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DRM Free Music is Everywhere

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the do-you-hear-what-i-hear dept.

guisar writes "I continue to endure stories on Slashdot and elsewhere complaining about EMI, itunes and other organizations maybe (or maybe not) releasing material in DRM free format. Well- here's some news there's LOTS of material out there. So instead of complaining, download what you like. There are plenty of artists releasing their material in FLAC and other DRM free format. Just look around. Most artists are doing their part by releasing their music in the hopes they can gain enough exposure to earn a living at what they love. If you're complaining about major labels not releasing material, it's probably too late and you are part of the problem." I think this point is often unfairly ignored: the existence of DRM is a fantastic chance for new distribution to reveal new bands. Unfortunately this music is difficult to find because there is simply so much of it.

7 of 369 comments (clear)

  1. Who has time? by HBI · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I certainly don't have time to listen to 100 bad tunes to find one good one.

    I need filtering, or i'm just going to keep on listening to Zeppelin.

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
    1. Re:Who has time? by drooling-dog · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The major labels do perform the filtering service for you, but you'd be amazed at how much excellent stuff gets filtered out. Over the last 10 years or so I've been able to expose myself to a lot of music from all over the world that I didn't even know existed back when I was a slave to the majors, and it pisses me off that I didn't discover it earlier. Your favorite music? Probably you haven't heard it yet...

  2. Wow! by jfengel · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Twenty paying shows a month? You're absolutely extraordinary.

    I'm serious: I worked with a woman who did your job for a while. She spent the days making phone calls to venues who generally never called back. The band I worked for was extraordinarily talented (download some of their music for free here). They quit their day jobs for over two years. They toured up and down the East coast and as far as Detroit. They had a devoted but small audience.

    If they could have booked 20 paying gigs a month, they'd still be in existence. Most venues want cover bands, not original music. The venues have the power and so they get to treat me rudely. I bow before your superior nagging-people-on-the-phone skills.

    (It's because of that that the "Hey, give the music away and make it up at the live shows" argument on Slashdot makes me furious. But if you've got the secret for booking venues, please let me know and I'll retract everything I've said about it.)

    1. Re:Wow! by theStorminMormon · · Score: 4, Interesting

      What you are describing is the *real* reason for DRM. It's not about sales from records. It's about control. The real money comes from building hits. A DRM-free world would mean a democratization of music, and at worst the disappearence of "hit bands" and at least the lack of control on the part of industry execs to predict or even manufacture those bands.

      Consider especially the boy-bands of the late 90s. It was literally a money-making machine owned from the industry from start to finish.

      But to do this, the industry requires tight control over who listens to what. I'm not some sensationalist saying that they can determine who likes what. But through the use of DRM they can monitor and influence choices. I like emo/screamo. There are DOZENS of bands who play very good music of this genre. About 3 are on the radio. Why? Because it's more profitable to have 3 popular bands than 12 semi-popular bands.

      The industry needs to keep the pyramid-shape of the market to be able to siphon the rich profits off the top, and they need to be able to stay at the top of the pyramid.

      This is what DRM is really for.

      http://kiriath-arba.blogspot.com/2007/01/big-surpr ise-drm-not-about-piracy.html

      -stormin

      --
      The Southern Baptist Convention has creationism. On Slashdot, we have porn.
    2. Re:Wow! by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I love Bad Religion but I think Green Day does a better job interacting with fans

      Well, if you consider spitting on people a better job of interacting with them, I guess you're right.

      On the other hand, Greg Graffin has a habit of hanging around where people can find him and talk to him after shows - or at least I've found that to be true, and have spoken with him after two of three BR shows I've seen.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  3. Dylan, Joplin.. indie rock throwaways by pkbarbiedoll · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In today's glossed over vapid music climate artists like Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and many others would not be taken seriously by the majors. I can hear it now.. Not marketable. Too nasally. Screams too much. Won't sell enough product. Not worth our investment.

  4. Re:Who has time? -- We need a Digg for tunes by Paladin144 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I certainly don't have time to listen to 100 bad tunes to find one good one.

    This is an excellent point and it's been bothering me for years. I actually used to listen to dozens of bands to try and find a good one. I've found a lot of gems, but had to wade through a lot of stinkers to do so. (I would download the entire SXSW bittorrent compilation and start wading through. The keeper ratio was approximately 10 (bad) to 1 (good) overall.

    What we need is a Digg (or /.-style moderation) for music. On a track-by-track basis. Digg has a music section, but that's for music news, and MySpace has shitloads of bands, but it's not good for aggregating the good tunes from the bad (and it's slow, ugly and full of useless crap). Last.fm is closest to this ideal, but they're still more about tracking listening habits and they haven't added too many ways for unknown bands to get heard. They do have a label/artist signup section and some free downloads, but it's not integrated into the site very well yet. Garageband.com is good for finding cool tunes as well, but writing reviews can be a real chore.

    I'm hoping for improvement here, but in the meantime, I'd really like to see a simple, clean site in the style of digg that allows people to vote either yay or nay for songs (which could easily be listened to via a simple Flash interface). Songs could be categorized individually by genre (meaning a band is not restricted to one style) and popular songs make the home page. Popular does not equal good, so people would have the chance to drill down to genres they like, and block songs from bands that they know suck (and vice versa, like a karma bonus for bands that rule).

    Anybody want to make this? You'll make millions of dollars. I can't code for shit or I'd do it. It's not even a unique or novel idea. I'm kinda surprised that it hasn't been done yet. Is there a problem I'm not aware of here?

    Fuck the majors, this should be a resource for up and coming bands and listeners who want to find good bands without having to listen to all the crappy ones. Oh, and the songs should be downloadable, too. MP3, FLAC or Ogg format. I know that my band would submit our music to such a site in a heartbeat.

    --
    Electric Monkey Pants