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There, fixed that for you:
http://www.warprecords.com/dayvancowboy/
Now with the music.

Bleep.com, run by Warp Records, scores pretty well by your criteria.

* No DRM
* 30 second previews of every track at *any* point of the track in 128kbps - you can listen to the entire track but you'll have to hit "play" again every 30 seconds
* Lame encoded MP3 w/ FLAC available for some releases
* Normal web site interface

I believe each album is its own zip, but I've only downloaded single albums at a time. Don't think there is an API, although they have a html generator to embed preview players in your own pages. You cannot re-download previously purchase tracks.

The major downside is that it's limited mostly to electronic music; but within the genre, it's got quite a good selection, with dozens of labels participating, such as City Centre Offices, Domino, Fatcat, Ghostly, Morr Music, Ninjatune, One Little Indian, Planet Mu, Rough Trade, Skam, Sonig and of course Warp.

Try BoC's actual label's store. MP3 files for purchase.

Matador Records is one of the biggest labels in non-RIAA music (Pavement, Yo La Tengo, Belle and Sebastien, Brightblack Morning Light and Cat Power are all popular indie bands on Matador)

Merge Records is pretty huge in terms of independent rock music. They have bands like Spoon (they're pretty popular, even in the mainstream--they were on a car commercial), The Arcade Fire (they were on the cover of rolling stone), Destroyer, and The Magnetic Fields.

For electronic music, Warp Records is pretty awesome.

Fat Cat is a pretty good one. They put out records by Animal Collective (touted by the New York Times) and Sigur Ros.

No need to participate in mainstream culture...

One way for the artist is to create music for people that actually put a value on it and don't want the artist to starve. Physical barriers are not the only things that stop people taking things without paying.

There are plenty of examples of this right now, for instance in the UK Warp Records (one of the bigger UK indie lables with an anual turn over around the $10million mark) have nearly their whole catalog in their online store as DRM free MP3 files (high quality VBR using LAME alt-preset standard). There are also other examples in this list.

Personally, I'm going to have my album downloadable as DRM-free MP3s - it will also be on iTunes for people that find that more convenient (?!) but it'll be more expensive (to make up for apple's cut) and obvious will have iTune's DRM there.

"Could you you go without purchasing or even downloading music for 3 months? 6 months? a year? to prove a point?"

Yes, and I have, but not to prove a point. I don't buy anything the RIAA churns out anymore, because my tastes have changed. The majority of music I listen to anymore comes from northern Europe, written by guys on computers and keyboards.

But that's just me. It's not to say I don't listen to anything from the RIAA, but I don't purchase it (not saying that I pirate/infringe/steal/copy/etc). The fact that I boycott RIAA material is an unintentional side effect.

Of course, I have to do work to get my music, often involving writing to musicians/producers as to where I can purchase. If found that this site, and this one (no DRM, a little more then $1 because of exchange rates), are great resources for the type of music I listen to.

Also, streaming audio works quite well for me. Lots of different content, and no adverts (or very few).

http://www.warprecords.com/

Apparently some of the only ones that matter.

Richard D. James has been doing his own thing for a while now, he's not corperate but he is sucessful.

These kinds of labels are what the music industry needs.

Warp records of aphex twin, squarepusher etc. fame have the right idea.. they sell DRM free high quality MP3s at cheap prices on their bleep service, I wish the big record companies would just follow their example. If the big record companies can't give the public what they want, sooner or later they will cease to exist.

Some obscure indie rock tune or rare jazz performance you heard on the radio?

Funnily, this is the kind of music that you're most likely to find available as unrestricted mp3s, which will obviously work in any music player you like.

Why not buy from DRM-free online music stores like Bleep?

Basically, the Keyboard People are fucked.

Strike that. They are FUCKED.

Why? As one poster noted above: Software.

Software synthesis already outstrips most anything you can do in a keyboard, and at a much lower cost.

Exhibit A:

REASON

I remember back i nthe ancient 1980s, when a cheezy ass sampler (by todays standards) cost $2000+. In Reason, which costs about $400, you can fill an entire virtual rack with samplers far in excess of what availed then. you want 11 samplers stacked? If you had $25,000 - SURE. In Reason, when you're done, you simply open up a new blank Rack, and fill it with more/other goodies from the drop down menu. Back then, you'd have to sell all those samplers...

It comes with drum machines, samplers, processors, mixers, synthesizers of several different stripes, and on and on.

Second Exhibit: ABLETON LIVE

This, in combination with Reason, offers truly terrifying amounts of musical development and creativity. Recently, Live was upgraded to include MIDI, and a basic drum machine, so now it is even more deadly as a combo with Reason. Live is a Loop based compositional system, but with its new MIDI capabilities, it is now a much more powerful beast. It costs about $350, IIRC.

Exhibit Three: Max/MSP

This, in combination with Live and Reason, makes ANYTHING coming out of Korg pretty much superfluous. With Live and Reason, you have composition systems and tonnes of "Gear". With Max/MSP you make your own gear, and it can be just as weird as you want it to be. Max/MSP isn't a synth, it's a software development environment that resembles an evil cross between Visual Basic and tinkertoys. It's available on Mac and (finally) Windows, and it totally fuckin' rocks. If you wondered how freeks like Autechre makes all that jiggety noise, look no further than:
Max/MSP.

so, lets run some totals:

My guess is the Oasys will likely come in around at a $2500 price point.

I often shop at Musicians Friend so my prices are from there as of today, Jan 20th. They aren't the best, or the worst. It's just a data point.

Reason: on sale: $199
Ableton Live: $399
Max/MSP with Jitter (video libraries): $799
Edirol PCRA-30 keyboard with Audio In: $299

And a computer I found at PC MALL - an IBM Thinkpad:

Intel P4, 2.8GHz processor, 256MB RAM, 40GB Hard Drive, CD-RW/DVD Combo drive,15" XGA Display, XP-Pro, etc.

Which has PLENTY of power for audio. and it's on sale for $1,198.

So, throw in another hundred bucks for a kbd stand and what not and the total is around:

$2900

Which is probably a bit more than the OASYS will sell for. Since Max/MSP is for Advanced User GEEKS, and Jitter is even geekier, cut the $799 out and you have an entire electronic music studio that KICKS ASS for about $2200.

...for a system that will totally thrash the OASYS up and down the street. Cheerfully.

Now: will your system CRASH? Yes. Will the OASYS? Probably not. If you're worried about that, then get a Powerbook or a Linux Book or whatever-the-fuck-book that flips your crank. They don't Blue Screen as much as Windoze box, but there are other issues involved. All in all, unless you're planning to spend a lot of time on stage, you're better off with the compter based system.

In a few years you will have run through most of what the OASYS does. In a few years... I *shudder* to think what Reason and Live will be like...

Basically Hardware Synth manufactueres are doomed. The only ones who will survive are the ones making the uber-geek analogue gear, and they will basically be little more than boutique operations for purists.

RS

AllofMP3
eMusic
Magnatune
Warp Records Bleep Store
Audio Lunchbox
I don't speak German so I don't know about this one
Creative Commons has plenty about DRM-free open music sources

Click here for the label, then click the album cover image.

Bleep also has Bjork's record label One Little Indian, all of Warp's own back catalogue (Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, etc.) and a host of other independent labels.

The FAQ states "We believe that most people like to be treated as customers and not potential criminals - DRM is easily circumvented and just puts obstacles in the way of enjoying music."

Click here for the label, then click the album cover image.

Bleep also has Bjork's record label One Little Indian, all of Warp's own back catalogue (Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, etc.) and a host of other independent labels.

The FAQ states "We believe that most people like to be treated as customers and not potential criminals - DRM is easily circumvented and just puts obstacles in the way of enjoying music."

If you really don't want DRM-encumbered music then don't buy it. You can buy un-DRM-ed music on-line from Warp Records. If you're into electronica then check it out (it's not all they do, but it's their sock and trade).

In the Bleep store you get to listen to 30-second samples but you can click along the timeline to pick the part of the song the sample comes from. Then they give you decent-quality, non-DRM-encumbered files. To top it off, their downloads include limited-release and out-of-print records. To date they're the only store I've bought intangible downloaded goods from.

bleep was just about perfect. Because it's direct to the record label, about 50% of the sale goes to the artists (which is fantastic in my books). You simply pay for the sale, maybe an entire album, and get a ZIP file containing the high quality MP3s that have been lame encoded with VBR. Very proper. Looks proper, sounds proper. So yeah, that's about as perfect as I have seen!

Well, if everyones pushing their favorite MP3 Peddler in here, I might as well add Warp's Bleep. It is pretty limited and fairly expensive (damn brits), but if you are into intelligent electronica, you might give it a try. Un-DRM'd "LAME --alt-preset standard" mp3s, with full prelisten (the tracks fade out after 30 seconds, but you can restart them). An no, I don't work for them either. Wish I did.

I use Audio Lunchbox, which lets you download in both 192kbit MP3 and Ogg Vorbis. I've also poked at Bleep, which currently supports MP3 and is thinking about FLAC.

Both of these are DRM-free and will give you files that work on Linux (or BeOS or PalmOS or an Amiga or a Newton or whatever).

Check out warp records' store - http://www.warprecords.com/bleep/ - new labels are being added every now and then. With a flash enabled browser you can preview the entire tracks (play/pause and seeking). High quality drm-less vbr mp3s (including mp3s of rare vinyl only releases).

the only way you can legally download music for the iPod is through iTunes?

There are a large number of sources from which you may legally download music for the iPod, for example here.

I urge all Slashdotters to support the independent stores like BLEEP which prove there is a viable market for downloaded audio tracks without the restrictions of DRM, and avoid ITMS, MSN and the rest like the plague they are.

I know it's a bit of a technicality, but some of the data on Magnetbox's RIAA list is a bit screwed. Personally, I'm big into my electronica and funk, and was rather disappointed to see one of my favourite acts (the Aphex Twin) listed as an RIAA confederate.

Of course, those of you familiar with him will know he is signed on Warp Records, one of the world premier electro labels based in the UK. Warp is completely independent, BUT alot of the US releases are published by the big bad RIAA companies. Records bought from Warpmart http://www.warprecords.com/?section=mart will be totally RIAA-free (worldwide shipping) AND you're supporting the artist, and you can also download DRM-free MP3's from Warp's excellent Bleep http://www.bleep.com/ music store (many of the MP3's created by the artists themselves, and they are also selling an awful lot of other UK indie label music thorugh it as well, such as Ninja Tune, another of my fave labels), which also does worldwide "shipping". I downloaded over 500MB of MP3's from them the other day. And no, I'm not an employee of Warp, I just think they have a brilliant and underexposed system going on.

Moral of ths story: Magnetbox's db is too US centric. *Always* check with the band and label first to see if they have their own shop. If it's an indie label or the band are just flogging their own stuff, you're sorted. The label or the artist gets all the cash, and the middleman gets sweet FA.

I could probably rape your grandmother without too much effort

Think again, my grandmother would probably kick your ass :P

Just because it's easy to take something doesn't mean it's OK to take something.

Here in the Netherlands an audio cd costs around 20 euros. New movies on dvd cost 20 (bad movies) to 40 (!) euros. There are hardly any legal ways to buy music online overhere, and the few sites that offer such services use wma so i can't even play those songs + they only have brittney spears and other "populair" music.

As you probably agree the record labels are the real criminals. I wouldn't even think about stealing from small indie labels like pussyfoot, warp or mowax. I buy their cds because i know it supports the artists, not just the manager's new beachhouse.

You can go out-- *now*-- and buy music from the Warp Records Music Store, and download it right onto your iPod, and it will work. And Apple doesn't mind. Ever notice that?

You know why that is? It's because when you buy from the Warp Music Store you get ordinary mp3s.

Meanwhile, what this Harmony thing is has nothing to do with Real "figuring out how to play .rm files on the iPod". We all know how to play music files on the iPod: You put them on the hard drive. What Real did was figure out how to hijack Apple's DRM restriction system so that Real could put DRM-restricted files on the iPod and they would be DRM-restricted, just like the files you get from the iTunes Music Store. In other words, even without Harmony Real can already put their music on your iPod, but that's not what they want, what they want to be able to put their music on your iPod but still limit what you do with it.

This is the problem I have with what Real's doing. It's disingenous. Real isn't fighting to make the iPod more "open". What Real is doing is fighting for the right to limit your consumer choice on a device that Apple attempted to design in such a way that only Apple could limit your consumer choice on it. This isn't consumer advocacy, it's two wolves arguing over whether or not the first wolf has to share the sheep he's about to eat with the second one.

bleep, warp records' music store

You should also be aware seminal european electronic music label Warp Records does much the same thing with their catalog.

That's interesting. There are a few things that I think would have to be worked out, though.
1. Is it going to be a record label? Or just a collective of home recording artists? If I were in a band, and I had to choose between a record label which would promote me and a collective which would rely on donations and word of mouth, I'd pick the label. Since I would want this to be my job, I'd want to guarantee myself some money rather than just rely on the goodwill of others.

2. The bandwidth issue: don't just encourage the artists to help pay with bandwidth, their priorities are paying their own bills, not the organization's. You have to MAKE them pay for the bandwidth by setting up the payment structure properly. I've known people who are in touring bands. When they tour, the goal is to leave the show with enough money for food and gas. Laundry and showers next. Fat chance they'll be paying for your bandwidth voluntarily.

3. People without internet access who enjoy music. You're alienating a large part of the prospective audience if you just distribute via the internet. Another reason why a conventional label wins out. A regular record label can put CDs in stores and press them for the band to bring on tour. The internet cannot, or would rely on the artist doing that work themselves. Not convenient.

I think the best way to do this is to do it like Emusic.com, where they have set up deals with record labels to sell access to mp3s of bands who have a record label deal already. That way there are CDs in the stores and mp3s being sold. And you don't have to rely on the generosity of the community to download files, as you would with BitTorrent. The "alternative path" that you are thinking of MUST include CDs in stores, or some kind of kiosk sort of device, so people can easily get a hold of albums. But I agree, more choice is good. I think there is a decent alternative, though, and that includes independent record labels. I think Warp Records has it right, offer digital downloads as well as provide a good distribution system for brick and mortar stores.

wasn't this seen three years ago already? http://www.warprecords.com/brothomstates

Those services all pretty much consist of a modest selection of independent music. iTMS also has a modest selection of independent music. If the RIAA raises their prices, it is very unlikely that the independents that use the iTMS will raise their prices to match. Thus, a post-RIAA-fuckage iTMS would offer no disadvantages against the sites you mention, besides possibly some issues of format and selection that would be no different then than they are now.

Also, you forgot Bleep, which offers the entire catalog of Warp Records-- probably the finest purveyors of electronic music in the world-- as unencumbered high-quality mp3.

If Apple ever signs a deal with Warp Records, I could die a happy man. A lot of Aphex Twin and Squarepusher albums have become extremely hard to come by in the physical form (Powerpill, anyone?), so having those available in iTMS would be all I ever wanted. Screw the Beatles, I own CDs of all their good stuff anyway.

My current favorite download service is Bleep

http://www.warprecords.com/bleep/

Great electronic stuff from guys like Squarepusher and Plaid in un-DRM'd 192k LAME-encoded mp3 goodness.

I wish iTunes had a higher quality option. It's not that 160k AAC sounds bad, but if the download is all I get, I'd like a higher quality format to get at the same time.

Warp records has an online service named Bleep asking reasonable rates for variable bit rate mp3 encodings of songs. They have no DRM at all. I have purchased a few Aphex Twin songs and I enjoy listing to them without restriction.

Warp Records already do just that. They encode their files using LAME --alt-preset standard.

...they offer the Bleep Music Store. All files are high-quality (VBR with the settings cranked up) MP3s, unprotected -- they *gasp* treat you like a customer instead of a serf. Also you can preview tracks -- not just 30 seconds of a track, but all of it (albeit in 30 second chunks, so you can't just rip the whole track to a .wav file before buying). Also there's Magnatune (tagline: "We are not evil" ;-} ). Warp have the advantage of 'famous names' though, like Aphex Twin or LFO.

Confine your purchases to Bleep - Warp's online store You can buy mp3s from anywhere in the world in GBP, EUR or USD. No DRM either.

Studio K7 has some limited offerings in MP3 as well.

I think both sell internationally - Warp is in the UK and K7 is in Germany.

If you're looking for anything on warp records, check out bleep.com...
They don't have any international restrictions...
Of course, don't go there expecting anything too mainstream. But, it's still an option for non-American music downloaders...

Yes, well there are musicians and there are musicians who are artists. You'd have to consider which type of musicians you have encountered in your experience.

Metallica has spoken out about their views of free==piracy, where has Aphex Twin has spoken out and said he couldnt give a shit if you took his whole album and released it under a different name. Not all musicians are artists. (and to be fair, not all artists are any good :)

May I make a suggestion?

$13.86 isn't enough for a new CD from many stores, but you could use the money to buy an album from one of the many excellent artists from non-RIAA record labels such as Matador or Ninja Tune available from the iTunes Music Store.

Or perhaps purchase music for download in unencumbered MP3 format directly from non-RIAA record label Warp Records.

$10 thrown at the first option could get you, if you like rock music, one of the Yo La Tengo albums (if you like rock), Cat Power's "Moon Pix" album (if you like folky rock sung by a drunk manic-depressive woman), or Amon Tobin's "Supermodified" (if you like jazzy d&b-ish techno), and still leave you $3.86 for your own nefarious purposes. Any of these would be excellent choices.

From the second option, if you like electronica, $13.86 would be just enough to neatly buy Boards of Canada's probably-career-high Music Has the Right to Children album plus Autechre's probably-career-high gantz_graf EP and leave you enough money for a soda at a vending machine.

Not really. Rememeber, iTunes is the easiest to use despite not having many labels signed (for example the classic rap label jigzone records and groundbreaking electronica label warp records.)

As the amount of people with computers and a decent internet connection is increasing, this can only get more popular.

.. as long as I can listen to good music without any of this crazy fullscreen advert shit.

What the hell? Who are you to decide what people under 16 are allowed to do, you fucking killjoy.

Shit, you need to back off and listen to some soundy vibes, dude. Relax a bit and let 'the kids' have some freedom!

"and won't work with any of the top music-download services"

Umm, you mean it doesn't work with iTunes don't you? That's only one of many download services out there, and I bet a larger portion of MP3s come from people ripping their own CDs. In any case, it'll work with my top music download service thanks...

Shut up and have some music, you scallywag.

What are you on about, simpleton?

The preview tracks are actually a reasonable quality to just listen to, and are freely downloadable.

They are all in this format:

http://bleep.warprecords.com/player.php?key=XXXXXX XX

where XXXXXXXX is a code representing the song to be played. This key can be discerned from the album code and track number as follows:

wget -O - "http://www.warprecords.com/bleep/current_item.php ?selection=WAPXX_DM&audio=WAPXX_DM-NN" | findstr "key="

.. then search the output for key=XXXXXXXX and put it into the original URL.

For example, doing the above procedure on "WAP108_DM-02" (Track 2 of Red Snapper's The Sleepless single) results in a key of gESddI6u. This can then be loaded into your favourite URL-based mp3 player as http://bleep.warprecords.com/player.php?key=gESddI 6u . It's only mono 90kbps or so, but that's good enough for a preview.

Artist: Aphex Twin
Track: Bit
Price: $1.35
Length: 6 seconds

Oops! $810 per hour LOL!

-

OK. From their own website's FAQ:

From the USA (and anywhere else in the World) they will be displayed in US$, and the prices do not include any sales taxes so are considerably lower than their Sterling or Euro equivalent

Plus until someone from outside UK/Europe comments, I have no idea whether Sales Tax gets added, increasing the actual price of the shown amount.
Much as I hate VAT, at least it's included in the pulished price. I know that, at least back in 1989, in some parts of the US the sales tax wasn't shown in the marked price, so you ended up paying more than the stickered price. Maybe things've changed now.

Yes, I know their website's not exactly well-designed, but it's not that hard to find the information.

I think this probably some of tDR's worst work. By comparison the Warpmart, the mail order store for Warp Records, is really great. With good search facility, colour-coding by artist and a pretty straight-forward interface. Although today Warp's servers are going a tad slow.