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oh yeah, I have also purchased a dozen or so random songs on iTMS. IIRC, legal digital downloads aren't counted are album sales, so they can bitch about how cd's don't sell, but millions of albums a week are selling on iTMS.

Its time for the record companies to stop fighting the future and adopt a new business model.

I am a music geek and all the music I buy is pretty much vinyl. claiming "fair use" I download stuff to my ipod so I can listen to it in the car. I only buy CD's when it is stuff that I can't get on vinyl and can't find it to download. In the past year I've bought about 15 records and 4 cd's.
Not a single CD was an RIAA disc, and maybe 2 records were.
Prior to having a cd-burner/broadband, I would buy about 20 cd's a year, and about 1/3 third of those were purchased used.

Almost all independent labels worth their salt put their stuff out on vinyl. My favorites are Fat Wreck Chords, Jade Tree, and Springman.
You can also find mainstream stuff on vinyl. Recently I've picked up System of a Down, Radiohead and Sublime.
Best Buy and Wal-Mart of course, don't carry vinyl and they sell their cd's at pretty close to cost. The make it up by selling you CD players, and batteries to run your CD player. I buy most of my music at independent retailers like Amoeba Music or online. Most Independent labels sell full length records and cd's for $8-12.
Call me a thief(I have 50 gigs of mp3s), but I feel like I have supported artists who deserve it. I will never pay $18 or even $15 for a cd.

This isn't new, in fact independent labels (like Victory Records, Drive Thru, Jade Tree etc.) have been going this for a long time (download full MP3's, completely legal)... and they are not any way tied to the RIAA.

Yes, but unlike those other 3, this one seems to be more of a real, diverse label with a website that doesn't suck.

Victory Records - Most of the bands don't have MP3s to try. They all seem to fit into the "We Rock!" genre of music.

Drive Thru Records - Good grief... 3 seperate splash pages for the same crappy band... with loud music to boot (any webpage that unexpectedly plays music sucks by default). No downloads. Site barely works in Mozilla.

Jade Tree - Good luck navigating this crappy Flash site that resizes your browser window. No music to download in the first few bands I looked at.

victory drive thru jade tree

Sturgeon's Law /prov./ "Ninety percent of everything is crap". Derived from a quote by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon, who once said, "Sure, 90% of science fiction is crud. That's because 90% of everything is crud."

So, I think slowly, music is changing. Attitudes are changing. The industry is changing. If I was to say one band has given me more joy over the course of my lifetime, I would have to say it was Less Than Jake. However, I'm seriously considering not purchasing LTJ's new album, because it's being put out by warner bros. records.

I generally stick to independent record labels when I purchase music (and I do purchase quite a bit), but the industry is not changing. Perhaps a few more people are exposed to indie music, but there will still be thousands and thousands of people that listen to the crap that the RIAA puts out. I don't think that'll ever change...not with ClearChannel controlling the airwaves...

I honestly think, in the long run, there are too many people willing to eat what they're given by the RIAA, and pay $21.99 for a CD. But the number of people who know what major labels put bands through and aren't willing to put up with it is increasing all the time.

Why is it that people think that CDs are supposed to be $17 at national chains? WTF? You can buy a burner for $60, and a truckload of blanks for next to nothing, but people still want to pay that much for a CD. I don't understand. Some indie labels are getting right, though. Check out the Jade Tree records site....CDs are $10, and you don't pay shipping. This is the sort of thing the indie labels have to do to prove to the RIAA that you don't have to arrest college kids for filesharing to make some cash and distribute your product.

And $12? Where are you getting CDs so cheap?

try cheap cds. Also, if you're into independent music, cheap out the record labels sites. First, you may be able to find a reasonable number of free songs to download, and their online stores (like jade tree) sell cds for low prices with no shipping charges.

When I moved out to go to university last year and got my (off-campus, non-university) broadband internet connection up, I signed up for a little service called Audiogalaxy. Anyone remember Audiogalaxy? It was a community-oriented p2p music-trading service. The community-oriented bit, I found fantastic. Yes, you could just use it to download songs. You could also, however, join groups of people with similar musical tastes, who would forward you songs from artists you may never have heard before. Had it not been for Audiogalaxy, I might never have been introduced to artists like Pedro the Lion, Onelinedrawing, and The Weakerthans.

In the last year, I bought two CDs by The Weakerthans, one by Onelinedrawing, I have an order form filled out for a pair of Pedro the Lion CDs, some Pedro the Lion and Onelinedrawing merchandise, and I have tickets to see The Weakerthans in Calgary this weekend.

Is this a bad thing for the artists and labels? Do they just not want my money? I wouldn't have spent that money on Eminem and Britney Spears, sorry. If I hadn't been introduced to these other bands I wouldn't have spent that money on music at all. Peer-to-peer could be an absolute goldmine for the recording industry. It's free advertising. Do you know how much the recording industry spend on advertising last year? I don't even want to look it up. I'm afraid the incredible size of the number would cause this library computer to crash. It's probably written with scientific notation.

The funny thing is, the people who have the most lobbying power within the RIAA aren't the small record labels like Jade Tree or G7 or Vagrant or Deep Elm, the little guys who are attempting to run an honest business, support good artists, and bring good art out so that the public can enjoy it. They're the giant conglomerates, the ones who are responsible for Toni Braxton going broke despite selling $188 million dollars worth of CDs. These people don't care if I want to listen to good music. These people hate that I spend my money on bands I like, rather than no-talent pop-sensations. These people do not represent legitimate artists and recording companies - these people represent parasites, who take advantage of artists in able to fill their own pockets.

I can't use Audiogalaxy now. It got turned into a pay-service, and copyright restrictions wrecked the entire service. I buy far fewer records now, because I have less exposure to new artists. My friends still recommend bands to me; I'll read about a show someone went to in their livejournal, and I'll download an mp3, and if I like the band, I may end up buying a CD or some concert tickets. I'm a pirate, a felon, and a thief for that. This is insane.

Yes, there will be people out there who will never buy music, ever. They'll steal mp3s and burn hundreds of CDs. Whatever. There are people out there that pirate dvds, too. Yes, it does hurt the industry. What will hurt the industry more, though, is clinging to outdated business models and preying upon the artists that provide the foundation for the entire industry. These mega-corps could be capitalising upon free advertising, diversifying their portfolios. They could have a Spears for every genre going platinum, and without having to spend millions on full-page ads in Vanity Fair and putting giant billboards up in Times Square.

It won't happen. The big-wigs will continue to bleed their artists dry and fight all calls for change. And I'll continue to steal mp3s, listen to who I like, and buy CDs from talented artists who can't whore themselves out on Coca-Cola commercials, people whose success is based on actual artistic merit. So it goes.

When I moved out to go to university last year and got my (off-campus, non-university) broadband internet connection up, I signed up for a little service called Audiogalaxy. Anyone remember Audiogalaxy? It was a community-oriented p2p music-trading service. The community-oriented bit, I found fantastic. Yes, you could just use it to download songs. You could also, however, join groups of people with similar musical tastes, who would forward you songs from artists you may never have heard before. Had it not been for Audiogalaxy, I might never have been introduced to artists like Pedro the Lion, Onelinedrawing, and The Weakerthans.

In the last year, I bought two CDs by The Weakerthans, one by Onelinedrawing, I have an order form filled out for a pair of Pedro the Lion CDs, some Pedro the Lion and Onelinedrawing merchandise, and I have tickets to see The Weakerthans in Calgary this weekend.

Is this a bad thing for the artists and labels? Do they just not want my money? I wouldn't have spent that money on Eminem and Britney Spears, sorry. If I hadn't been introduced to these other bands I wouldn't have spent that money on music at all. Peer-to-peer could be an absolute goldmine for the recording industry. It's free advertising. Do you know how much the recording industry spend on advertising last year? I don't even want to look it up. I'm afraid the incredible size of the number would cause this library computer to crash. It's probably written with scientific notation.

The funny thing is, the people who have the most lobbying power within the RIAA aren't the small record labels like Jade Tree or G7 or Vagrant or Deep Elm, the little guys who are attempting to run an honest business, support good artists, and bring good art out so that the public can enjoy it. They're the giant conglomerates, the ones who are responsible for Toni Braxton going broke despite selling $188 million dollars worth of CDs. These people don't care if I want to listen to good music. These people hate that I spend my money on bands I like, rather than no-talent pop-sensations. These people do not represent legitimate artists and recording companies - these people represent parasites, who take advantage of artists in able to fill their own pockets.

I can't use Audiogalaxy now. It got turned into a pay-service, and copyright restrictions wrecked the entire service. I buy far fewer records now, because I have less exposure to new artists. My friends still recommend bands to me; I'll read about a show someone went to in their livejournal, and I'll download an mp3, and if I like the band, I may end up buying a CD or some concert tickets. I'm a pirate, a felon, and a thief for that. This is insane.

Yes, there will be people out there who will never buy music, ever. They'll steal mp3s and burn hundreds of CDs. Whatever. There are people out there that pirate dvds, too. Yes, it does hurt the industry. What will hurt the industry more, though, is clinging to outdated business models and preying upon the artists that provide the foundation for the entire industry. These mega-corps could be capitalising upon free advertising, diversifying their portfolios. They could have a Spears for every genre going platinum, and without having to spend millions on full-page ads in Vanity Fair and putting giant billboards up in Times Square.

It won't happen. The big-wigs will continue to bleed their artists dry and fight all calls for change. And I'll continue to steal mp3s, listen to who I like, and buy CDs from talented artists who can't whore themselves out on Coca-Cola commercials, people whose success is based on actual artistic merit. So it goes.

Also Alias records (a label that I was almost signed to, in a former life, long ago). Home to such artists (for however many albums) as American Music Club, the Loud Family, Archers of Loaf and even Yo La Tengo.

There's more out there, and great stuff that you won't be supporting the RIAA. Check it out, don't be a sheep or a hermit crab.

A boycott wouldn't do much because almost no one would bother with it. Instead, try having a day or a week of protests - picketing outside theaters, chain record stores (Best Buy, Tower, Virgin, HMV, et al). That would be great because it's actually somewhat realistic and unlike simply not buying things, it sends a clear a direct message to the companies that people are pissed off at them, while it also educates consumers who don't know any better.

Of course you could always try buying indie music as well, though some have major label distributors, you can always find others.

Try a few of these : (notable bands in parenthesis)

Dischord Records : Independent for close to 20 years. (Minor Threat, Slant 6, Nation of Ulysses)
No Idea Records : punk, hardcore, emo (Small Brown Bike, Hot Water Music)
Troubleman Unlimited : post-punk, post-hardcore, post-rock (Camera Obscura, Red Scare)
Jade Tree : all about the emo rock (the Promise Ring, Cap n Jazz, Jets to Brazil)
Lovitt Records : Indie Rock, Emo, some Electronic-tinged (try Milemarker, 400 Years)
K Records : Indie, Folk, Other (Beck, Dub Narcotic Sound System, Sebadoh, IQU, Make-Up)
Kill Rock Stars : Indie Rock (Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney)
Three One G : crazed hardcore, No Wave, some electronic-type rock (try Black Cat #13, the Locust)
Ebullition : hardcore punk, some emo (try Orchid, Bread and Circuits, Reversal of Man)
HydraHead : the best in metal and straight edge(Botch, Cave In, Soilent Green)
Relapse : metal, hardcore, tough guy stuff. (Napalm Death, Exhumed)
Reptillian Records : a variety of sounds, from garage rock to grindcore to rock'n roll (Page 99, Electric Frankenstein)
Revelation : More hardcore and metal. (Rancid, Brandtson, Isis)
TrustKill : Tough guy stuff. (Poison the Well)

All guaranteed (as far as I know) to be RIAA free!

Josh Sisk