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I'll keep on supporting Creative Commons artists by giving money to the ones I like. It's open. It's also a fairly huge library, and I don't have to listen to the same recycled mass market pulp.

I don't listen to the same recycled mass market pulp (most CDs I own are released in the USA by Metropolis Records) but before I pay for Spotify I'd need convincing that my £9.99/month was going to the artists whose music I listened to.

I like http://www.metropolis-records.com/

I know about RIAA Radar, the site that lists music that IS RIAA owned, but is there a site that reviews music that ISN'T owned by them? I'm an Industrial/DnB fan and I'd like to not give money to people who sue children and the disabled.

Some interesting observations per who's on and who's not:

- Billy Crystal Project: WTF?
- Bob Marley Music: thought this was music piracy, not "hey man you stole my dope" piracy...
- Gansta Rap labels: Is it me, or is it odd that nearly every single label is on the list? Talk about siding with the corporate white man. Rap labels in the RIAA is about as in as blackface.
- Martha Stewart Living: Good thing the RIAA doesn't go after insider trading theft.
- Queen Latifa: As if you could give some things away...
- Reprise: What a disappointment. Then again, Reprise has clearly sat on its ass the past decade and let its aging artists crank out less and less inspired work. Total yesterday label.
- Smashing Pumpkins: Speaking of yesterday...
- Will Smith: This explains the MIB at the door threatening pre-teens with nasty lawsuits.

Not on:
- Metropolis Records (label for just about anybody who's somebody in industrial/gothic/EBM like Funker Vogt, VNV Nation, Informatik, Melotron, Diary of Dreams, etc.). Way to go Metropolis!!!
- American Gramaphone: home of Mannheim Steamroller.

RIAA: the Who's Who of Tired Musical Acts

I, for one, bought plenty of CD's this year and even some concert DVD's that some artists put out. However almost all of the musicians I like are on non-RIAA labels like Metropolis Records. In fact I might not have bought an album from a label that is part of the RIAA in literally years. Am I alone on this? Anyone?

And yet I have a TON of CD's in my collection.

So maybe the RIAA just doesn't have the sales figures for these other labels. Although from the RIAA website, they claim that 90% of all legally sold music in the US is from RIAA member labels.

Someone is threatening their monopoly.

There certainly is collusion, and unfortunately the woefully inept FTC has probably been encouraged to look the other way respective to any investigation. However, the previous poster's monopoly reference begs an interesting sort of question: is it really an oligopoly (technically it cannot be a monopoly since there is more than one label comprising the "music industry")?

If you're looking at major pop music labels, there appears to be a tight group of labels. If your music comes from Best Buy and you prefer the latest Michael Jackson, Best of Air Supply, Ace of Base's Greatest Hits and other material of the sort, you very much are purchasing from a tight oligopoly.

But if your tastes are more on the independent side, such as Metropolis Records, which represents a large component of EBM, industrial/gothic, darkwave, (insert your favorite overgeneralized label here), etc., then you're outside the oligopoly. Considering the music the big boys have been responsible for is increasingly tired, I'd suggest Apple has quite a move to cut out the ineffective, monopolistic major label channel. Consider as an artist if you want to reach 50 million (or whatever) IPod listeners on a label that will probably pay you more, or sign with one of the tired old labels who will spend most of their budget trying to put lips on Madonna's latest pig album. When distribution no longer effectively distributes, they die. Someone might want to remind the tired old labels that they're suffering the same death spiral the newspapers and broadcast TV networks are by losing focus of their role as quality content distributor and instead believing they are the medium.

Jobs needs to quietly sign directly with the independent labels and then announce that artists on the old labels simply won't get "airplay" through IPod distribution. Combine that with the seriously confused copy-protection efforts by major distributors that impedes the ability of the music to be listened to on handheld devices and you're relegating many artists to the shelves of Walmart where an occasional senior citizen might accidentally buy their work. For artists, it's time to run, not walk, from the major labels (do you think they'll stand by you when you only sell 3,000 units due to their inferior market channels? Bomb an album due to poor distribution and you're done for).

*sigh*

Laibach, Front 242, Revolting Cocks, VNV Nation, Snog. Look up anything from the old WaxTrax! label, it's a great start. You also may want to check out Metropolis Records. They'll be joining iTMS soon, too.

There isn't much point in stealing a common, ordinary cart either.

What about using a shopping Cart as a Percussion Instrument? I've only actually used a shopping cart once, and I didn't actually find it in a store. I was participating with a band at the time and there happened to be a shopping cart a couple blocks away from the venue. I had intedned to destroy the shopping cart by the end of the show but those darn things are pretty strong. I was able to do hardly any dammage with a crowbar, and could only take out a few of the little thingys with a hammer. Maybe if I had had a sledgehammer I could have done real dammage.

Anyway, when I first started reading this article I was wondering if they were going to use the wifi to prevent shopping cart theft. You know, track them down. And I'm thinking, what's going to happen to the proud tradition of using a shopping cart in experimental music.

Shoppers could steal the Shopping Buddies, but there wouldn't be much point. The custom-built devices can't run ordinary computer software; they're good for shopping and nothing else.

Actually, the shopping buddies themselves might be interesting in music. Banal shopping buddy advice would be very fitting in some music.

SSSShop as usual, and avoid panic buying.

All sources of music on CD aren't members of the RIAA. For an example of music I listen to which is not, clicky.

It is a huge monopoly, but not a complete monopoly.

But if anyone is an unsigned band: don't sign with an RIAA-connected label

Absolutely, and if you have any talent, it'll probably be wasted at a major RIAA label as well.

There's been a lot of coverage the past few years about the real problems of these labels, including the absurd advances to dated artists like Michael Jackson (who never make back the advance money and end up costing other less prominant artists their chance), promotional efforts being spent on the tired old artists at the expense of up-and-coming ones ("Hey folks. That new Madonna album's out. Let's put lips on that pig!"), termination of thousands of smaller and newer artist contracts, fewer releases, etc.

Compare that with a label like Metropolis Records which has amassed a base of artists like Funker Vogt, KMFDM, VNV Nation, Juno Reactor, Apoptygma Bezerk, Frontline Assembly, Project Pitchfork, De/Vision, etc. - much of the EBM and techno-industrial sounds come from this label.

How do they play with the Internet community? They support royalty-free shoutcasting (which is how I found them and ended up spending a few $$$ on their artists!).

Support these labels by buying direct whenever you can, and let them know each time you buy that the reason you're sending them business is because of their support for great artists and the promotion of a music marketplace free of RIAA manipulation and anticompetitive behavior.

*scoove*

Let's also not forget another big problem with these stores: some of them tend to sell a wide variety of music.

Wide, but very shallow.

My own CD buying has increased (thanks to greater discretionary income than college years), but I almost never step into one of the CD stores. Shopping there is like expecting to buy designer clothing from Kmart - it ain't gonna happen. If it's general pop or orchestral music I'm looking, it's amazon.com's former cdnow that I shop. Usually, though, it's direct from the label - Metropolis Records for instance for 90% of what I listen to.

Funny thing, I've only found maybe one or two Metropolis artists in BestBuy - Apoptygma and Funker Vogt. Lesson of the day? If you won't sell it to me, don't complain that I'm not buying!

*scoove*
(and don't try to pass that nasty michael jackson my way! even FBI agents now know that only losers listen to that.)

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.

Its probably a bit too late to post to this thread but Anything Box actually played the batcave (nyc) not so long ago (2 years or so?).
(speaking synth nostalgia redflag played there right around the same time period)

The synthpop thing has recently been given a revival of sorts lately, especially now w/ its superceded version hip "electroclash" version.

If you do happen to like any of the anything box songs, take a look at the different drum label.

Particularly, take a look at De/vision, Wolfsheim, Cosmicity.. (these still get a lot of "club play" btw).. if you like your synths a bit darker and moody, take a look at metropolis records Bands like And One, Covenant, VNV Nation and Apoptygma Bezerk have HUGE followings even here in america.

Finally, if this synth stuff all seems a bit to cheezy, we can hip you out w/ the electroclash stuff. Most of this is on emperor norton but Fischer spooner, Felix the Housecat, Ladytron, Miss Kitten and the hacker all have pretty big followings currently. (Fischer spooner just got signed to capitol).. Incidentally, and it speaks mostly of where the kids who produce the mtv shows hang out (brooklyn club scene :)), a LOT of the background music to all the real world shows are clips from these bands (if you were curious as to where the music was coming from). One of the offical VH1 segways is actually fischer spooner's emerge now as well. Anyway there is a ton of good stuff out there all w/ huge active followings w/ club nights in many of the major cities as well.

-bloosqr

see there is a small problem with this. people won't boycott anything, they might say they will but in reality they'll follow along with the norm to fit in with society.

i personally try not to buy stuff from major labels and go see movies for several reasons:

1. i don't like most of the music made by the mainstream/riaa member labels, there are a few exceptions to that rule.

2. the bands and music i do like aren't on riaa member labels.

3. indie movies for the most part are well crap, once again a few exceptions to the rule but those are usually picked up by large studios.

4. all the mainstream music sounds the same, well with in the genre it is particular to. all rap sounds the same, all alternative/punk/grunge/college sounds the same, all metal sounds the same and well rap is just rehashing lots of old stuff and has repeated itself for years.

for the most part i listen to stuff from:
metropolis records

projekt records

ipecac records

soliel moon records

invisible records

not for the sole purpose that they are not members of the riaa, tho that helps, but because i like the music and also for the most part they all give away free mp3s for you to listen to.

the majority of the people on slashdot tho won't take the bold step to listen to something that deviates from the norm. tho they are big proponents of saying "down with the riaa/mpaa"

the movie thing i'm guilty of cause well i like eye candy and good stories, however i rarely go to the movie theatre, the last few movies i went to are lotr:fotr, spider-man and attack of the clones. before that i think it was maybe episode 1 or a movie i took a date to, but the point is it was a while since i went to the movies.

everyone here can talk the talk but frankly most aren't willing to walk the walk.

i kinda do both but it's not because it's to be cool, it's cause i like that thing better than what is considered "popular" or the "in thing".

however if the music i liked was part of the riaa i'd probly still listen to it no matter what cause i genuinely like the music and unfortunately that's the boat most people are stuck in. that and a lot of them are unwilling to take a step and be a bit different than the rest of us. that and we have all this pop-culture crap shoved down our throats constantly it's hard to ignore, tho i can do it because of choices i've made and my personal preferences, when there's "no market" aka no payola from the label to play the music then it's not on the radio so when i do listen to the "radio" it's via netcast most of the time.

all people really need to do is get some balls and take a step and be different but they won't and will say stuff on here and yet go out and by the latest snoop dogg or britney spears cds and watch survivor and take what ever the riaa/mpaa dish out.

Listening to stuff from labels like Metropolis doesn't bother me, it's just the big four I don't care for. This free music utopia referred to here.. could it really exist without the kind of funding only selling the stuff could possibly bring? I think the real solution is to have some of it free, and some of it pay. Members would get all the stuff, and the member fees would be distributed among the bands. They'd have to have it in something else besides lossy formats too......

well personally i've burned a couple hundred cdr's this year, mostly iso images and other files here and there.

i won't say i haven't burnt music onto cdr cause i'd be lying however i have only burnt music that i either owned and here's a list of what i DID burn that was music:

ltd cds i didn't want to ruin or lose the original cd cause it's worth money

music i downloaded that was allowed to be downloaded by the artists themselve, such as live performance of the legendary pink dots, edward ka-spel, dj lithium's sets, another dj friend's sets and other music the artists released to the general public

mixed cds i've made as a gift or just for my listening pleasure cause i wanted a few songs on one cd

i'd say all those are fair use of my own personal property as i've not sold ANY to anyone nor made any money off of them. however i am in canada and we are allowed to burn a cd we burn off of a friend cause we pay a levy on all recordable media that goes back to both the music industry and i think the software industry (don't quote me on the second part but i know about the music industry)

however on the flipside i can count on one hand how many cds i've boughten from the big record labels this year and need my second hand and maybe a foot to count the amount of cds i've gotten from the big labels in the past 2 years. i tend to only buy music from the "independant" record labels, such as:

ipecac records

metropolis records

projekt records

soleilmoon records

invisible records

beta-lactum ring records

most have either partial or full mp3's or other audio formats you can listen to their artists from, in projekt's case each artist has their own mp3.com site and you can download several full songs from each artist and distribute them, the owner loves mp3s and knows that they help the music industry and doesn't hurt it.

My favorite webcasting site, DigitalGunfire.com was about to shut down but was SAVED by 3 of the labels they played, who gave them SIGNED contracts saying they could play their music 100% Royalty free! These labels recognize that DigitalGunfire is actually helping them with FREE promotional broadcasting.

So if you are into industrial/electronic music, check out these three labels and buy from them if you like what you hear (check out DigitalGunfire.com for a few hours or days if you want to listen before you buy!)

Here are the labels: (Industrial/Electronic genre)
Alfa Matrix
Metropolis Records
Inception Records

If anyone knows of other indy labels who have given sites permission to play Royalty free, please add them here and list what Genre they fall under!

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.

...for electronica, or EBM (electronic body music) are from Germany mostly. I'm an avid fan of this type of music and some of my favorite bands for the sound are:
VNV Nation
Apoptygma Berzerk
Funker Vogt
Wumpscut (one guy but extremely talented)
L'Ame Immortelle
Pzycho Bitch
Pandique (local german band, extremely hard to find)
Neurotic Fish
Beborn Beton
Front 242 (old but also extremely talented)
Icon of Coil
State Of The Union

I'm unsure if all of these bands fall into what you're looking for but I am sure they all use electronic means to produce their music. My favorite of the bunch, VNV Nation, used (mostly) nothing but a PC to produce their entire recent CD entitled Futureperfect. They even provided a list of software/hardware they had at their disposal.

If you're looking for a place you can order the music online, I suggest Darkland Music, or the record label Metropolis Records. Also, under Metropolis's website, they have a list of bands that are signed under them, all of which are electronica/EBM. I hope this helps you out.

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

Lustmord: Metavoid, Purifying Fire, Where The Black Stars Hang, Heresy, Paradise Disowned, twenty minute songs of sounds fading in and out, like being submersed in some odd form of liquid, very trippy.

Black Lung: Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars, The Depopulation Bomb, The Psychocivilized Society, Unconfortamble Questions for Comfortable People, also nice ambient sounds

Also, just to list a few other bands with experimental sounds not mentioned yet:

Necrophorus: Gathering Composed Thoughts, Underneath the Spirits of Tranquility

Brothomstates: Kobn-Tich-Ey

Panacea: Low-Profile Darkness, Twisted Designz, Phoenix Metabolism

Needle Sharing: My Kind Came First, Mono Brutal

Tarmvred: Subfusc, Onomatopoeic

Venetian Snares: Doll Doll Doll, Printf, Making Orange Things

Micropoint: Anesthesie International, europhonie

Imminent Starvation: Human Dislocation, Nord, North LP, Ethyl LP

Converter: Blast Furnace, Coma

Mlada Fronta: Fe2 O3, High Tension

Hypnoskull: Fast Forward / Burnout, Electronic Music Means War To Us

Mike Patton

Having said that, I'd also like to say that I hate the term "electronica", as it really only describes the range of electronic music that MTV and MuchMusic dare to tell you about, and doesn't even hope to cover a wider range of electronic music that doesn't necessarily include techno.

Here are some electronic artists with a bit more diversity:

Genesis P. Orridge (Throbbing Gristle/Psychic TV)

Kraftwerk

Brian Eno

Laibach

Nash The Slash

Coil

David Thrussel (Black Lung/Snog/Soma)

Pieter Bourke

Boards Of Canada

David Kristian

cEvin key (Skinny Puppy/Download/The Tear Garden/and more...)

Brian Eno

Merzbow

CPI/DXM

Tribes Of Neurot

Lab Report

Thighpaulsandra

Atari Teenage Riot

Now that you've got a real place to start, find out who the artists you listen to collaberate with, and who they are influenced by, and listen to their music too. You'll discover a whole new world of electronic music that mainstream music outlets will probably never even hope to tell you about.

Having said that, I'd also like to say that I hate the term "electronica", as it really only describes the range of electronic music that MTV and MuchMusic dare to tell you about, and doesn't even hope to cover a wider range of electronic music that doesn't necessarily include techno.

Here are some electronic artists with a bit more diversity:

Genesis P. Orridge (Throbbing Gristle/Psychic TV)

Kraftwerk

Brian Eno

Laibach

Nash The Slash

Coil

David Thrussel (Black Lung/Snog/Soma)

Pieter Bourke

Boards Of Canada

David Kristian

cEvin key (Skinny Puppy/Download/The Tear Garden/and more...)

Brian Eno

Merzbow

CPI/DXM

Tribes Of Neurot

Lab Report

Thighpaulsandra

Atari Teenage Riot

Now that you've got a real place to start, find out who the artists you listen to collaberate with, and who they are influenced by, and listen to their music too. You'll discover a whole new world of electronic music that mainstream music outlets will probably never even hope to tell you about.

Sure its a record company but it's good stuff. Old and new school too.

Metropolis Records

Long as we're talking about bands who "get it" - how about Neotek? Hard-driving industrial-techno that IMHO sounds as current today as it did in 1995.

Any band who calls their album "Brain over Muscle" and uses samples like "We'll start by replacing his eyes" (Neotek 52) is OK in my book ;-)

Neotek's "Brain over Muscle" came out on Cleopatra in '95 - dunno if Cleo's been eaten by the RIAA cartel yet, but the last time I checked, Cleo was clean - and the band has gobs of MP3s on their website. Not just their 1995 album, but all the unreleased/remix stuff that didn't make the album, plus snips from works in progress. (Yeah, Cleopatra must be RIAA-free. RIAA would never allow that :)

Any sampling gurus wanna go through this album and add to the sampling sources list?

FWIW, I discovered Neotek much the same way the AC discovered Icon of Coil. Saw a band I'd never heard of posted in a USENET group last year, with track titles like "Brain over Muscle" and "Mind Traveling" that appealed to my inner geek. Downloaded 10 seconds. Liked it. Downloaded the rest. Loved it. Bought the album, even though I had to get it on special order. (And now I see it's on CDNOW. Gawd, I love technology.)

"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.

Or sign to a non-RIAA label.

There are plenty ...

well i can say with having the joys of calling into radio stations that they are affected by the good old payola. they won't play stuff they aren't paid for, i have bugged them to play electronic music and they claim there's "no market for them" however electronic bands, when they come around regularly sell out and even have lines around the corner waiting to buy extra tickets.

it will also explain why they do not play music from independant labels, they aren't being paid to play them. so no money to play them means no airplay for that label

there are several labels i chan thing of that this affects metropolis records , projekt records , gashed records , inception records none of them are part of the riaa, so i gladly buy their albums but the downfall of this is they get no air play due to a "lack of a market" even in the light of over sold shows.

frankly i hope the ftc and the crtc (the canadian version of the ftc for you non-canucks) actively looks into this because it really is detrimental to our independant record labels and artists who aren't on a big label and get the big push or should i say pay off to the radio station now?

WaxTrax! is in fact owned by TVT (and also notable as Metallica's label before they hit it big, if I remember correctly). Cleopatra (and its associated labels, Hypnotix(?) and a couple of others ) should be RIAA-free. Of course, there's always Metropolis (www.metropolis-records.com), which fronts for a relatively large number of overseas and domestic techno/electro/indusrial/ebm/etc acts including Front242, Project Pitchfork, VNV Nation, Numb, Mentallo, Haujobb (the list is pretty big these days), they don't appear to be a RIAA member. Besides, they're licensing mostly from labels that couldn't be part of RIAA 'cause they're not "of America." :-)