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I consider myself a music lover, and I think most of the artists I like are signed to Metropolis Records. I e-mailed them once about their RIAA affiliation and they promptly replied to inform me that they are in no way a part of the RIAA.

Avoiding the RIAA is an option, and it's one I apparently started to take even before I was aware of it.

Did you try?

http://www.industrial-music.com/product.php?prodnu m=SOM+046

8th link on Google...

If I want a disc of music on a RIAA member label I make sure I purchase a previously owned CD of it instead of a new one. Amazon, Music Stack, and other online services are available if you can't find the used CD you want locally.

On the other hand, if the music I want is not on a RIAA member label (which luckly is most of what I listen to since I really like industrial and EBM music), I make sure I purchase it new. RIAA Radar is a good search engine to use as another poster has pointed out. For independent music CD Baby is also way cool.

The issue is that the RIAA is the one fucking up normal citizens' lives for no reason other than to buy time for a failing business model. If you disagree with this, it is not a good idea to continue to hand them money with which to do this: instead, you ought to boycott them.

I've been doing this for some time now, and there's quite a bit of non-RIAA music well worth listening to. Metropolis Records is a good place to start for industrial/EBM fans.

yay... the best music ever! :D

Homepage - Store

In addition to being home to some of the best bands ever, they put together some awesome compilations.

and to a lesser extent Metropolis Records
and Middle pillar

and labels like

Projekt Records - Who said napster was a good thing
Flaming Fish
UR-realist (Russian)

I can get a lot of good music and avoid the crap that the majors sell. I hope more artists begin to realize that majors are not the way to go to sell their music, your better off going independent and actually make money.

there is some good news here... some record labels (ie: Metropolis) are not members of the RIAA, and even allow webcasters to play their music!

I'd like to see more of this.

Mesh - I have no idea how this band is not more well known (can you spell RIAA?), simply fantastic music across each of their albums. Lots of influence from Depeche Mode. The latest album "Who Watches Over Me" is sure to please just about anyone.

Evil's Toy (now called just T.O.Y.) - they started out as strictly Industrial, but have transformed their music into dancy/EBM in their latest albums.

Covenant - they've been around for a long time now, and are considered to be one of the founders of the EBM genre. Their last album "United States of Mind" is a definite must have.

Icon Of Coil - A style similar to the of VNV Nation but with a much more energetic and dancy feel. This a popular band that gets played a lot in Industrial clubs.

Echo Image - very very upbeat, pop/dancy, and enjoyable. They're brand new and hit the scene pretty hard with their album "Compuphonic".

Some other's to check out:

Cut.Rate.Box
Neuroticfish
The Nine
The Echoing Green
Iris
Colony 5
DeVision
Fictional

Where the heck do you find this type of music? Metropolis Records (http://www.metropolis-records.com) is the label most of these bands are on. They are independent label, with no affiliation with the RIAA as far as I know. You can get lots of info, and check out short clips from the bands. A Different Drum (http://www.adifferentdrum.com/) signed most of the others I listed.

Metropolis runs the BEST CD mail-order service (http://www.industrial-music.com), and carry music from lots of other labels as well.

everyone always lists and discusses mindless and well in my opinion crappy electronic music and that's what they always consider that the whole electronic genre. however paul oakenfold and the like aren't the only nor the best form of electronic music out there. so here's some good AND NON-riaa labels, well mostly.

vnv nation - one of the hotest ebm bands out there right now, good beats HIGHLY intellegent lyrics with a lot of meaning and feeling. piro from megatokyo loves them.
covenant- sweedish based band with big bouncy beats and great lyrics.
icon of coil- trancier band on their new album really hard hitting on their original one but still a very high energy band.
apoptygma berzerk- trancy type sythpop from norway, pretty good and rather dancy.
haujobb- drum and bass influnced music that is very catchy and relaxing. side projects are cleen/cleener and a couple others
funkervogt- harsher beat and sampled music that deals a lot with war and uses distorted vocals
fictional- a better version of funkervogt
ravenous- same as fictional
cevin key- from the legendary band skinnny puppy with many side projects including plateau, hilt, download and a couple others.
and one- the kings of synthpop, really catchy and fun lyrics, songs are both good and funny.
phil western- formly part of download, but a great minimalist techno artist who's website is colourspeaks
:wumpscut:- harsh sample oriented dance music influenced by skinny puppy.
wolfshiem- great synthpop band that's depeche mode influenced.
das ich- great german electronic band that sings entirely in german
decoded feedback- very good and dancy sample based band with great lyrics and no they aren't using distortion, tho it sounds like it.
most of these bands can be found at metropolis rrecords

i have however left a couple bands for the last cause they practically started the whole genre and they are also on some riaa labels due to popularity and such

skinny puppy- one of the most influencial bands in the electronic field today and their canadian to boot
front 242- the band that started the whole ebm, electronic body music, about 20 years ago now and still going strong, with music that is even revolutionary now.
frontline assembly and delerium yes these guys are the SAME people, well person now since it's just bill leeb. frontline is a beat, synth and sample oriented music where delerium is more ambient in earlier incarnations and more dancy and female based lyrics in their later releases

as for buying these bands there are several good websites
metropolis-records mail order
isolation tank
storming the base of the alien foe a friend's record mail order service

i hope this helps you out

Orbital - "In Sides". Try to find the earlier release with the 28-minute long version of "The Box". It's awesome.

Juno Reactor - "Bible of Dreams". Absolutely amazing IDM.

Propellerheads - decksanddrumsandrockandroll. Great DNB. Also, try to find the track "Props Got Mo' Skills" from their "Bang On!" CDS. It was recorded live with a turntable, a sampler, and a microphone. Great.

VNV Nation - "Standing/Burning Empires". This was a limited edition, and is hard to come by, but their best release. Their most recent, "Futureperfect", is good, but S/BE is the best. Great live show, too.

The Moog Cookbook - any release. These guys are great, they cover songs with classic synths. Pretty eclectic stuff.

Keoki - "Ego-Trip". Great DJ-mix stuff.

Most of the other recommendations I've seen have been quite good, so listen to them. Personally, I've gotten bored with the crap Electronica/Techno these days, and have turned to Industrial/EBM music. Some notable artists/albums you might enjoy:

Front Line Assewmbly - "Tactical Neural Implant". Widely regarded as their best album. I prefer the earlier (& harder to find) "Gashed Senses & Crossfire" or "Caustic Grip". Their more recent "Implode" is also very good.

Delerium - "Poem". Mellow, ambient side-project of Front Line Assembly. Very very good.

Contagion - "Contaminent PCB". Good EBM.

Front 242 - "Front By Front". Classic EBM.

Einsturzende Neubauten - "Silence is Sexy". Ye Olde Industrial. Older relases had lots of noise (aka Avant Garde or Experimental) elements & were mostly in German. More recent releases like SiS & "Ende Neu" are less harsh and feature some tracks in English. A seminal Industrial act.

Chemlab - "Burn Out at the Hydrogen Bar". One of my all-time favorite albums. Has lots of distorted guitar power-chords, stay away if you dislike that sort of thing. The earlier "10 Ton Pressure" was more electronic, and can be found on the "Magnetic Fields Remixes" release, since it's been out of print for a decade.

Mentallo & The Fixer - "Burnt Beyond Recognition". Fabulous release. Their other releases can't even approach the awesome power of this album.

Suicide Commando - "Mindstrip". A recent release, very aggressive EBM.

Well, that's probably enough, since I'm drifting wildly off-topic. Oh, and make sure you go to Metropolis Records, they release huge amounts of Industrial/Electronic music.

"I'm glad that I'm not the only who's doing this. Just last month, I was looking around for industrial music and decided to download the entire 'Downward Spiral' album off of LimeWire."

If you are interested in real industrial music, versus that electrotechnoalternapop NiN shit, go buy some stuff on the Metropolis Records label. They have contracts or U.S. distribution rights to huge numbers of fantastic industrial/electronic/experimental/goth acts, such as:

Apoptygma Berzerk
VNV Nation
Icon of Coil
Haujobb
Das Ich
Front Line Assembly
Juno Reactor
In Strict Confidence
Kevorkian Death Cycle
Leaether Strip
Pulse Legion
:wumpscut:
Suicide Commando

They also have loads of stuff available from their online store. They provide MP3 samples of their albums. They don't charge royalties for Internet radio broadcasts of material by their artists. They aren't RIAA members. Their CDs cost a more-normal $14-$16, versus the $19-$20 most major labels are charging.

In short: these are the good guys. Go buy from them and support non-mainstream music.

why would I want to buy and download a 128kb/s MP3? the quality would be horrible? who would dictate what bitrate they sell the file at?

I still prefer to buy my CDs and encode them myself. That way -I- get to control how big my files are and how good they sound.