Slashdot Mirror

Without the RIAA labels, more artists would be using the CD Baby route to Pandora Internet Radio.

Except that isn't true for over-the-air broadcast radio. The musicians and the studio don't actually get a penny from radio play, even sometimes the singer - that is considered promotional. Only the songwriter (they guy or gal that writes the lyrics, if any) gets paid. For many years the studios would be forced to pay money to get airplay, as well (payola).

Furthermore, musicians get screwed by the recording studios, as well. Usually the contract requires ownership rights of a recording to be owned by the studio and not the musician. Even worse, some studios make this a "work for hire,' meaning the rights never transfer back to the original artist (it is corporate owned with a longer copyright). EMI retroactively made their entire catalog works for hire, meaning bands like Pink Floyd are perpetually corporate owned. If you think that is the end of the screwing, nope - all production costs come out of the musician's cut - recording, promotion, packaging, etc. As a musician, you can sell 20000 albums and still owe money, especially if you got an advance. The studio can then go after your gear if you didn't pay back your advance (very easy to do if your band is a business, not so easy if it isn't).

I got out of the business precisely because it is unfair and leeching. I did try my hand at songwriting for a bit, but I got a Software Engineering degree and it was far easier to do that than try to peddle songs.

Companies like CDBaby are already acting as middlemen between artists and digital download stores. They focus on delivering the music to the stores without all the promotion, signing bonuses, etc. of an actual record label. In exchange, they take a much smaller cut.

If Mariah carey had gone independent instead of being with Columbia or Virgin Records etc. she would have been able to retain all of the profits, instead of just 10-15% share of it.

10-15%? She got lucky.

Plenty of really, really big acts got NOTHING. Not one cent.

This is an industry that seriously believes that people like Peter Jackson shouldn't get paid for making The Lord Of The Rings.

Check out sites like cdbaby.com instead.

Sorry.. I forgot my sig was our facebook page now. The album is at: http://www.cdbaby.com/areasound2/

Just listened to every sample, and it's all crap.

Sorry.. I forgot my sig was our facebook page now. The album is at: http://www.cdbaby.com/areasound2/

Take a look at the graphic at the bottom of This Page.

It shows how many plays an artist would need on Spotify to make a minimum monthly wage.
Self pressed CDs or sold thru something cheap like cdBaby are way easier for the new artist than any other method. Streaming services are a ghetto. As big of a rip off as the major studios.

Also, as a bonus, Seanan McGuire has an amusing "teaching song" about the Black Death which briefly covers a lot of the objections to the y. pestis theory. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be one of the songs with a performance on YouTube, though you can hear a brief clip of it on CDBaby.

Perhaps I fired that comment off half-cocked. I'm not going to pretend I know all about it. The short answer is "I don't know". However, I believe that in Western countries, artists may assert rights to their works in civil court. For example, if I release a song in May and you copied my song and released an exact sound-alike in August, then I could sue you for cramping my style and expect a judge or jury to settle it for us. It is legal in Western countries to record a cover of somebody else's song under compulsory license without their permission and the original songwriter and publisher will receive legally mandated royalty rates on sales of the new recording -- in that sense the two systems are the same. I do not know if there is any time limit attached. It seems to me that the intent in the Chinese law is to prevent civil action by setting a time frame after which all civil remedies are prohibited. The comments of the affected Chinese artists clearly indicate that they are unhappy about it. I personally think it sucks the wind out of the music recording business model if people are permitted to copy and "use" your music however they like after 3 months.

As for "our own RIAA-ruled vision of copyright law" as you put it, I'm not sure how I feel. Full disclosure: I have made a little money from music recording and still get royalty checks from ASCAP every now and then. I believe that if I sell someone a song that the terms of that sale should be clear to both of us and pretty flexible. Obviously, they should be able to play it anywhere they want on any device they want until hell freezes over, pass it on to their kids, etc. I want people to be able to give my song to friends or play it at parties or play it for their family. This is how songs become popular. That somebody would take my song and put it on BitTorrent so the entire world can have it for free bothers me. That some loathsome creature like Kim Dotcom can make a fortune selling advertising on the back of content that he had no hand or share in creating bothers me too. I've never sued anybody, though. I don't like the RIAA. I don't like big record companies. I welcome P2P technology and the decentralization of the music industry. I like that it's easier to make and distribute music now than it has ever been. I love that NIN and Radiohead made tons of money from voluntary contributions. I LOVE that some of these douchebag record companies have been taken down a few notches. Their arrogance and that radio pay-for-play stuff was just nauseating.

On the other hand, I often wonder about the future of music. You need enormous amounts of money to record music with the London Symphony Orchestra. Those fantastic recording studios at Abbey Road with the 90-channel Neve 4078 boards in them cost millions of dollars to build and thousands of dollars a day to rent. While you don't need the LSO or one of those Neve boards to crank out garage rock or electro clash or house music, they are kind of magic things that may soon become extinct. Dark Side of the Moon -- best selling record ever -- took something like six months or a year to record at Abbey Road and was done on the record company's dime. Aside from record companies, who is willing to pay for something like that?

I really don't want to ignite any flame wars or anything, but I do hope that people who make (good) music get compensated for it. I hope that people who enjoy music appreciate that it takes effort to create and will consider sending some compensation to the artists -- however small that compensation may be. I hope that people don't feel entitled to have all their music for free. I hope the RIAA stops acting like a bunch of dickheads. I hope I can watch Game of Thrones soon without having to get cable or subscribe to HBO or whatever -- I'm totally willing to pay for it!

Naive? I don't think so... I didn't want to say it straight out, but artists should not get the free ride that the RIAA promises them (and few get). Basically, it's a gamble for the artists and like in all gambling, most lose. Below in the comments you'll find one where the poster says what has to be done to be an independent musician and live from it and it has a great sarcastic reply. The point is, being a profitable independent musician is hard work, but it is possible to make a living off it. Not like a rockstar, but like most people who -go figure- also work hard but aren't artists (like us IT people, or a carpenter...)

And BTW, why the hell does the world have to just suck for everyone but the top 1% anyway?

You could argue that if you love what you do, and work your butt off to achieve it, you are in the top 1% who don't have a sucky life because... well, you've got the luxury of doing what you love. Go talk with the average man, doing what you love is a luxury, no doubt about it.

That's a bit twisting it, but while I agree that it would be more fair that the world didn't suck for everyone.... the reality is that the world is not fair. You either accept that and make the best out of it, or you think you are entitled to something and complain. You see, the world is not fair and can and will never be fair. If it were fair, my brother would have been able to learn more and make the same kind of living I do. He doesn't, he's unemployed because school simply wasn't his thing (large difficulties to learn), and I had the genetic advantage on him actually having it easy to learn. He's unemployed and I'm earning a honest wage (nothing fancy, believe me, I'm not in those 1%... Assuming you don't mean 1% of the world population, because other whise we're both in those 1% simply because we have access to a computer and probably even own it!). Is that fair? No! Of course not... Is there a solution? Unless you adhere to hardcore socialism (everyone, doctor or janitor earns the same - which comes with lots of other problems) there is no solution.

mp3.com is an oddball. Thing is they did things that were doubtful legally (What Amazon, iTunes and Google want to do now, but those are large and have competent lawyer teams... they could get away with it) and that put them in the visor of the RIAA. If you host music that is owned by the labels, that's what happens. Once under RIAA control, they were free to ditch independent musicians. Imagine Microsoft would buy up a Mac Game company, do you really think they would still make Mac games? That is exactly the same.... Now, what happens if you avoid everything RIAA related? That works, and that's why Jamendo exists, and I'm sure there are others. (CDBaby too, I think)

I'm not pro-RIAA, I'm pro-honest work. Musicians blinded by RIAA contracts, try to skip the "work" part.

Self indulgent self promotion here: Excuse me, but please support me; a regular poster and poor independent musician/producer! http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/eatingbetty3 http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/eatingbetty2 http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/eatingbetty http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bigshiny Also available on iTunes, Amazon, EMusic etc. Just google Eating Betty or ACEtone Studio Free stuff at sig below. Help! I'm too small to succeed!

Self indulgent self promotion here: Excuse me, but please support me; a regular poster and poor independent musician/producer! http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/eatingbetty3 http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/eatingbetty2 http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/eatingbetty http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bigshiny Also available on iTunes, Amazon, EMusic etc. Just google Eating Betty or ACEtone Studio Free stuff at sig below. Help! I'm too small to succeed!

Self indulgent self promotion here: Excuse me, but please support me; a regular poster and poor independent musician/producer! http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/eatingbetty3 http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/eatingbetty2 http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/eatingbetty http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bigshiny Also available on iTunes, Amazon, EMusic etc. Just google Eating Betty or ACEtone Studio Free stuff at sig below. Help! I'm too small to succeed!

Self indulgent self promotion here: Excuse me, but please support me; a regular poster and poor independent musician/producer! http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/eatingbetty3 http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/eatingbetty2 http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/eatingbetty http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bigshiny Also available on iTunes, Amazon, EMusic etc. Just google Eating Betty or ACEtone Studio Free stuff at sig below. Help! I'm too small to succeed!

That's why I cd baby, oh yeah! :)

What we need is more people like cdbaby.com which tell you up front how much an artist is going to get paid for each album (at least $6) and pays them weekly.

I choose to both sell the music I make and give it away for free. I sell it in the hope that it might at least cover the costs it makes to make it and give some of it away because...well just because. Seems to me some people buy music and some get it for free by whatever means and some do a bit of both. Get some for free here: http://www.acetonestudio.com/ or buy some here: http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/EatingBetty http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bigshiny also on iTunes, Amazon, eMusic etc. It is both right and good to have a choice.

I choose to both sell the music I make and give it away for free. I sell it in the hope that it might at least cover the costs it makes to make it and give some of it away because...well just because. Seems to me some people buy music and some get it for free by whatever means and some do a bit of both. Get some for free here: http://www.acetonestudio.com/ or buy some here: http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/EatingBetty http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bigshiny also on iTunes, Amazon, eMusic etc. It is both right and good to have a choice.

There is a fair bit of indy music on iTunes. For example Openspace - I can't find what established record company they signed with. Nor is KFog to iTunes a record company at all

To get one's music on iTunes, getting one's music on CD Baby will get it on iTunes too.

Or, you could do it directly through iTunes connect

I believe that publishing a book would be the same process.

How about NOT contributing to the network effect that funds the removing of our rights, hm?

Infringing their crap provides a larger audience.

A larger audience equates to more money, money that fuels the crap they're doing.

Just.
Say.
NO.

The media and the artists that produce it aren't worth this and instead of infringing the stuff, just simply opt out of it all. Honest indie stuff is as good or better than the stuff the RIAA players are shovelling.

Companies like PayPlay and CD Baby happen to have a lot to offer people- and they don't sue people or any of the RIAA member labels' other antics. Rather than "waging a war" that you can't win by committing infringements (It doesn't hurt their bottom line anywhere near what they claim it does- never has probably never will in our collective lifetimes), why not do something productive like foster a media community that caters to our needs and has no intentions on the stupid crap.

Heh, I just want them to stop this nonsense so I can go back and buy some CDs

Why wait? PayPlay, CD Baby, and numerous others have NOTHING to do with the RIAA and they're more than happy to sell (and in at least some cases, HAND) you music galore. Some of the GOOD STUFF that the RIAA players have forgotten about.

They're not going to get a clue until they see they're seriously screwing themselves by these things or they up and die in a Chapter 7 filing.

I've bought and enjoyed your album. Thanks!

Was this really bound to happen? I always assumed that when nations put stuff in space, they always included a way to make it de-orbit and burn up in the atmosphere. Littering space is dumb. Can someone please be less politically correct and put some blame on the non-operational Russian sat? Iridium Satellite should file a claim against the Russians. How come a "conjunction analysis" isn't done for all of the objects they're tracking in space? Does there need to be a "Tracking@Home" app for the ps3? In any case, I have a new development idea for the techno-thriller I'm writing... in the future nobody has satellites because of space terrorism. Or maybe I'll start an orbital mechanics company whose job it is to clean up debris and old crap around Earth.

Funny, I kinda wrote about this in my song "Starblazer"...

earthlings, knee deep in things
in orbit there's garbage rings

"So why the hell do I care about how bloated the music industry is or how much musicians get paid?"

Straight answer: Because the music industry is harming musicians more than it's helping them--especially the smaller and less commercial musicians. Because if it weren't for this industry, you would be able to find MORE artists that you like, and existing artists would be able to make a (better?) living from their art--which leads to more and better music.

Yes, there's far too much brilliant music out there than I'll ever listen to. On the other hand, I might want more of one particular artist (shameless plug). I unfortunately know too many musicians who can't afford to release any more albums, because they're essentially making minimum wage from gigs, and owe the record companies thousands or tens of thousands for "promotional costs" of their previous album.

Would the telecom industry run smoothly if the back-line staff all got minimum wage? I rather doubt it.

Incidentally, I'm a little bit passionate about this topic because I have professional musicians in my family, and see many sides of the coin. Fundamentally, it should be simple: Artists and fans (or potential fans) should be able to connect, and the artists should be paid a decent wage. If someone else helps that connection, they deserve to be paid for their help as well. Everything else is noise and distraction.

Holy crap, that rocked just reading it. Please tell me that's a real song that I can buy.

Here ya go: http://cdbaby.com/cd/warp11 (track 15) (IMHO Best track on the album.)

CDBaby. Independent music: digital downloads, physical sales shipped internationally. The money goes straight to the artists, minus CDBaby's 9% cut, which compares favourably to iTunes' ~30%.

Even better if you consider that signed bands seldom see better than an 18% cut of sales (usually after the label has recouped recording and marketing costs, which are of course paid back at that 18% rate). No ogg vorbis yet though...

Full disclosure: my band has an album for sale on CDBaby. We're a completely independent New Zealand group, and proof that you can produce something of quality if you work (and save) hard, and love it enough.

CDBaby. Independent music: digital downloads, physical sales shipped internationally. The money goes straight to the artists, minus CDBaby's 9% cut, which compares favourably to iTunes' ~30%.

Even better if you consider that signed bands seldom see better than an 18% cut of sales (usually after the label has recouped recording and marketing costs, which are of course paid back at that 18% rate). No ogg vorbis yet though...

Full disclosure: my band has an album for sale on CDBaby. We're a completely independent New Zealand group, and proof that you can produce something of quality if you work (and save) hard, and love it enough.

Analysts at Forrester Research estimate that music sales in the United States will decline to $9.2 billion in 2013, from $10.1 billion this year. That compares with $14.6 billion in 1999, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

Who are they including in this estimate? Do they include the income of independent musicians like me?

In my own case, the answer is no - when somebody downloads my music for free and decides to send me a donation, I don't report it to the RIAA.

My guess is that, although some of the money people used to spend on music now goes to video games and other entertainment, a lot of the "losses" are going to non-RIAA musicians.

And as a personal plug: if you love music and dislike the RIAA, support independent music.

I doubt my purchases matter much in the grand scheme of things but I'm going to vote with my wallet anyway.

I do the same thing. I haven't purchased a non-indie cd in over 5 years Between RIAA Radar and CD Baby I'm always able to find new music. I like to think that all the revenue that the RIAA is claiming it lost due to thieves is actually from people like us voting with our wallet.

My band is on through CDBaby, and we get $.63 per song sold. The iTunes music store has been tremendous for us, and I have no complaints with their policies. I sure hope that their pricing structure doesn't change.

Society wants music. But do they really want that music that is produced by people that would not do it unless they get promoted by big corporations? There will be music; the existance of indie bands proves it. And they can even get money, as Magnatune and CD Baby prove. Maybe they won't get rich from it. We have to decide if we want "art" that is motivated by money, or art that is a genuine artistic creation.

Unbelievably, the follow up to that from many slashdotters will be: "My music store will never go offline." Unbelievably, people are still buying (and defending) DRMd music.

If this story (and the MS one before) doesn't alert you to the sad fact that you don't own any DRMd music you've bought, nothing will.

I agree wholeheartedly. I don't buy any DRM'd music, preferring to deal as directly with the artist as possible, through places like CD Baby, which eschew DRM in favor of straight MP3 downloads once you have purchased an album.

Dang! I can't believe I forgot to mention CD Baby. They have a "X sounds like Y" database to help you find bands you might like, the prices are great, and their collection is wonderful. I've bought some truly excellent music from them.

No, they don't pay me. I just like their stuff.

I'll agree with most, for sure, especially around 'habits by genre'.

Some quick background - I was involved with a fringe music scene for about 15 years, from the late 80s until the early 00s. It will take much more than changes in the business side of music to stop the artistic side. How we get to the art will change - it has changed. The good news: it's easier and cheaper for artists to produce super-high-quality music. Distribution is near-free. Motivated, talented folks can keep more $$ in their pocket if they choose. Contrast this to just a decade ago - why, in the mid-nineties, burnable CDs cost dollars and not cents to utilize. The bad news: it's easier and cheaper for artists to produce. The noise-to-art ratio is high (by anyone's definition of 'art'), and the business side is scrambling to keep a hold of the cash cow, dangling the "promote or die, and we can afford it" carrot in front of the artist.

Oh, and by consumption I didn't necessarily mean purchase. I just meant that if people produce music and don't release it or play it for anyone, it is of no consequence. As soon as it is released or made available, the creative and business forces behind it will be subject to market forces and critique. It's a given - and it doesn't have to be popular to be consumed (or have merit), nor does popularity == more consumption == better art. But if you put something out there, people will choose their mode of consumption - single song, ignored, popular, mega-sales, (il)legal downloading... whatever.

If you're interested in stuff seeing the light of day, check out CD-Baby http://www.cdbaby.com/ . Type in your favorite band or genre, and get served up a whole host of music. I guarantee you will like at least 10 or 20% of it, and that you will have heard of little or none of it. As a distribution network, they are fair and honest, they pay the artists what they say they will (and on time).

There. Now please mod me down off-topic.

I printed 1,000 CDs for a personal indie project that I did (*cough*shameless self plug*cough*) and $0.80 / CD is around what I paid INCLUDING what I paid the artist to do the art work.

There's no freakin' way that that major labels are paying $0.80 / CD when they print runs in the tens of thousands. They should be getting WAY better bulk deals.

your deep thoughts aren't so important that you should worry about getting every single one of them down. You are not Hemingway and will never be Hemingway.

Who wants to be Hemingway? I'm a poet, not a novelist (at least so far), and a decent enough one to get invited to be the headliner at readings and to appear on a new CD. (Tracks 19 and 37, if anyone wants to have a listen to the CDBaby previews.) My Zaurus has just taken the place of the small notebooks I carried for years.

Nice troll attempt, though.

Well, the only radio station that played our music is commercial free, but otherwise your points are valid. And yes, I see room between your tiers 0 and 1. Maybe my hangup about the whole thing was the way the original Qtrax articles were written. It seemed that they perceived music solely as a means to get people to view their online ads. But you're right - most media that would be willing to play/stream our music needs to generate revenue somehow.

Nevertheless, from what I've seen, I still don't like Qtrax. One major problem is that I couldn't find a way to upload my band's music. Another problem is that I don't see any specifics on how much the artists are getting compensated.

On the other hand, I just registered my band on last.fm (actual music is forthcoming). It's a much better model in that the artist has more control over what can be streamed, downloaded, etc. Still no specifics on compensation, but I suppose we'll find out.

Anyway, thanks for the input. If you're interested in my band, check out our Web Site or MySpace Site (which is a little more up to date). Our first CD is still available on CDBaby, but we're working on breaking up the 39 minute opus into more reasonable, downloadable chunks.

Amazon is convenient if you already have an account with them (the 'one-click' convenience is pretty compelling if you want to buy just a single MP3), but there are still submission hassles for the indie artist, and they remain a gatekeeper of sorts between artist and audience / customer.

CDBaby.com is a pure service provider - pay them a flat fee, and they handle both physical CD sales and now whole-album MP3 sales. Lots of junk on there, but lots of great stuff also.

I'm also interested in Nimbit's model - they're a 'collect a piece of the action' model where you can put songs up for sale at any price you want as soon as they are done - it's pretty cool to be able to put something up for sale the second you get it back from Mastering. iTunes/Amazon/others have pretty long delays before your stuff appears for sale.

On the other hand, I'm just giving an older record of mine away for free (over here if you're interested - it's 'interesting rock') - I'd rather get the promotional milage out of it and focus on selling the new one I'm working on.

So, the problem with this idea of going head-to-head with the recording industry is that the biggest challenge(nowadays) facing an artist is not recording, not production, and not distribution, it's advertising. Let's face it - most of us "find" new music by hearing it on the radio or in some other media (e.g. a movie), at a bar, or from a friend. All of those *except* the friend are pretty much the product of marketing (directly in the form of advertising or indirectly in the form of contacts and influence).

I remember hearing (no idea how accurate, but it makes sense) that something like 10 CDs are released every day in the US (never mind how much is released only digitally). The obstacle facing the indie artist is not how to make the music and not how to get it to a fan (paying or otherwise) but how to get people to pay attention. This is the biggest thing that MySpace (personally, I hate it and it's probably not necessary to link to) and outfits like CDBaby http://www.cdbaby.com/ have done for musicians: given fans an easy way to peruse music and find new artists in an enjoyable fashion.

Hopefully, this will have a similar effect. However, any meaningful discussion about kicking the recording industry in it's posterior side ought to focus on how this makes it easy for new fans to connect with an artist (mostly), and not just how easy or free it makes getting said music to said fan.

Why restrict to Europe-wide. The sites from which I download music (Magnatune, CD Baby) charge the same no matter where in you are.

I have a couple major ways to get music onto my computer. The first is to buy (or steal) Compact Discs (or those old vinyl records if I had something to play them with) and copy the music onto my computer from there. The second is to download the music, which could be either legally purchased or found being given away illegally by someone. And now the music industry tells me the first option is out.

Given the trends in the way music is listened to these days, which involves a spectrum from listening to huge collections stored on a computer to listening via small portable devices, the compact disk itself, for more and more people, is nothing more than the "purchase medium" in much the same way most commercial software is legally purchased. But if the music industry says "no" to using the Compact Disc to get our music, then I guess we have to quit buying those. Of course there will be some exceptions such as those available from places like CD Baby and Magnatune.

If the music industry thinks I'm going to listen to my music by actually playing the CD on some big clunky mechanical device, they are totally out of touch. But then, we've known that for a few years, already. It seems the music industry itself will drive the CD into oblivion even before the public was going to.

I could give a damned about the losses the corporations face when the music gets shared without them having to expend anything for that sharing to be achieved. We don't need their CD factories. We don't need their printing of the album liners. We don't need their marketing departments. We don't need them.

It is the musicians that suffer. This might include the artists for the album cover, too. I wish there was a way for them to be paid for the music we enjoy (in proper proportion to how much their particular music gets enjoyed).

However, the ones that sign with the big corporations that take 92% off the top have apparently already accepted that they are going to get shafted by the man. Then when together they get shafted by the public, it's the corporations that lose the most, as it should be since we don't need what they contribute to the process.

But we do have a start to this in places like CD Baby and Magnatune. People who listen to music should shift to these business models as much as they can.

As for movies, that's a bit harder, since there is a larger production model involved, with lots of people whose only connection is being employed by one or more businesses involved in the production. Still, we should look carefully at how much the real artists and workers make compared to the investors (who deserve a fair share for investing, but absolutely never the right to gouge).

Snocap had everything going for them, and could have probably succeeded, but their execution was so bad that it was unbearable.

Check out my What happened with CD Baby and Snocap article, and especially the comments below it, with all these musicians so frustrated that Snocap won't reply to anybody's emails.

The most brilliant idea, with bad execution, is worth nothing.

It was meant as a compliment. I started to write "a little more than I do" but it sounded pretentious.

Oh, scads of it. And lots of stuff that I never would have stumbled across on my own that I ended up loving.

Obligatory CDBaby.com link. I love that store! I was browsing through the "mood" section the other day and discovered some great new music that I ended up buying.

Having said that, there's a certain amount of risk to buying indie: they may not make any more. It's a safe bet that there will be future Timbaland and Britney and Justin Timberlake albums, so if you get into their stuff there's a strong chance you'll get more stuff you like next year. With indie bands, there's a pretty high probability that you're listening to the only album your new favorite group will ever record. There are one-hit pop wonders and long-lived indie bands, of course, but I think it's true in general. Even if it's not, I think it's the common perception that it's true.

Beyond that, there are social reasons that press people to listen to whatever's on Clearchannel Genre #23 this month. If you're up on the latest Britney, there are a lot of people you can talk to about it. If you're up on the latest indie, your best hope is that the other person is open-minded enough to consider something non-mainstream (and if many people were that open-minded, there wouldn't be a difference between indie and mainstream in the first place).

Neither of those reasons mean much to me and I'll keep buying stuff from CDBaby. I don't really blame people who are afraid to try it, though, especially those people who care a little more than you do about not sticking out from the crowd.

this band isn't affiliated with the RIAA either. I've gotta agree with the parent: CDBaby and myspace are pretty good, although I've noticed that a lot of bands have stopped offering their MP3s for free on myspace.

Another site which I like a lot is 3hive, which does reviews of bands which offer MP3s for free.

This Norwegian independent label called Metronomicon Audio label has a lot of really creative genre-crossing music going on... I really reccomend checking them out. Lots of free MP3s to be downloaded and cheap CDs, CD-Rs and Vinyls to buy. And don't be afraid of the Norwegians, they sing in English ;-)

http://www.metronomiconaudio.net/

And as other people mentioned, check out CD-Baby too: http://cdbaby.com/

Speaking of college radio... NCSU's radio station, WKNC is pretty awesome. Lots of variety, playlists are listed online. They also broadcast on the internet as well. Once you hear it, you can make sure the tune is RIAA free at the RIAA Radar. Another good source is CD Baby. Pretty much everything there is RIAA free. I used to use iRate quite a bit, but last I checked it was no longer being updated regularly and suffering from severe bitrot. I also use iTunes music store recommendations. A lot of those can be RIAA free, you just have to check them with the RIAA Radar before you buy.

This album is not affiliated with the RIAA ;)

Now that that's out of the way ... CD Baby is a huge collection of independent artists and most, if not all, have no affiliation with the RIAA.

Also, as much as it's hated here on /., MySpace has loads of indie artists too. It takes much more sifting through crap to find them than on CD Baby, but I've found so many fellow musicians both that I listen to and jam / collaborate with thanks to MySpace that I have a hard time hating it as much as most slashdotters do.

This album is not affiliated with the RIAA ;)

Now that that's out of the way ... CD Baby is a huge collection of independent artists and most, if not all, have no affiliation with the RIAA.

Also, as much as it's hated here on /., MySpace has loads of indie artists too. It takes much more sifting through crap to find them than on CD Baby, but I've found so many fellow musicians both that I listen to and jam / collaborate with thanks to MySpace that I have a hard time hating it as much as most slashdotters do.