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I count 92 artists, which is borderline for running a single highly consrained station. That's pretty bad for running even just a single radio station, and it certainly is not a model that supports a large rich healthy ecosystem of thousands of net radios. It would exterminate college radio and virtually 100% of any other stations.

The new law makes it all but impossible for general net radio to operate without imposing mandatory DRM formats.

-

Well, yes, I wouldn't be able to write that much. But Nettwerk has an internet radio station and broadcasts their own talent...
--jeffk++

How is this not just a publicity stunt? If they have so many artists, they should start their own label.

Yeah that's a good idea... these people Sarah McLaghlan, the Barenaked Ladies, and others could start a label and call it Nettwerk or something. Except it seems like some other chick names Sarah McLachlan and some other band called the Barenaked Ladies already did.

I run a synth podcast show and because of legal reasons have had many contacts w/ labels (me contacting them for permission, not them busting me) and I can not emphasize how cool the nettwerk label is :

Check out their about page :

Nettwerk Music Group is Canada's leading privately owned record label and artist management company. Nettwerk is responsible for managing some of Canada's biggest artists like Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne, Barenaked Ladies and many others. Nettwerk has several offices located around the world including offices in New York, Los Angeles and London; with our main office right next to Granville Island in Vancouver, B.C.


Litigation is destructive, it must stop .... as per Nettwerk copyrights, we have never sued anybody and all our music is open source to encourage fans to share it with others and help us promote our Artists. As per those Artists we manage on other labels (Majors), we take issue with those labels claiming that litigating our fans is in our interest, as it clearly is not.

Even the smaller indie labels have not taken a stand as strong as Nettwerk has. Nettwerk is indie, but they carry Sarah Maclachlan, Delerium, Avril Lavigne and bands of that size, so they aren't exactly small.

MC Lars - Download this song.mov is actually on the radio playlist(s) here, which is quite the feat actually, if indeed he's got no major label behind him. Sure, the tune is ripped (Passengers?), but the lyrics is on the mark:

The old-school major deal? It makes no sense
Indentured servitude, the costs are too immense!
Their finger's in the dam but the crack keeps on growing
Can't sell bottled water when it's freely flowing
Record sales slipping, down 8 percent
Increased download sales, you can`t prevent
Satellite radio and video games
Changed the terrain, it will never be same
Did you know in ten years labels won`t exist?
Goodbye DVDs, and compact disks!

Though 10 years is a bit optimistic.

They are also a US Label, with offices in NY and LA. Their primary operations are in Canada, out of Vancouver.
--
clicky: http://www.nettwerk.com/about.jsp

A
Abigail Washburn , Alpha , Autour De Lucie , Avia , Avril Lavigne , Amy Correia , Andy Hunter , Adrienne Pierce
B
Barenaked Ladies , The Be Good Tanyas , Billy Talent , Brand New , BT , Butterfly Boucher ,
C
Shelley Campbell , Margaret Cho , Coralie Clement , The Clumsy Lovers , Conjure One , Amy Correia , Chantal Kreviazuk
D
David Mead , Delerium , The Devlins , Dieselboy , The Divine Comedy , DJ Colette ,
E
Susan Enan , Erin McKeown ,
F
Fear of Music , Neil Finn , The Finn Brothers , Foghorn Stringband , The Format ,
G
Gabriel & Dresden , Gob , Goldspot , Guster , Griffin House ,
H
Hem , Hackensaw Boys , The Hermit , Griffin House , Andy Hunter ,
I
Ina , Ivy ,
J
Jars of Clay , Junior Jack , John Mann , Josh Rouse ,
K
Kinky , Kirsty Hawkshaw , Chantal Kreviazuk , Kristian Leontiou , Karin Strom ,
L
Kristian Leontiou , Lester , Lhasa , Toby Lightman ,
M
Margaret Cho , Matt Wertz , Melissa McClelland , Tara MacLean , John Mann , MC Lars , Erin McKeown , Sarah McLachlan , Tom McRae , Mediaeval Baebes , Men Women & Children , Martina Sorbara ,
N
Neil Finn , Nathan , Noel Sanger ,
O
Oh Susanna , Old Crow Medicine Show ,
P
Pezz (early Billy Talent) , Panurge , The Perishers , Adrienne Pierce , Po' Girl , Paul van Dyk ,
R
Robert Post , Josh Rouse , Ron Sexsmith ,
S
Shelley Campbell , Susan Enan , Sarah McLachlan , Sander Kleinenberg , State Radio , The Submarines , Noel Sanger , Ron Sexsmith , Sixpence None The Richer , Martina Sorbara , Stereophonics , Karin Strom , Swollen Members ,
T
The Be Good Tanyas , The Clumsy Lovers , The Devlins , The Divine Comedy , The Finn Brothers , The Format , The Hermit , Toby Lightman , Tara MacLean , Tom McRae , The Perishers , The Submarines , Tiesto , Trespassers William , Treble Charger , The Weepies ,
V
Paul van Dyk
W
The Weepies
This artist is on a Nettwerk Label (US, Canada or UK) This artists is managed by Nettwerk Management

I've been reading that this is a PR stunt from a little Canadian label. Well, it may be ... but what you guys are missing is that they DO seem to "Get it"

Visit their site: http://www.nettwerk.com/

Guess what they sell. MP3s!

I for one, am going to be writing them a letter thanking them for understanding that not all their customers are crooks and that they shouldn't be punishing everyone because of a few bad apples.

Nettwerk++

Just another reason to love nettwerk - I was checking out their website (http://www.nettwerk.com/) and noticed that you could pay for music ($0.99) and download a real mp3. No DRM included. While it's not quite as impressive as OGG files would be, it's just another example demonstrating that not all the record labels are RIAA-evil.

List of artists under Nettwerk: http://www.nettwerk.com/artistlisting.jsp

Personal favorite: State Radio

There are some other really good ones on there, too: Barenaked Ladies, Billy Talent, Guster, and Six Pence None The Richer to name a few.

List of artists under Nettwerk: http://www.nettwerk.com/artistlisting.jsp

Personal favorite: State Radio

There are some other really good ones on there, too: Barenaked Ladies, Billy Talent, Guster, and Six Pence None The Richer to name a few.

Not to mention endears me to that company in particular. I may well go get a list of artists under that label and go buy something just to support them. Or send in a donation saying "Thank you."

http://www.nettwerk.com/artistpage.jsp?artist_id=6 55

Nettwerk, the label that manages BNL has a long history of embracing new technology. They used to operate a FirstClass dialup BBS a decade ago (any music released by them from that era would of had the dialup number on the back of the CD). The BBS had message forums, downloads of Quicktime snippets of various songs, pictures, Macromedia Director "Interactive Press Kits" and other stuff. Nettwerk also broke ground by being the first label to release an Enhanced CD. This being Sarah McLachlan's The Freedom Sessions (with their BBS offering tech support as well!). They also had a very early internet presence. I'm betting Nettwerk came up with this USB album idea or at least endorsed it.

consumers wont pay $30 for the same thing everytime
Well, yeah, that's why you need to be somewhat creative. Next time it will be slightly diffferent. (yeah there's an extra "f" - I see that.) I'd certainly fork over $30 for some of the bands from my era that didn't sell enough vinyl to get all of their stuff pressed into CDs. This is a newer compilation that I might buy, in part due to the "packaging".

However, "a small minority" might refer better to Opera users (such as, well, me) on /. than people who like BNL tunes. I can't say I'm a fan, but I like their music. (Saw them in concert, didn't buy the t-shirt ;-) I think that more people would like the music than you appear to believe. Your opinion vs mine, but just another perspective. You could be right.

Don't forget to add the following:

ln -s "drm for the masses script" /etc/init.d/rc3.d/S20DeleteThisScriptAndGoToJail

to keep yourself in compliance at each and every startup and shutdown ... happy happy joy joy!!! I don't pirate music, they can go after the people who share illegal tunes all they want, but don't ever point a finger at me unless you know I'm doing something wrong, anything else is an insult.

If they spent half the effort signing and encouraging artists with talent that they do trying to prevent people from putting songs on their iPods, they might actually be able to address the root cause of their falling sales. I hardly buy any new music because every friggen tune sounds the same and they're dull as hell. The few albums I do buy are pretty much all on Nettwerk since they don't focus on the same vanilla pudding crap the other majors put out ... and ... get this ... they don't shovel DRM ... they actually sell MP3s.

Despite all the sturm und drang over DRM'ed concert releases being the next big thing on the horizon, at least one band ignored the DRM bandwagon. Barenaked Ladies used the resources of their promoter Nettwerk (and not through their record company) to release MP3s of each concert during the first leg of their tour this year. You can download any of the bunch direct from their web site, for $13.99. What complicated, strings-attached scheme do they use to transfer the music? That's right, a friggin' ZIP file. Pay your money, pull down your concert, enjoy the MP3s. I'm proud to say I bought two of their shows, one I personally attended, and a second just because I heard other fans rave about the particular show. Trust us, RIAA, and we'll keep you wealthy with products like this. Don't treat us like friggin' thieves.

I now visit the DVD section instead of the useless CD section.

*triple-take*

Did I read that right? You're dismayed that they're putting copy protection on CDs now, so you buy DVDs instead??? Are you aware of CSS, the DVDCA, the DMCA, Jon Johansen? CD "copy protection" is a lame hack that can be permanently removed with a pen. DVDs are encrypted, and the org that controls the encryption bought federal laws that make it illegal to decrypt without a license. DVD copy protection is far, far worse than CD copy protection.

Not that I approve of CD copy protection. I buy CDs strictly at second-hand stores now, ever since Nettwerk sent me a multisession "enhanced" Delerium CD that my reader barfed on (until I used the pen trick). The packaging on that disc proudly announced how broken it was -- are they not doing that any more?

The Be Good Tanyas web site states that Nettwerk Records in Canada is offering to exchange the copy-controlled Be Good Tanyas CDs that EMI released in Canada. Nettwerk is a pretty cool label, and I'm glad to see that they have done this -- let's hope other labels affiliated with EMI follow suit. As for me, I found that the US version of the Tanyas CD was not copy-controlled, but the Canadian version was, so I bought my copy in the States. The same happened with the new Radiohead CD: it was copy-protected here, but the US version wasn't.

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.

...but I really don't see much of a need and I don't have much of a desire to support an artist in their struggles against their personal or individual contracts/etc with their employers, the record companies. RIAA as it affects my rights to fair use of stuff I BUY? Nuke em from orbit, as far as I'm concerned.

But let's face it... nobody ever (well, maybe not EVER) put a gun to the head of a no-name, starving artist and forced them to sign away their rights in order to allow them to get a shot at being rich and famous; they made that choice themselves. I'm sick of the "woe is me" and "but that's unfair" attitudes of these people. Big Lou made N Sync what they are, and now that they're famous and seeing just how much money their band is making, they're whining about how they should be getting a bigger cut. Srew that. He put his industry contacts, know-how and money on the line, took most of the risk, and they agreed to it, so they should have to live with it. Do you think they'd pony up the huge bucks if it tanked? Yeah, and Brittany's tits are real, too.

The real problem is that there are WAY too many rock-star wannabes that are willing to sign away everything for life in order to take a shot at being on the cover of Rolling Stone, so there's not much forcing the record companies to offer something other than a "we take everything forever" contract. That'll only happen when there is someone with enough talent (and potential revenue generation) to make the record companies fight over them. Sarah Mclachlan is a case in point. She's got a great deal with Nettwerk Records in that she owns all of her own publishing. That's because she was smart in (a) hooking up with an excellent manager, Terry McBride, and (b) she was smart in assessing her options and making her choices.

In a way this is similar to what I'm going through right now in taking a software product public. We're getting LOTS of offers for VC funding, and most of it is Pirate money... "give us 80% of the company, and we'll give you a bit of cash". Lucky for us we've got investors that are willing to take a more reasonable stance with us. But if those "more reasonable" investors weren't there, and the only deal we had was a bad one, and we took it, should we be able to whine and complain about how we were taken advantage of and abused? Absolutely not. We were presented with an offer, and WE ACCEPTED IT. If we were stupid enough or desperate enough to accept a bad deal, then we'd have to live with the consequences.