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Speaking as a musician about to embark on a new recording project, I plan to offer it for sale at CD Baby. This guy has set up a distribution model that benefits musicians - not big record labels. Sure, it might be small today, but this type of thing could very well be the future of the music industry.

For those of you who are sick of paying into the RIAA monopoly, I strongly suggest that you explore the alternatives - they're out there if you're willing to dig a little bit.

(disclaimer: this is a shameless plug for a website, but I am a satisfied customer)

Convenient way to buy independent CDs, without giving any of your money to the RIAA: CD Baby

They even let you pass a message to the artist for every CD purchased. Plus I love the line on the "about" page: "No Microsoft products were used in the creation of this website."

Plus the owner of CD Baby is a fellow programmer addicted to Slashdot under his alias "linuxbaby".

:-)

These guys give you a nice, professional front end for selling tunes, they create sampler discs, host music samples, and what's more - they'll even help you set yourselves up to take credit cards for your merchandise (and/or ticks) at your gigs.

They're 100% RIAA-free so far as I know, and there's a LOT of good stuff there.

On the down side, they're making me go broke.

You've never heard of my band.

We are unsigned and produce all our material in a small, albeit sophisticated home studio. I've spent the last 15 years (off and on and in between tech jobs) playing with various bands. some of these bands were on major labels (none of them are anymore) some of them were on minors. This new band is totally independent.

(feel free to ignore the following shameless hyperlinked plugs)

We started off on mp3.com about 3 years ago and have since racked up a pretty impressive 100,000 or so downloads for which mp3.com has paid us a total of around 1300 bucks (yes, they actually paid). We produced our own CD and sell it at CD baby as well as amazon.com and we are almost at the break-even point.

for us, the unsigned masses of musicians - P2P is a godsend. It's an enormous window into the hard-drives and mp3 players of potential fans worldwide. If i sell a CD to a tiny tiny percentage of these downloaders, i'm doing great. To do this, I purposely stack my own band's mp3's in my shared folders of my P2P clients. It's amazing when i do a search for us on the networks and we pop up on someone elses machine. I have no idea why someone downloaded us - maybe they thought that someone who was sharing - (some band i downloaded for free) - must have other good selections - i have no idea.

P2P is massive advertising and distribution on an unprecedented scale. The record companies remind me of the russian oligarchs who grabbed everything they could during the soviet collapse amassing enormous monopolies. But, once in place they demanded new and strict laws to maintain the stats quo and keep their ill-gotten wealth.

The question of what musicians feel about P2P is misguided and assumes that 'musicians' are all the same. For countless thousands of bands and DJ's P2P is an integral part of their distribution strategy. Personally speaking, when someone decides to 'steal' my music to the tune of millions and millions of downloads - I have a very high-class problem.

The bar to entry to record and produce your own CD's is so low and the amount of new music that is being created is so astonishingly high it's no wonder the record companies are losing money. music is literally everywhere - it (especially dance music) has become a commodity that should be sold by the pound.

This flood of new music requires record companies to pay more money to keep above the madding crowd of 'amateurs' and, in turn, decreases their profits. Also, the radio and live venue monopoly has squeezed all the 'alternative' avenues of promotion out of the reach of mortal bands. P2P and mp3 sharing is all there is left.

musicians and record companies need to understand that music is now shareware whether they like it or not. when i download something i like - i often buy it. what we need now more than ever is not restrictions on music - it's editorial.

I somewhat cave in. I still think it is sad that I as a music lover (I am closing in on 200 CDs) have to spend too much money on CDs I will only listen to three-five times. I have a few of those, though not as many as could be since I practice what I preach.

I believe I didn't make the point clearly enough, though. I still think that we as customers need to gain more rights to make informed purchases. We should be able to find out what corporations sell sweat-shop products. We should have the option of buying ecologically sound foods. We should also have the option of trying before buying where this is feasible. We try clothes on in the stores (although knowing how the fabric will age is close to black magic), we test drive our cars (although we also need to look up technical stats). I think we should be given the option of listening to the album before you buy it. Try this example. All the songs are available for listening. The CD rocks, too, if you are into folksy, rootsy, well-written and beautifully delivered rocking stuff. When all CDs are sold like that, I will stop downloading MP3s. Those are my conditions for behaving well - I expect behavior to be reciprocal.

Now rage away, rageaholic.

It's not like people haven't been spoofing files and renaming them for years now just to be annoying. Then again it does make one wonder if the RIAA folks are actually smart enough to see if the files they download actually are the songs they say they are. I think this whole thing is going to get horribly out of hand with tactics like this. As much as I really love the idea of an ISP taking a stand for their customers who have no means to really fight back or stand up against these loud mouth bullies, it makes me wonder what their next ridiculous plan will be?

If you really want to piss off the RIAA, stop listening to the crap they shove down your throat every week on the radio and various music channels. Do yourself a favor, go to a show at a club and run into a band you've never seen before but might actually really dig. Not to mention buying their small run CD after the show helps them out a lot more than buying from Amazon or Sam Goody.

The simple fact is the only way you'll get the RIAA to listen is to keep your money in your pockets and out of their hands. Buy albums online at small friendly places that carry bands you may have never heard but would possibly like. I've never met anyone who's said they've started going to live shows and regretted it. Musicians make their money on tour more often than these crappy record contracts.

So the best way to keep those RIAA bastards off of your computer is to first make a backup of your stuff. Yeah, we all have the CD's to all our mp3s :-p Then really stick it to the bastards and stop giving them your money.

Then you will be playing right into their hands. The more music you illegally share, the more arguments the RIAA will have to increase their taxes and enforce supposed "anti-piracy" measures. Even if people like you caused 50% of their sales to go down, they would still be making a huge profit, and if they increased their "royalties", then they may end up making more money in the long run.

The AC that I replied to is correct. You can help by creating your own music and encouraging others to do so too. Also make sure you put in a license that lets everyone know this music is free, otherwise people won't know it's legal and the RIAA may try to use this DoS law and the DMCA against them--they think all good music must come from their members.

Since you have that huge FTP server, why not use it to distribute legal free music and video? If open source could be done with music and movies the way it has with software, then it'd be real competition for the entertainment cartel. Just think of the cartel like Microsoft, and the other side like Linux / FreeBSD.

If you want to buy CDs or go to concerts, then make sure the artist is independent. If you go to the concert of an artist owned by the RIAA, then you are still supporting them. One place you can buy independent music is CD baby.

But this is only half of the solution--that was my point. The other thing that needs to be done is convince the public and policy makers that there are alternatives to the entertainment cartel, and laws shouldn't be written to favor the cartel...

Unfortunately, he had to pull the album from his site due to excessive downloads. There's still a good sampling of songs on mp3.com.

Alternatively, you can buy both his albums from CDBaby or Amazon.

...short of delivering the CD's directly to fans...

Maybe that's what CDBaby is for?

I mostly agree with you, however I thought I'd dispute a few points.

I'm also frightened by the proposed Palladium system from our favorite software monopoly. The notion that machines I buy for my own purposes will be "checking up on me" to make sure I'm honest is profoundly disturbing.

Palladium doesn't check up on you. It makes sure you can't do anything a few hardware/software venders don't want you to do. ...and it also enforces what you are allowed to do with specific files--set by the creator of that file. It's like they own your computer, and you are just borrowing it from them--funny how they're taking away ownership from the common person. Next, you'll be considered property of various corporations because you ate some of "their" food that you "rented".

If I may throw some blame in the other direction, think about these developments the next time you violate someone's copyright. If weren't doing that, the motivation behind a lot of these "Big Brother" technologies would go away. Your crime is not victimless.

I agree that copyright infringement has victims, however they are only victims if they lose a sale. IANAL, but that appears to be part of fair use--"(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work." ( Title 17 of the United States Code - chapter 1 section 107)

However I disagree that infringement is the cause of these "big brother" measures. It's all about how many corporations believe that they have a "right" to profits. Why else would that clause in NAFTA chapter 11 be an issue? Corporations' interpetation of this law allowed them to sue the United States and Mexico because those countries enforced antitrust and environmental law! The entertainment cartel is no different--they believe that they should be allowed to sell plutonium laced food to children if they can make a profit from it. ...or create laws that allow them to control all audio and video distribution systems.

As for me, I'm going to avoid doing business with the cartel as much as possible. I just recieved my order from CDBaby, and I'm very satisfied with it. At least I have a resonable assurance that the money I pay them won't be used to take away my freedom, deny me the ability to play CDs I bought, or steal money from me.

He is on V2 Music which is a member of the RIAA. Moby is rich -- why doesn't he start his own label and sell music directly or through independent distributors? In case Moby hasn't noticed, all of us are currently hating the RIAA right now. I will buy this album because I already own all his previous albums. But, why does everyone immediately blame the spectre of "piracy" for their loss of sales? Has he ever considered that mabye all the techies are currently unemployed and don't have $15 to spring for the new Moby album?

What we need is an overhaul of the music distribution chain.

Until something better comes along, I've found that CD Baby is an acceptable way to find new artists. Every CD they sell is by an independent artist, and between $6 and $12 goes to the artist for each CD purchased. Plus, their servers run OpenBSD, they don't share your info with anyone, and they don't keep your credit card number on file.

And their search methods and browse options are really great for helping you find music you'll like among the huge number of bands offering their music through CD Baby.

The truth of the matter is that musicians have been struggling for years before file sharing came along.(Pause to let that sink in)

If she's not getting airplay on radio (which is unlikely)the file sharing and the net is the great field leveler. Since the majors pay to put their music on the radio, unless daddy is filthy rich, she'll never get on. I know it's been cliched to death but "Think outside the box".

The chances of making a living were small to begin with. Tell your friend to put together a website, put the cd on CDBABY put a song or two and a sampler of the CD on a Music Community website such as DMusic.Com Get her CD in Amazon.Com's Advantage program.

Put the website on everything, have email list signup sheets every where she plays, and use the things. Promote, promote, promote. Create a small steady market for her work. Contrary to what the major labels would have you beleive, you don't need to sell millions of CDs to make a living. (well, you do if you work for them). If your friend wants to be a "rock star" tell her to hang up the music and concentrate on something that pays, like fry cook at McDonalds, but if she plays for the love of playing, has some talent, and promotes her work, prices her CD reasonably, and treats it like a business (put together a business plan), she'll see progress. The fact that her stuff is being traded on file sharing networks tells you that there is a demand, and that people like her music.

How accessable to those fans to purchase? Can they buy it easily? Can they buy it online? Does she have distribution? Check out Redeye for distribution (although it looks like their website got hacked) they distribute to record stores nationwide, Barnes and Noble, Books a Million, etc....

The cdbaby site looks pretty awesome. They sell only albums submitted by the artists, and the artists take a huge cut. (Take that RIAA!) They have a respectably large catalogue for my interests. Their privacy policy is top notch. They will definitely be seeing my money.

Personally, I like CD Baby. It has independent artists only, and according to their About page, $6-$12/CD goes directly to the artist. You can also listen to parts of some songs on each album before you buy (RealAudio only though). One of my favorite features of the site is the ability to search by location as well as style.

As a producer, composer, and general content creator, I think that looking for quality entertainment is the critical concern. There's plenty of stuff out there, the trick is finding the good stuff. And with a few notable exceptions (Ani DiFranco, etc.) you aren't going to find it at your local Best Buy, and maybe not even at your local record store (if any of those still exist). For now, the web is where it's at.

While certainly not a litmus test for quality, you can at least trust that artists that use alternate distribution like CDBaby to provide distribution for self-produced/funded titles at least cared enough about their music to scrounge up the money to press a CD and arrange for distribution.

If you're willing to trudge through some crap (albeit interesting crap in many cases), the big music sites like IUMA, MP3.com, and Garageband provide more tracks than you'll be able to listen to.

One hint for the more commercial sites like MP3.com - skip the charts occasionally. The way the MP3.com charts work, you'll typically get a song at number 1 that stays at number 1 for a long time because everyone's listening to it because it's number 1. A self-perpetuating hit, if you will. Also, ever since Vivendi bought MP3.com out, there have been an awful lot of mainstream artists in the top charts. Still, if you're looking for mainstream, you can at least get a "legal" mp3 of a bunch of stuff there.

An additional hint, you'll find some real gems in the less-traveled genres like film music, darkwave, folk, comedy, etc.

Finally, there are lots of small independent labels/artist collectives like RTFM Records that have quality artists that either got tired of working in the mainstream entertainment business, or were smart enough to try and slog it out themselves. Supporting labels like these is a good way to encourage more of the same.

I don't have much advice for you on the movie side of things - I think with the advent of cheap digital camcorders and products like iMovie and Final Cut Pro, you'll see more of this kind of content hitting the web in the next year or two, though. Especially as more people get broadband, which is more or less required for visual stuff.

One site I can recommend if you're into fan-produced Star Wars stuff is theforce.net which has quite a few short films and trailers of varying quality. There's also an absolutely stunning short film set in the Star Wars universe called Duality that you just have to see to believe.

Finally, I'd like to put a plug in for a new benefit album created by a bunch of musicians from around the world in response to the WTC/Pentagon attacks. The album, September Rising, is now available. It was put together by a bunch of pros, most of whom have never met each other face to face. Complete information is available at septemberrising.org. It's some really great stuff, and unlike most of the benefit albums coming from the major entertainment conglomerates who only donated a percentage of sales, I believe that all proceeds from sales of this album go to the New York Firefighters 9-11 Disaster Relief Fund.

As a producer, composer, and general content creator, I think that looking for quality entertainment is the critical concern. There's plenty of stuff out there, the trick is finding the good stuff. And with a few notable exceptions (Ani DiFranco, etc.) you aren't going to find it at your local Best Buy, and maybe not even at your local record store (if any of those still exist). For now, the web is where it's at.

While certainly not a litmus test for quality, you can at least trust that artists that use alternate distribution like CDBaby to provide distribution for self-produced/funded titles at least cared enough about their music to scrounge up the money to press a CD and arrange for distribution.

If you're willing to trudge through some crap (albeit interesting crap in many cases), the big music sites like IUMA, MP3.com, and Garageband provide more tracks than you'll be able to listen to.

One hint for the more commercial sites like MP3.com - skip the charts occasionally. The way the MP3.com charts work, you'll typically get a song at number 1 that stays at number 1 for a long time because everyone's listening to it because it's number 1. A self-perpetuating hit, if you will. Also, ever since Vivendi bought MP3.com out, there have been an awful lot of mainstream artists in the top charts. Still, if you're looking for mainstream, you can at least get a "legal" mp3 of a bunch of stuff there.

An additional hint, you'll find some real gems in the less-traveled genres like film music, darkwave, folk, comedy, etc.

Finally, there are lots of small independent labels/artist collectives like RTFM Records that have quality artists that either got tired of working in the mainstream entertainment business, or were smart enough to try and slog it out themselves. Supporting labels like these is a good way to encourage more of the same.

I don't have much advice for you on the movie side of things - I think with the advent of cheap digital camcorders and products like iMovie and Final Cut Pro, you'll see more of this kind of content hitting the web in the next year or two, though. Especially as more people get broadband, which is more or less required for visual stuff.

One site I can recommend if you're into fan-produced Star Wars stuff is theforce.net which has quite a few short films and trailers of varying quality. There's also an absolutely stunning short film set in the Star Wars universe called Duality that you just have to see to believe.

Finally, I'd like to put a plug in for a new benefit album created by a bunch of musicians from around the world in response to the WTC/Pentagon attacks. The album, September Rising, is now available. It was put together by a bunch of pros, most of whom have never met each other face to face. Complete information is available at septemberrising.org. It's some really great stuff, and unlike most of the benefit albums coming from the major entertainment conglomerates who only donated a percentage of sales, I believe that all proceeds from sales of this album go to the New York Firefighters 9-11 Disaster Relief Fund.

As I read this message, I'm listening to Jennifer Terran's most excellent The Musician. I'm one of those millions tcc refers to when it comes to telling the RIAA to kiss my ass...I've started my own little boycott by buying from artists who bypass the RIAA and publish their own music. Someone here turned me on to CD Baby (unsolicited plug). They have an enormous catalog of artists who have chosen to thumb their noses at the big recording studios.

The point of this isn't to push CD Baby on anyone, but to point out there is a lot of excellent music out there if one simply takes the time to look beyond the drivel that passes for "popular music" on the radio.

I've been really impressed at the quality of many of the bands. It's also great to get personal emails from some of the bands when I purchase their CDs, talk with the actual band members, and know that my money actually went to them. I haven't been back to mainstream bands since.

Another shameless plug: Check out Portal if you like Tool and Soundgarden.. ;)

I've been really impressed at the quality of many of the bands. It's also great to get personal emails from some of the bands when I purchase their CDs, talk with the actual band members, and know that my money actually went to them. I haven't been back to mainstream bands since.

Another shameless plug: Check out Portal if you like Tool and Soundgarden.. ;)

Section 1008. Prohibition on certain infringement actions
No action may be brought under this title alleging infringement of copyright based on the manufacture, importation, or distribution of a digital audio recording device, a digital audio recording medium, an analog recording device, or an analog recording medium, or based on the noncommercial use by a consumer of such a device or medium for making digital musical recordings or analog musical recordings.

Section 1001. Definitions
(3) A "digital audio recording device" is any machine or device of a type commonly distributed to individuals for use by individuals, whether or not included with or as part of some other machine or device, the digital recording function of which is designed or marketed for the primary purpose of, and that is capable of, making a digital audio copied recording for private use[ except pro gear and voice recorders]

If you want to join the opposition, steer your musically inclined friends away from the majors and toward local recording studios, local CD presses, the global Internet and global record stores (like CD Baby). Trade mp3's with your friends (you're running Linux, right? Surely you can run a private web server, and if you can't, nag your ISP daily) and ferchrissake don't post indie (except TVT Records) albums for all the public to see.

If you want to be an outlaw, you gotta be honest.

(IANAL, but my horoscope says I have aptitude for it)

-jhp

May I humbly suggest Sutur as a band to check out there. They are put out by Elemental Media, who have a bunch of other no-big-label bands to choose from.
And of course, you could always support humble little me.

The Divine Creatrix in a Mortal Shell that stays Crunchy in Milk

www.cdbaby.com has a bunch of cool CD's (with audio sampls) that appear to be put out directly by the artists. I haven't bought anything from them yet, but check out their policies, and you'll see that there are definitely artists without labels on their site.

If you're trying to boycott the RIAA you should definitely check them out.

--Robert

One of my favorite albums of all time is a non-RIAA CD called "Unpop..." by The Previous. The album is the story of a high school loser named Dennis Bland (Who fans might catch a reference there) and his quest for love. It's darkly funny and every song is outstanding, and the production values are very, very high all the way around. It's $10 at CD Baby's Previous page (with RealAudio samples) or check out their home page. Seriously, it blows my mind that an album this good could be so unknown... give it a look!