace.

Of course, after seeing the list here you'll have quite a hard time finding any music to buy.

Bullshit.

There's thousands and thousands of non-RIAA CDs released each and every year. You just have to look a little harder to find them.

I recommend CD Baby as a starting point.

10 Reasons You Should Check Out CD Baby:

1. We carry 30,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 30,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

10 Reasons You Should Check Out CD Baby:

1. We carry 30,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 30,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

10 Reasons You Should Check Out CD Baby:

1. We carry 30,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 30,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

10 Reasons You Should Check Out CD Baby:

1. We carry 30,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 30,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

10 Reasons You Should Check Out CD Baby:

1. We carry 30,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 30,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

10 Reasons You Should Check Out CD Baby:

1. We carry 30,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 30,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

10 Reasons You Should Check Out CD Baby:

1. We carry 30,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 30,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

10 Reasons You Should Check Out CD Baby:

1. We carry 30,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 30,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

10 Reasons You Should Check Out CD Baby:

1. We carry 30,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 30,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

10 Reasons You Should Check Out CD Baby:

1. We carry 30,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 30,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

10 Reasons You Should Check Out CD Baby:

1. We carry 30,000 CDs from independent artists that are not affiliated with the RIAA. (Meaning: you can boycott the RIAA and still buy damn good music.)
2. We only work directly with the musicians, not distributors or labels. So we pay the artists every week. Unlike buying the majors, your money spent on CDs goes directly to the artists.
3. We actually listened to every one of those 30,000 CDs before selling them, and can tell you which ones we highly recommend, here: http://www.cdbaby.com/picks. (It's somebody's full-time job, listening to 75 new albums a day, writing internal reviews, and linking up to other albums in the store, for the last 5 years.)
4. We've made some fun collections (flavors) of CDs: music for Long Drives / Road Trips, CDs to Have Sex To, albums for Academics and Musicologists, ones where someone is Naked on CD Cover, and more.
5. If you enter the name of your favorite famous artist, it'll show you the best new artists in that style. (Yes, it really works. It was built by ears not computers.)
6. Miss walking the aisles of a record store, looking at album covers? Check out the album art gallery .
7. You can listen to about 8 minutes of every single CD in the store, in 128k streaming MP3
8. We're ditching RealAudio for OGG soon. (Only reason we use RealAudio is that I started this site in 1997 when that's all there was!)
9. We never use any Microsoft products . Even the desktop computers in the office are FreeBSD running Opera.
10. The founder & president is the programmer is a Slashdot addict is me.

CD Baby is a site that sells independent music. They have a "Sounds Like" search that you can put a famous artist into and it will come up with artists that you might like.

CD Baby

I like their feature where you can search for artists similiar to popular artists you may like.

Please also post any new corrupt or DRM CDs you find on that complete list, there.

(While you're at it, boycott the RIAA by buying independent CDs, instead!)

Most CDs from CD Baby are about $10-$15. They don't have artists from the major labels though. ;-)

Disney does own "audio studios" (I assume you mean music labels). According to my info they're Buena Vista Music Group, Hollywood Records, Lyric Street Records, Mammoth Records, and Walt Disney Records. I'm not sure what you meant by your limp-bizkit comment, but if you're saying that they are "clean cut" you are wrong. I hear they also own major stakes in the porn industry too...not very clean at all.

It's $20/month for 200MB, no set up and the first month is free. I know about them because their service works with Andromeda.

They're good guys.

• It only runs on Windows, but Linux/UNIX users will crack it; just wait a week, or two;
  
• It theoretically won't affect consumer CD players; just wait for a complaint, or two;
  
• CDs still cost $20 and you only get a decent song, or two;
  

Online retail sales of cds are down according to a widely reported recent survey. The riaa of course blame "piracy," but the Mercury article points out that this claim is controversial. And they talked with John Steup of cdbaby, a source of independent, non riaa recorded music. Steup claims his sales are up dramatically over the last year.

My take is that the riaa boycot is definitely in effect. The effect is being felt most strongly on net-based retailers, naturally so, because the people most in the know about riaa evildoings are also most likely to buy things online.

Do not believe the hype. Do not doubt your collective power.

The outrage is spreading beyond geeks. I am not a geek, and I won't touch a commercial cd nowadays--mostly because I don't want to be bothered with having to return it when it doesn't work. I also deplore RIAA politics and the way they cheat musicians. But mostly I just don't need the hassle. A LOT of people I know feel this way. Keep spreading the word.

Cdbaby isn't a bad choice I hear. They focus on international distribution of indie bands not the localized system that the post is discusssing but they are definitely more amenable to fans than the RIAA.

I'd *LOVE* to be given some suggestions of good music that is legal to download and try out.

First off, check out CDBaby, an online record store that sells CDs by independent artists (which covers those burning CDRs in their bedroom, and those signed to tiny non-RIAA labels). You might want to check out their About Us page to read about their philosophy, and their artists terms page to see just how much of an improvement they are over mainstream distribution routes. In addition, the majority of artists on CDBaby have streaming RealAudio samples to listen to, plus a lot of them have free MP3s on their websites.

As for specific artists... well, I obviously don't know what sort of stuff you're into, but here's a selection of what I've been listening to recently:

• You're Pretty, MP3s at MP3s.com (play Something Real)
• Jennifer Terran (kookier than Tori Amos)
• Molly Zenobia (only a few MP3s on-site)
• Anger Of The Lamb, MP3s at IUMA.com (play Beautiful Disease)
• Violent Work Of Art (play The Worst Is Yet To Come)

If none of that tickles your fancy, CDBaby have a great search feature whereby you can enter the name of a well-known artist and get a list of recommendations, so whether you're a fan of Radiohead or (heaven forbid) Britney Spears, it shouldn't be too long until you've stumbled onto something you like.

I'd *LOVE* to be given some suggestions of good music that is legal to download and try out.

First off, check out CDBaby, an online record store that sells CDs by independent artists (which covers those burning CDRs in their bedroom, and those signed to tiny non-RIAA labels). You might want to check out their About Us page to read about their philosophy, and their artists terms page to see just how much of an improvement they are over mainstream distribution routes. In addition, the majority of artists on CDBaby have streaming RealAudio samples to listen to, plus a lot of them have free MP3s on their websites.

As for specific artists... well, I obviously don't know what sort of stuff you're into, but here's a selection of what I've been listening to recently:

• You're Pretty, MP3s at MP3s.com (play Something Real)
• Jennifer Terran (kookier than Tori Amos)
• Molly Zenobia (only a few MP3s on-site)
• Anger Of The Lamb, MP3s at IUMA.com (play Beautiful Disease)
• Violent Work Of Art (play The Worst Is Yet To Come)

If none of that tickles your fancy, CDBaby have a great search feature whereby you can enter the name of a well-known artist and get a list of recommendations, so whether you're a fan of Radiohead or (heaven forbid) Britney Spears, it shouldn't be too long until you've stumbled onto something you like.

I'd *LOVE* to be given some suggestions of good music that is legal to download and try out.

First off, check out CDBaby, an online record store that sells CDs by independent artists (which covers those burning CDRs in their bedroom, and those signed to tiny non-RIAA labels). You might want to check out their About Us page to read about their philosophy, and their artists terms page to see just how much of an improvement they are over mainstream distribution routes. In addition, the majority of artists on CDBaby have streaming RealAudio samples to listen to, plus a lot of them have free MP3s on their websites.

As for specific artists... well, I obviously don't know what sort of stuff you're into, but here's a selection of what I've been listening to recently:

• You're Pretty, MP3s at MP3s.com (play Something Real)
• Jennifer Terran (kookier than Tori Amos)
• Molly Zenobia (only a few MP3s on-site)
• Anger Of The Lamb, MP3s at IUMA.com (play Beautiful Disease)
• Violent Work Of Art (play The Worst Is Yet To Come)

If none of that tickles your fancy, CDBaby have a great search feature whereby you can enter the name of a well-known artist and get a list of recommendations, so whether you're a fan of Radiohead or (heaven forbid) Britney Spears, it shouldn't be too long until you've stumbled onto something you like.

They know this and, as the Reg points out, they are banking on ALL cd's becoming copy protected in the near future (or you and I not being able to tell the difference) so that we have no choice. They are then assuming that we will just give in and pony up the cash because we can't live without music.

By and large (I have to say) they may be right. Their past experience as music publishers has shown them that the MTV crowd can and will be controlled, and will pony up the cash for one manufactured item after another.

Unless Phillips steps in to protect the CD trademark, politicians step in to protect our legal rights, other major labels refuse to lock down their cds, or the vast MTV market that all these groups focus on suddenly starts following independent bands and small-time labels who don't go for this crap they will be in the right.

The question is, how do we make the non-digerati follow the /. crowd, or at least start supproting grous such as Emusic or Cdbaby?

Yeah, I totally agree... CDBaby rock. I placed my first order (You're Pretty, Molly Zenobia and Jennifer Terran) with them a few weeks back, and I couldn't be happier with the service. It took just five days for international delivery (to the UK) - I've had orders from UK companies that have taken longer than that, even when what I ordered was in stock!

There's definitely no going back for me - I'm slowly going completely independent. To be honest, the only loss I'm going to suffer from not buying BMG's music is Patti Smith - and since I already have all her best (early) albums, I can live with that. I'd be more upset if I had to give up Radiohead or R.E.M., but fortunately that's not happened yet... * touch wood *

The best thing about CDBaby is that they're totally open about the terms under which they sell artist's CDs. It's nice to know that the artist is getting more than mere pennies when I purchase one of their albums.

Yeah, I totally agree... CDBaby rock. I placed my first order (You're Pretty, Molly Zenobia and Jennifer Terran) with them a few weeks back, and I couldn't be happier with the service. It took just five days for international delivery (to the UK) - I've had orders from UK companies that have taken longer than that, even when what I ordered was in stock!

There's definitely no going back for me - I'm slowly going completely independent. To be honest, the only loss I'm going to suffer from not buying BMG's music is Patti Smith - and since I already have all her best (early) albums, I can live with that. I'd be more upset if I had to give up Radiohead or R.E.M., but fortunately that's not happened yet... * touch wood *

The best thing about CDBaby is that they're totally open about the terms under which they sell artist's CDs. It's nice to know that the artist is getting more than mere pennies when I purchase one of their albums.

Yeah, I totally agree... CDBaby rock. I placed my first order (You're Pretty, Molly Zenobia and Jennifer Terran) with them a few weeks back, and I couldn't be happier with the service. It took just five days for international delivery (to the UK) - I've had orders from UK companies that have taken longer than that, even when what I ordered was in stock!

There's definitely no going back for me - I'm slowly going completely independent. To be honest, the only loss I'm going to suffer from not buying BMG's music is Patti Smith - and since I already have all her best (early) albums, I can live with that. I'd be more upset if I had to give up Radiohead or R.E.M., but fortunately that's not happened yet... * touch wood *

The best thing about CDBaby is that they're totally open about the terms under which they sell artist's CDs. It's nice to know that the artist is getting more than mere pennies when I purchase one of their albums.

I'd like to point everyone to cdbaby.com.

It's the best record store I've found anywhere. It's full of independent artists in every genre you could want. They have a sweet feature where you search for a band you like, say Limp Bizkit or POD, and it gives you independent artists like Stink!#Bug or Burning Edge. All the albums for sale have at least half of their tracks available to listen to before you buy.

If you aren't happy you can send your CD back for a full refund.

They even have a wide selection of jazz and classical performances.

I guess the artists get a pretty fat percentage of the profits from the CD. Much more than they would get if they were signed with a major label.

I'm not affiliated with CD Baby in anyway except as a very happy customer. Super happy. Happy happy happy. I've never been so happy about my relationship with a business.

If you are like me, you love music but don't support the rape of artists by major labels. CD Baby is the best place I've found to satisfy my cravings for great tunes. All of the CDs I've purchased from them played on my computer just fine, and ripped to ogg with no problems.

This still isn't good enough. Why? Oh, god, let me count the ways.

1. Track length. I seem to be paying the same per track if I'm downloading Tori Amos's Boys For Pele album (18 tracks between 1:07 and 6:07 long) or Godspeed You Black Emperor's Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennae To Heaven (4 tracks averaging 22 minutes each, spread over 2 CDs). Personally, I'd happily spend a few quid for the twenty-odd-minute epic Storm, but I can't see how they can expect more than a small stack of pennies for the one-minute-seven Mr Zebra (even though it is a pretty good one-minute-seven). Disclaimer: GYBE! are not going to be on this roster. No, really. I don't even have to *look* to be sure of this... leading me neatly on to...
2. Choice. Sorry, but I'm not really interested in this nice long list of major-label artists. There's only about eight major-label artists I pay any attention to (R.E.M., Radiohead, PJ Harvey et al). Everything else I listen to is independent label artists (Jennifer Terran, You're Pretty, Beth Thornley, Vienna Teng, etc etc etc). I wouldn't be interested until artists like these are on the roster... but hey, hang on, these artists are already offering some of their songs for free download anyway! And I've bought their albums on the strength of those free MP3s!
3. Money. Where's the money going? To the artists? Really? Hang on a moment, my sides are splitting with laughter. When I buy CDs from CDBaby, I know that a good chunk of my money is going to the artists. When I buy CDs direct from the artist, I know that a good chunk of my money is going into their pockets. When I see bands live (tomorrow is The Rock Of Travolta, can't wait!), I know a good chunk of my money is going into their pockets. The RIAA can carp on and on about how we're ripping off artists, but we all know who the real rip-off merchants are.
4. Availability. It's too easy to complain about the fact that I couldn't be interested in this shit even if I wanted to be, due to the service being "available to U.S. residents only". Oh well, better stick to my life of crime by not paying the RIAA-tax.

In conclusion, I'm sticking with the indies. Go, baby, go!

This still isn't good enough. Why? Oh, god, let me count the ways.

1. Track length. I seem to be paying the same per track if I'm downloading Tori Amos's Boys For Pele album (18 tracks between 1:07 and 6:07 long) or Godspeed You Black Emperor's Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennae To Heaven (4 tracks averaging 22 minutes each, spread over 2 CDs). Personally, I'd happily spend a few quid for the twenty-odd-minute epic Storm, but I can't see how they can expect more than a small stack of pennies for the one-minute-seven Mr Zebra (even though it is a pretty good one-minute-seven). Disclaimer: GYBE! are not going to be on this roster. No, really. I don't even have to *look* to be sure of this... leading me neatly on to...
2. Choice. Sorry, but I'm not really interested in this nice long list of major-label artists. There's only about eight major-label artists I pay any attention to (R.E.M., Radiohead, PJ Harvey et al). Everything else I listen to is independent label artists (Jennifer Terran, You're Pretty, Beth Thornley, Vienna Teng, etc etc etc). I wouldn't be interested until artists like these are on the roster... but hey, hang on, these artists are already offering some of their songs for free download anyway! And I've bought their albums on the strength of those free MP3s!
3. Money. Where's the money going? To the artists? Really? Hang on a moment, my sides are splitting with laughter. When I buy CDs from CDBaby, I know that a good chunk of my money is going to the artists. When I buy CDs direct from the artist, I know that a good chunk of my money is going into their pockets. When I see bands live (tomorrow is The Rock Of Travolta, can't wait!), I know a good chunk of my money is going into their pockets. The RIAA can carp on and on about how we're ripping off artists, but we all know who the real rip-off merchants are.
4. Availability. It's too easy to complain about the fact that I couldn't be interested in this shit even if I wanted to be, due to the service being "available to U.S. residents only". Oh well, better stick to my life of crime by not paying the RIAA-tax.

In conclusion, I'm sticking with the indies. Go, baby, go!

CDBaby.com sells nothing but independent music by artists who've chosen to remain independent instead of signing away their music to an RIAA label.

I'm working with them now to make things better and easier for the public. We will make the RIAA irrelevant, but not today. Stay tuned!

For those who agree that the artist and not the RIAA should be supported, I suggest www.cdbaby.com Only for Independent Musicians and the artist gets paid $6-$12 per CD. They also make a point of saying that they use no software from Redmond. Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with them other than the large amounts of cash I have sent.

...Or go straight for the weird stuff.

Or buy CDs from artists you've never heard of.