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How Do You Find New Non-RIAA Music?
burgundysizzle writes "Given the general reaction to the RIAA in comments, I assume that there are a number of users that try not to buy from RIAA sources. What alternatives do you use - or more importantly - what methods do you use to discover alternative sources of music? I use Sellaband.com (some free legal music available) and Amiestreet.com (new music is free and most music really cheap) to find new music, but I'm always on the lookout for interesting sites to discover new music. Tell me about your experiences and any other interesting places you get new music from. I'm looking for inexpensive, and legal."
I use the site http://www.riaaradar.com./
It has a listing of many mainstream albums and shows whether or not they are published by the RIAA.
I usually look through their RIAA-free lists and see if there's anything I'm interested in.
when bands play in the local student bar. Usually indie labels, often burned copies so you know quite a lot of the money goes directly to the band.
last.fm
Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
You're actually going to pay for music?
http://www.versionist.com/ - quite a big community creating reggae, mainly dub and thats where the quality is but also other sub genres. Website is quite horrible thou but the content is superb.
yush
Magnatune and CDbaby are decent places, let you listen to stuff, search by genre, etc.
Most of the new stuff I encounter is from places like SomaFM. Most (all?) of the stuff they play is from indie labels and unsigned bands, and I can listen passively, which means I get decent background tunes while I work, and if I hear something I like, I can take a look at my stream player to see who the artist is and investigate from there.
:)
Basically, I'm lazy, so why not let someone else send the music to me?
I strongly recommend jamendo.com...there is a lot of good music (especially if you are a electronica/indie sound rock fan Its all 100% freely downloadable from .torrent or emule, and usually covered by some kind of permissive license (making it free beer and freedom).
The site was started by french people so a lot of the music is from french bands, however lately stuff is being submitted by people from all over the world.
A couple of good picks from jamendo: SGX - Synesthetic, White Light Riot - Atomism and of course the widely famous t r y ^ d.
Check it out!
No kitty, this is my pot pie!
I actually like to browse through friends lists of bands that I like on Myspace. Most of these bands are unsigned or indie acts. Chances are that the bigger bands I like have friends that are new bands that often fit into the sound of the "big" band. Not always just clones, either. While you come across some music that may not be what you look for, I have found numerous new acts that I really enjoy that I learned of only through Myspace. Of course, if I want to buy a full album I can look on iTunes to see if it's there. I haven't really tried the SnoCap (or some such name) service on myspace yet. The Plastic Constellations, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Lotus, Tal Wilkenfeld, The Bird and the Bee, Marjit Vinjerui and many others are artists I don't think I would have ever gotten through the mainstream, to name a few. If some of the these acts are RIAA, sorry on my part. Trolling the friends pages has really changed how I browse music, and it has done wonders in allowing me to find tiny acts that might never make "the radar."
Sig Registration Form 34c_766(a) submitted to Ministry of Signature Management. Approval pending.
/. led me to Jonathan Coulton whose quirky music I like very much, and who also responded to my email blindingly fast on the same day that a story about him appeared on /. - now he may not always reply quite so quickly but what are the odds I'd have been able to get a conversation going with a RIAA artist? Even some of the unknowns, who you'd think would be chomping at the bit to build a fanbase, seem quite aloof.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Listen to college radio stations, which is a whole lot easier now thanks to the internet. No, it's not all indie rock. Most stations have a wide variety of specialty shows, so you can become exposed to lesser known bands in nearly any genre--bluegrass, folk, country, j-pop, classical, avant garde/experimental, hip hop, dance, etc etc etc. And when their pledge drives come around, make a donation and support them!
This guy's the limit!
I have found that archive.org has some pretty good live stuff, especially if you are looking for a particular song and honestly I like hearing the live recordings of people I have never heard of before. So i hit archive a pretty good bit. It was sad when a lot of the soundboards were pulled for some of the bigger bands (like the Dead etc), however a lot of smaller groups still release really good stuff. For the most part its archive for me, and some lastfm with the occasional visit to magnatune..
Magnatune.com - check it out. I'm a fan of Roots Of Rebellion, Very Large Array & Rocket City Riot.
-- Lattyware (www.lattyware.co.uk)
If I don't like the politics from some party, coorporation, economical or religious group, I try to find a way to protest without affecting my life. Imagine if I would veto everything I dislike. I wouldn't drive a car (oil producing country often suck major dictatures), eat meat (poor cows), miss a manowar record (Riia), drink a beer (alcohol monopoly in sweden). etc...
But hey, don't let my rants discorage you to listen to what you want...
It's time to realise that Abble's products are the biggest abomination these days. Just say NO to the dumb iAbble way!!
I just looked up Rage Against the Machine on RIAA Radar. Every album except one was released by a RIAA affiliate.
Hilarious.
Don't buy music from a major chain: HMV, Virgin, Tower, Future Shop, Best Buy etc.
The best way to buy music is right from the musician's hand or web site (when in doubt, send them an email to ask about their situation). The second best way is to head on down to your local independant record store (Red Cat, Scratch and Zulu are examples here in Vancouver). The third way is to not buy music at all: download the tracks if you must and send them a few bucks (not a recommended approach if your tastes run to over-the-hill sellouts).
I just started poking around http://www.projectplaylist.com/ Don't know yet if it's worth much or not, but it might be worth a try.
I hate to admit I use it at all, but the music on myspace has some okay stuff. Just poke around the bands' pages and see what you get. Find a local band you may or may not know and follow their "friends" links, especially some of the smaller show producers and such. If you like metal, start with http://www.myspace.com/coldethylmusic (shameless plug, my tattoo artist is the drummer).
These sites are essential to maintaining my indie cred. They aren't 100% RIAA-free, but they do skew quite heavily toward the independent side. Pitchfork is the biggest of these and IMO the best music publication in existence.
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/
http://cokemachineglow.com/
http://www.tinymixtapes.com/
Whenever I need new music thats not personally recommended by a friend (which is 95% of music i download), ill find a shoutcast stream I like, set up stationripper and then listen to the individual tracks at my leisure. If you have a good track, ill download the whole album.
Other ways would be getting on something like soulseek and browsing other users files whom you share common interests with.
There is simply so much music out there that it isnt really nessecary to go out looking for it. Let the music find you. The good stuff always does.
I'll just use my special getting high powers one more time...
http://remix.kwed.org/
Is great source for a lot of nice remixes of old C= 64 games.
I listen to the chillout channel on di.fm - most of the artists are on small independent labels. But honestly, I would never set out to avoid music from companies who belong to RIAA (or CRIA up here in Canada - though all/most of the Canadian labels have quite that org), no matter how much I despise the tactics they employ. I just happen to like music that comes from small labels, and I wil lbuy and listen to music I like.
For me its sort of like Inbev or Constellation Brands - they own a lot of wine and beer companies, and while I am fairly anti-globalisation (especially where it concerns local craft products like wine and beer), if I like a beer or wine I wil ldrink it regardless of who owns the winery or brewery. Maybe I'll get more particular about this sort of thing one day. But not today.
Going on means going far
Going far means returning
http://www.mcplusplus.com/downloads/
http://www.rhymetorrents.com/
http://www.frontalittle.com/index.php?page=songs&showall=yes
http://triplej.net.au/
Triple J is a national radio net which has lots of music and podcast interviews.
There was an unknown error in the submission.
I subscribe to the Archive.org netlabels RSS feed...there's some really good stuff there, most of it electronic. If I find somebody reviewing something I like with more than 3 stars, I check out their Archive bookmarks to see if there's anything else worth listening to.
I like magnatune, lets you listen to the music with descent quality befor buying it (in vorbis/mp3/flac/wav) for a custom price of which 50% goes to the artist. You're also allowed to share the music with a couple of friends.
Amazon's editors (not the fans/buyers) have been pretty consistent in picking good stuff.
Basically, if you haven't used it before, I'd recommend the following way to get a really good variety:
1.Best of by Years will get you started with some great CD's you haven't heard of.
2. Get a download account
3. An account to find the music.
4. A program to download the music.
Total price is about $20/month, though well worth it to get your collection started. Such a shame the record companies are too thick-headed to get their share of the pie; On the other hand, what value are they providing here with this model, anyway??
I have yet to find a station as good at introducing me to new music as WOXY. They started as a college radio station and made the jump to the internet a few years ago. They are constantly praised as being one of the best stations around, and I believe it. They still have DJs that select all the music they plan on their own, without any rules on what they must play. And the playlist is in constant rotation, with new bands being added all the time.
"Information wants to be expensive" - Stewart Brand, the same guy who said "Information wants to be free"
imeem - It's like napster 1.0 with a web interface - upload your music collection to their servers and listen to any piece of music from everyone else's collection - it has practically any piece of music you'd ever want to hear on there, and has even negotiated revenue sharing deals with a load of labels to pay them for people listening to their tunes.
If I really like a CD downloaded from emusic I still buy the CD!
What power has law where only money rules.
In terms of MP3's on my work PC, I usually go to Google and type things like "Beethoven mp3" or "Bach mp3" or "Chopin mp3" or the like. All of the recordings I've downloaded have been free. It is not that difficult to produce this stuff - all you need to make a Chopin mp3 is a piano, a microphone and someone who can play Chopin decently. Plenty of people can. Not all of it is amateur though, I've downloaded fine recordings from professional orchestras for free as well. One of the top Google links I get is Classical Cat - the free classical music "cat-alogue".
If you like indie prog, Mindawn is pretty good, though they lack in most other areas. They sell OGGs and FLACs, and they support Linux, too. http://www.mindawn.com/
wiki has a list of RIAA labels and labels incorrectly listed as RIAA members:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_RIAA_member_labels
and under the big four can be found sublabels of the big four
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_EMI_labels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_Music_Entertainment#List_of_Sony_BMG_labels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Music_Group#Labels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Music_Group#List_of_Warner_labels
... at Free Albums Galore
This guy has brief but (to my taste) pretty accurate reviews of free albums. I found some really great stuff there.
And be gentle, don't know how much traffic the site can handle.
There are fewer illiterates than people who can't read.
go see a live show and if you like their stuff
buy the CD/merchandise DIRECTLY from the band
its called 'going out'
back in the day we didnt have no old school
pay attention to godspeed you black emperor's yanqui uxo album chart
Now here comes the shameless self-promotion.
www.leperkhanz.com
www.myspace.com/thecitybythesea
www.myspace.com/thebleedingirish
www.youtube.com/leperkhanz
www.youtube.com/westonstudios
Hope you like violin.
rhY
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
Here's my band :)
I'm subscribed to a reasonable active mailing list for the type of music I like (characterized by words like: female, singer-songwriter, alternative, ethereal, celtic, eclectic, folk, americana - although obviously not all at the same time; think artists in the range of Björk, Sarah McLachlan, Loreena McKennit, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Cocteau Twins - although that pretty much exhausts the list of big names, and 95% of our conversation is about independent artists who (imo) sound far better than most of those, but whose names you'll never have heard of), where people constantly toss out new interesting names they've just discovered, and write about shows they attended. (The name of the mailinglist is ecto.)
CD Baby with its decent 2-minute samples and rather good "sounds like" comparisons is another way I've used to discover new music. All artists listed here are independent.
Opening acts at concerts of artists I already like also frequently turn out to be worthwhile in their own right. That's not a very swift way to get to know new artists, but it does add up over time.
Finally, every other year or so I get together (in the real world) with a group of people from the mailinglist, and we all bring the worthwhile CDs we've bought since the last such meet, which we play for each other throughout the day. We also make sampler CDs for each other, so we can all go back and re-listen to those things which caught our interest and remember "oh yeah, that sounded really good, I need to go and buy that".
http://www.jamendo.com/ is a great ressource for all kind of music, in many different languages.
.. a story on Slashdot that does not try to rationalise illegally obtaining music when instead people just don't want to pay for something. If you really believe the music industry is evil and are against traditional forms of music distribution than the correct response is as described in this article.
there'd be (free/legal) music in the air at all times. meanwhile, trying to stay 'in tune' with a declining greed/fear/ego based aspect of man'kind' can be somewhat discouraging, as certain LIEforms continue to claim 'ownership' of things, in spite of the fact that all we have/are is a gift from yOUR creators. so what is a 'fair' wage?
micro management of entire populations has never worked (for very long). it's an illness. tie that with life0cidal aggression & gangster style bullying, & what do we have? a greed/fear/ego based recipe for disaster.
we're intending for the nazis to give up/fail even further, in attempting to control the 'weather'.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=video+cloud+spraying
&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv&oi=property_suggestions&resnum=0&ct=property-revision&cd=1
the creators will prevail. as it has always been.
corepirate nazi execrable costs outweigh benefits
(Score:-)mynuts won, the king is a fink)
by ourselves on everyday 24/7
as there are no benefits, just more&more death/debt & disruption.
fortunately there's an 'army' of angels, coming yOUR way
do not be afraid/dismayed, it is the way it was meant to be. the only way out is up.
the little ones/innocents must/will be protected.
after the big flash, ALL of yOUR imaginary 'borders' may blur a bit?
for each of the creators' innocents harmed, there is a debt that must/will be repaid by you/us, as the perpetrators/minions of unprecedented evile, will not be available.
beware the illusionary smoke&mirrors.con
all is not lost/forgotten.
no need to fret (unless you're associated/joined at the hype with, unprecedented evile), it's all just a part of the creators' wwwildly popular, newclear powered, planet/population rescue initiative/mandate.
or, is it (literally) ground hog day, again? many of US are obviously not interested in how we appear (which is whoreabull) from the other side of the 'lens', or even from across the oceans.
vote with (what's left in) yOUR wallet. help bring an end to unprecedented evile's manifestation through yOUR owned felonious corepirate nazi glowbull warmongering execrable.
we still haven't read (here) about the 2/3'rds of you kids who are investigating/pursuing a spiritual/conscience/concious re-awakening, in amongst the 'stuff that matters'? another big surprise?
some of US should consider ourselves very fortunate to be among those scheduled to survive after the big flash/implementation of the creators' wwwildly popular planet/population rescue initiative/mandate.
it's right in the manual, 'world without end', etc....
as we all ?know?, change is inevitable, & denying/ignoring gravity, logic, morality, etc..., is only possible, on a temporary basis.
concern about the course of events that will occur should the life0cidal execrable fail to be intervened upon is in order.
'do not be dismayed' (also from the manual). however, it's ok/recommended, to not attempt to live under/accept, fauxking nazi felon greed/fear/ego based pr ?firm? scriptdead mindphuking hypenosys.
consult with/trust in yOUR creators. providing more than enough of everything for everyone (without any distracting/spiritdead personal gain motives), whilst badtolling unprecedented evile, using an unlimited supply of newclear power, since/until forever. see you there?
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
The Bachelors Of Science - Drum n Bass from San Francisco
The Hot Toddies - Oakland Girl band who have a great song about HTML
The Eclectic Method - not really a band - VJ's from the UK who do lots of video remixes.
Ten Digit Army - Solo guitar + vocals with extra electronic goodness - awesome stuff
http://www.isratrance.com/index.php Info / Forum
http://www.psynews.org/ Info / Forum
http://www.psyshop.com/ Online shop
http://www.saikosounds.com/english/default.asp Online shop
Now of course you have to like electronic music for those links to be useful. For used and out of print I go to Ebay obviously, or also GEMM That serves most of my needs right there. Someone else around here will post a link to CD Baby, I just did a quick search and my results made me uncertain....
So that's what I'm into, covers some fast trance, and slow downtempo chill and ethic flavor and a lot of world-wide creativity in there. Of course there's a lot more out there, but most of it doesn't interest me enough to really follow it and this grouping of stuff is enough to meet most of my needs...
And for RIAA music, I'm sure everyone know where to download their favorite stuff so that you're not supporting the evil beast (okay I kid I kid, no seriously LOL)...
www.scene.org
Lots of good music there.
http://www.garageband.com/
http://www.jamendo.com/
http://www.stage.fm/
http://magnatune.com/
http://www.soundclick.com/
http://www.myownmusic.de/
hand-picked from around 1000 at del.icio.us
The MAFIAA is a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes
for free legal downloads of live music from bands who allow taping... etree.org, furthurnet.com
You may also consider the demoscene. Besides the impressive skills in programming, they often include killer music too. Or if you don't want to run programs just to hear it, you can go to nectarine radio too.
http://discrevolt.com/
Alot of indy bands there, most unsigned.
I'm (not entirely) surprised no one has mentioned this yet, but go clubbing! The DJ is usually happy to tell me what he's playing if I ask -- when I forget, I can sometimes find the DJ's setlist online.
Of course, remembering the name of the artist by the morning is the hardest bit. I generally photo it with my phone, or text myself.
Is this question asked so the answers can be researched and shut down?? LOL
If you're interested in high-quality music, check out http://www.jamendo.com/ . Tons of new stuff everyday, free with the option of donating to the bands, and it's all 200kbps in MP3 or 300 kbps in Ogg Vorbis. There's a wonderful flash-based player if you want it to stream, with playlist capabilities as well. All music is downloaded through BitTorrent or eMule, so it's superfast. Check it out!
I'm looking for inexpensive, and legal.
Yeah, good luck with that. The RIAA doesn't consider legal and inexpensive to be two compatible concepts.
http://www.riaaradar.com/ For a list of RIAA free artists.
In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep.
College Radio
College Radio, you make me feel so different now
and even though during the day you're a stock broker
but at night we read french symbolist poetry.
Oh girl together we can change the worid
or at least the music industry.
Alternative, progressive. the cutting edge.
And girl with you I feel so safe and liberal
and you could never be a fascist I know
college Radio you wouldn't lie to me
and turn out to be a top forty station
that's been bought by the major labels...? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. College Radio.
Since that has not stopped RIAA from suing anyways.
No, seriously! I can't count how many fairly obscure, independent bands I've come across and learned to appreciate while downloading more popular stuff. I've bought many of said bands' albums years later after listening to a small, questionably obtained selection. It's not that different than listening to the radio, except that there are no commercials and the same string of tracks aren't played at a scheduled time each day!
"He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
I just listen to Internet Radio streams to learn about new stuff that I can buy. Guess exposure to stuff that RIAA doesn't market is something they don't like...
The first one I came across a few years ago was Kahvi. Since then I've followed leads from Kahvi, and dug around to get more variety. I've found that the problem is not finding free (legal) music, but that it's difficult to such music that I actually like. Basically, about half of what I encounter is worth listening to more than once, and maybe one in ten releases I find are really good (worth listening to many times). That, and basically everything I find is electronic (which often comes in the form of somewhat boring ambient or arbitrary noise). Here's a few netlabels/artists/archives that I've been following that seem better than most:
http://kahvi.org/ (as described above - definitely some really good stuff here, if you can sift through the music that doesn't suit you from the hundreds of releases)
http://foem.info/ a blog that lists lots of free/non-RIAA releases
http://psilodump.se/ Psilodump is by far one of my favourites...his releases are scattered around in various locations (e.g., Kahvi, X-Dump), but they can be found
http://www.dinstalker.com/ Din Stalker is also a favourite...same story as above
http://x-dump.com/ A net label that also includes the above two artists, and has been featured on Kahvi
http://www.dirtybirdrexx.org/ A pretty cool netlabel I found via the FOEM blog
http://www.infinityloopmusic.com/ Also found via FOEM...fairly decent
http://mono211.com/ the monotonik netlabel + friends
http://archipel.cc/ the Archipel netlabel
http://acediamusic.org/ the Acedia Music netlabel
http://www.thinner.cc/ the Thinner/Autoplate netlabels
Of course, as others have pointed out already, many of these artists/netlabels have their media hosted by scene.org or archive.org - for the larger collections, it's sometimes easier just to browse the corresponding file repositories via FTP.
I've got a subscription at Audio Lunchbox. For $100 a year, I can download on average 4 or 5 albums a month, which is under $2 per album. Everything is MP3, so you get to keep it when your subscription ends. You can buy songs without a subscription too, but the subscription is significantly cheaper if you buy indie stuff.
They've got a huge catalog, which means there is plenty of good stuff, but it can be hard to find. The editor's picks are a good place to start. When I find a band I like, I usually look at the other bands that are signed to the same label, often there is another band that suits my taste. They also have a "listeners also bought" frame that points you to similar music, but it has a tendency to show popular albums rather than similar albums.
Triple J (public youth broadcaster) in Australia have Triple J Unearthed. Unsigned bands can upload their tracks and anyone can download them. DRM free, of course. Listeners can review and rate the tracks and there are a number of "most popular" charts by genre. A handful of big Aussie acts got their start through the Unearthed programme.
It's great fun to use even if the music is usually so-so. http://www.jamendo.com/
opsound.org has indexes Creative Commons audio. Lots of good stuff.
I'm also going to shout out to anal0g.org and sudd.org
eMusic, definitely. For $15 a month I get to download 50 tracks from a huge selection of independent artists. The site is full of metadata that you can use to find new stuff (similar artists, lists compiled by other users, etc.), they run a great blog about new and interesting stuff called 17 dots, and they have download clients for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
Been hoping for years that a question like this would make it on Slashdot. Since searching for music has been such a pain, I've been pretty much living without. Now I can refer to this story when I want to look for something new in music.
I did stumble over Needfire, a Celtic Rock band, thanks to one of the members posting a comment on one of the many MAFIAA stories here. He had a link in his sig.
Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
http://radio3.cbc.ca/ on web and Sirius, and good podcasts.
I was literally just talking with my flatmate that was going on about how there's no non-drm music... there is and I buy it every week and know quite a few people (mostly djs though) that use it as one of the primary sources of music, along with the good old vinyl shops (like Know How in Camden).
Places like DjDownload.com, Beatport.com, Trackitdown.net etc. all offer unencombured 320kbit mp3s, and in some cases FLACs or plain old wavs. You simply cannot play stuff from iTunes or similar on a large soundsystem, you can hear the difference easily and it's not nice. These are niche sites for an audience of maybe a quater of a million or less people, but a lot of them care about sound quality, respect the artists enough not to pirate the music and best of all - the artists get a nice bug chunk unlike iTunes or large-corp record deals.
Dont get me wrong, iTunes is ok, but there have always been alternatives in niche areas and always will be. iTunes is good for finding new music and is gaining in popularity by individual artists and much smaller labels, but the majority of my stuff comes from these alternative retailers.
iTunes is the new boy here trying to be the alternative to the big highstreet retailer...
Hi,
My main sources for music are emusic.com which sells great independent artists for cheap and DRM free,
and some netlabels in particular thinner/autoplate http://www.thinner.cc/ that is simply amazing.
I haven't used it for a while, but there's irate. Basically you connect to a server. The server feeds you music right from the artist's website. You rate it. It starts to figure out the types of music you like, and will feed you more of it. Everything is mp3.
UTF-8: There and Back Again
Amongst a lot of other good things (such as incremental backups of the worldwide web), archive.org also hosts a lot of music by various netlabels. This gives you access to much more good music than you're likely to have time to listen to, in a variety of genres. In particular, the chiptune inspired dance music of the label 8bitpeoples should go down well with the Slashdot crowd.
I use audiojelly semi-often, it's not cheap though, and im not sure it's even non RIAA (doubt it though). Everything is non DRM'd
Looking over the business model of Sellaband.com, it seems like a big scam.
For electronic music I find netlabels are a good source and most of the music is released under a Creative Commons license. I guess one way to describe a netlabel is as a curated collection of music, there is the concept of quality control and reputation is important for the better known labels. They aren't just a huge collection of dubious quality music like mp3.com used to be.
A good label is Thinner, and for more have a look at the netlabel catalogue, my collection, or just use Google.
Or a nephew/neice's band concert. You can usually get rush tickets (read: cheap) for the former, and for the latter usually go for free.
First, the disclaimer - I don't really pay attention to what is or isn't RIAA music.
That said, for anyone looking to discover something off the beaten path, sign up for the newsletter offered by the fine folks at Aquarius Records. I've found more good new music there than I have in all other places combined. It's not the biggest record shop in the Bay Area, but it's the coolest, and you're bound to find something you've never heard of.
>> "What would the robut do? Frame someone!"
Does it look to anyone else that the business model for sellaband.com looks an awful lot like a scam? It reminded me of the movie Great World of Sound http://greatworldofsound.com/.
Maybe it is legit, but what band needs $50,000 to record a CD. Really? For that price they could fill their basement with recording equipment and do it themselves.
I've found all sorts of gems from this. The Ultimate Rat Pack CD/DVD collection at $5 was the highlight of my non-RIAA buying boycott. I've been boycotting RIAA since they started this insane war, and I've only bought 1 CD in this period, but bought about 150 CDs used. At an average of $18 a CD, that's a lot RIAA's loosing. Amazon.com, Overstock.com, Half.com, Ebay, and of course local CD stores (Try hock shops!). It's all perfectly legal, and a LOT cheaper than buying retail. (It must be legal, RIAA's been tearing they're hair out about this for years ;)
- Kc
-- Kevin C. Redden kcredden@ gmail 392992
This album is not affiliated with the RIAA ;)
... CD Baby is a huge collection of independent artists and most, if not all, have no affiliation with the RIAA.
/., MySpace has loads of indie artists too. It takes much more sifting through crap to find them than on CD Baby, but I've found so many fellow musicians both that I listen to and jam / collaborate with thanks to MySpace that I have a hard time hating it as much as most slashdotters do.
Now that that's out of the way
Also, as much as it's hated here on
http://www.dmusic.com/ tons of fun and very talented people.
also check out http://www.boycott-riaa.com/news/ for some of the best music news stories on the net today!
In Australia we have projects like Triple J Unearthed which are funded by the government through the Australia Council for the Arts.
Triple J is the government funded national youth broadcaster, Unearthed has been running since 1995 and has discovered bands and artists such as Missy Higgins, Unpaid Debt, The Bumblebeez, Sick Puppies, Endorphin, Killing Heidi, and Grinspoon. And if you haven't heard of any of these, you might have heard of Silverchair.
Give some Aussie music a go and stream or download it.
KFJC in Los Altos Hills, Ca is my favorite college radio station. Their reggae DJ has been there for at least 20 years.
Go to www.kfjc.org and look for the streaming audio section. They are right in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Before Pandora was forced to close it's ports (har de har har) to Canadian listeners, I used it quite a lot. There are quite a large number of artists in there (many of which are not RIAA/countries equivalent). It takes some time to build up a playlist of music you like, but once you have it, you usually only ever hear good songs from it. Also, as someone else mentioned above, sites like myspace and garageband are also good for finding good artists. Word of mouth has always been the best, and those sites (including facebook) simply take word of mouth online. I actually went to an outdoor party at Hell's Gate (BC, Canada) because a workmate told me about it and I researched it on Facebook.
A lot of them will let you download one or two tracks from an album for free so that you can get the flavour of the artist, and you can often buy albums straight from the site if you decide you like the band(s). ( Hell Cat Records is a good example, if you're into the punk / psychobilly scene)
You can learn a lot about a person if you just take the time to inject them with sodium pentathol
http://last.fm/ - Client is a decent streamer and the tags/social recommends are nice. :)
http://betterpropaganda.com/ - MP3 stream updated regularly with new and intresting music
Also very important, friends that are more into the "scene" than I
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
And no, I will not let the politics affect my life in that way.
If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.--Samuel Adams
the CD production/distribution is done by a big label.
That's sorta the point of the RIAA radar. Either the RIAA makes a buck, or they don't. I'm sorry if you find that misleading, but RIAA affiliated is RIAA affiliated. You can't be mostly RIAA-free. You are or you ain't. I don't want a single one of my dollars going to the RIAA members. Period.
Check this one: http://www.futuristicsexrobotz.com/
So good I even paid... who says the new economy doesn't work?
No sig today...
I listen to SocialCase.
StoneCypher is Full of BS
Speaking of college radio... NCSU's radio station, WKNC is pretty awesome. Lots of variety, playlists are listed online. They also broadcast on the internet as well. Once you hear it, you can make sure the tune is RIAA free at the RIAA Radar. Another good source is CD Baby. Pretty much everything there is RIAA free. I used to use iRate quite a bit, but last I checked it was no longer being updated regularly and suffering from severe bitrot. I also use iTunes music store recommendations. A lot of those can be RIAA free, you just have to check them with the RIAA Radar before you buy.
I...like...using iLike, because they have an iTunes plugin for mac and windows that automatically goes through your tracks, your ratings, etc and recommends Garageband artists with similar music. You can click and download free tracks (sometimes entire free albums!) right there from the recommendations drawer that it adds to iTunes, no browser windows or extra program interfaces to deal with. it's retty much ideal if you actually use itunes as your music player.
last.fm is older and more established on the social networking side, but I think it's a little less convenient for the actual music part.
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
Seems like most people mentioned all the other sources I knew of... though there is also Creative Commons Audio.
Not too much stuff here but it's all free: http://stash.nugs.net/stash.asp.
http://www.redferret.net/pmwiki/pmwiki.php
Even Lars Ulrich has softened up and offered live Metallica concert downloads for free.
P.S. Check out the music video in my sig while you're at it... it's a monologue about destroying technology by a rapper from the year 3030.
Deltron 3030 - Virus (music video)
I start by downloading stuff by less-than-legal means. I'm not in to pop music (I like death metal), and most of the time the downloading is sanctioned and the artists submit the music themselves. I hold on to the digital for as long as it takes me to decide if I actually like it (usually 3-5 days), and if I like it I make a note of it and try to find it as cheap as possible online or I pick up a copy when I see the band live. It's a win-win-win-win. I get to find bands/albums that I actually enjoy without paying out of pocket, I don't actually steal the music, the bands I enjoy will eventually make money because I like them, and I don't pay CD-store prices. Plus, I try to make it to shows and buy merchandise from bands that I really like. It's a well-known fact (or at least a popular myth) that bands make more money selling stuff at shows than they do in CD sales.
http://www.ardynet.com/
Please.
I use http://www.seeqpod.com/ to find a lot of music. It's a search engine for music files with a flash player built-in. Really cool... it wouldn't surprise me to see google buy these guys in the future. It's totally legal, and you can find just about anything you want. Ben
I use Garageband.com which is a poor (but still present) substitute for mp3.com back when it was good.
I also listen to many many many podcasts that highlight great artists and link to their websites every week. If you listen to the right shows, you can be guaranteed that the music comes from indy bands (As the RIAA music is illegal to play on a podcast without paying, which most podcasters can't afford as they do their shows for free).
Among the shows I listen to:
PMC Top 10
Accident Hash
Insomnia Radio
RubyFruit Radio
The Chillcast
XY Rocks
Eclectic Mix
And, my own show (which is currently on an unplanned hiatus, but I'll be starting it again soon)
The Good Music Show
Pulp Audio Weekly - Geek News and Reviews
"I'm looking for inexpensive, and legal."
Sounds like my dating requirements.
Been using it on a off for about four years now. Found a lot interesting bands I hadn't heard of before and a lot of other good stuff.
http://www.beatport.com/ is a good place. I'm sure a few of the bigger names on the site do work with or have worked with the RIAA but most are smaller, independent artists.
http://jamendo.com/ has a lot of creative commons licensed music. http://creativecommons.org/ has a search engine by which you can find creative commons licensed music (RIAA/DRM free), though I believe it may use the google backend.
~hakware
It may be a bit inappropriate to plug for an own project, but it seems on topic here. A couple of friends and I recently started a website where independent artists and bands can sell DRM-free music downloads without any starting fees, not give up their rights, and still keep most of the money from buyers. Buying music is easily done via a value code system, without any requirements to sign up or similar. We don't have many bands yet, but are trying to attract more.
The website is: Anytist
Open Materials Database
ccmixter.org and splicemusic.com always have a lot of interesting songs on them from people who have licensed things to be downloaded by others for free. i would also second the vote for magnatune, which is a great label with great music.
very effective at turning up good stuff. and if the music thing doesn't work out, trying to 'get' the songbird UI is also a good diversion...
- i emailed the Rippingtons and its management denies any connection with RIAA...
- unless the Rips are lying, but i don't think so...
Indietorrents.com
Only non-RIAA bands are allowed to be posted.
Wow, you are all so amazingly hip.
nt
Perhaps you should bitch to Amazon as well, because they also list Sony as the label. That's an even better reason to never listen to an Iron Maiden CD: Sony is the company best known here for illegally installing rootkits on user's PCs via audio CDs. I wouldn't play a damned Iron Maiden CD if you gave it to me. Who knows what other virus/trojan/rootkit Sony might have quietly slipped into the production line.
They should claim that production or distribution is done through an RIAA member instead. Their method is an outright lie... no matter how you want to spin itLabel formerly known as Sanctuary? Wow, look at that: Sanctuary is on the RIAA member list. How odd...
The site is more of a tool for them (RIAA Radar) to make money through their Amazon partnership via sales of the CDs they list.Sorry sport, but the money comes from the buyer, not the website. By your logic, I should never use Google because they advertise the RIAA's music to those who search for it. I can't stop people that actively seek out and knowingly support the RIAA with *MY* purchasing habits. I can use tools like the RIAA Radar to prevent the RIAA from receiving any money from ME.
So again, tell me why the site is ok?RIAA Radar has prevented hundreds of my dollars from going to RIAA affiliates. It quickly identifies bands that have any sort of affiliation with the RIAA.... like Iron Maiden.
Bands can come clean. I'll buy an album from an artist as long as that album is RIAA free, even if other albums from the same artist are not. I suggest if Iron Maiden wants my money, their next album should be 100% RIAA free.
Where can I get music legally? Covers both free and paid music, and where to discover new music.
- Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads
Besides offerring music links, the article explores the filesharing controversy and the history of copyright in the US, and suggests a number of concrete steps you can take to make filesharing legal.If you're a musician or music hosting site operator, and offer at least one COMPLETE track from your site, I'll be happy to give you a link. It's even OK if you charge for your music, as long as there are some complete tracks and not just samples. Email me at legaldownloads@gmail.com
Request your free CD of my piano music.
Why on earth has no one mentioned Pandora? There's a surprising amount of music on there that isn't part of a big name recording company. It does a damn good job of introducing you to music you actually *like*. Toss in something you already enjoy, RIAA affiliated or not, and it will start playing similar music. Note the stuff you like, and give it a pass through riaaradar. While it's not intentionally aiming for indie/non-RIAA music, it's definitely a solid way to get started. And from what I've found, it really can branch out into the fringes a bit.
That being said, this is obviously just my personal experience. It's entirely possible that my particular style of music (Metal & Industrial) has a better non-RIAA showing on Pandora. So I guess your mileage may vary.
--LordPixie
I mostly listen to J-rock. Unrelated to the RIAA, and there are some really awesome bands. Too bad import CD's cost a lot, and there are few US concerts.
Hi All I have been trying to launch a non RIAA label. Clubmosh. www.clubmosh.com . The thing is pretty basic now. We have signed up 80 labels already. but still loading up the music. Bear with us for a few more weeks. Hope the /. community likes it.
Another new consortium is being launched for indie labels. I have signed up more than 80 bands now but still in the process of loading the content. Clubmosh . Our sole aim is to get rid of the hegemony of RIAA and eventually get some bigger names with us. Hope the community likes it.
If you live in a reasonably big city (e.g. Seattle), there's probably a decent local scene with a wide variety of music. Just start going out to local music clubs and listen to the bands. Look through local weekly papers to find listings. When you find one you like, go to as many of their shows as you can. The opening bands (or the band your pick is opening for) will probably be of a similar genre. Then you can go to all of THAT band's shows, and see who opens for THEM, etc...
I've been doing this in Seattle for the past few years and I have found a ton of great local stuff. You can usually buy the CD right there, direct from the artist, and you can often talk with them about their music as well.
Is that good enough for a 3?
Music - www.richardmac.com
I was going to suggest Amie Street, but it looks like you've already found it. What I do is subscribe to their RSS feeds for Recommended songs. Then I check it a couple times a day for new and interesting songs/groups. The preview functionality can usually tell you whether it's a song/group that you like. You could also find people who have recommended songs that you liked and see what other songs they've recommended.
On the off-chance that you like the same kind of music that I like, here's my playlist: http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/what-im-listening-to.php
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
http://www.radioparadise.com/
Listener supported radio with no commercials. Not everything is non-riaa, but there is lots of excellent indie music to discover there.
Mod the parent up. This is exactly what I wanted to say. Archive.org's Netlabel section is a great place to find new music for free from artists just giving it away (or at least giving some away to try to convince you to buy their other stuff). Also, I'd like to throw in LegalTorrents.com, where you can download archives of Netlabel stuff and get a lot of it at once. I recommend Observatory Online, One, and Kikapu, if you are into more melodic electronica.
"Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
independent weekly paper. Then read the music reviews and listings for local shows. That should provide a stead flow supply of new bands to check out.
We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
creative commons has a search built into their site.
http://www.creativecommons.org/
magnatune has music you can pay for or not.
http://www.magnatune.com/
opsound has creative commons licensed music
http://www.opsound.org/
and, of course, my favorite, Binary Beats has non-RIAA music
http://www.binarybeats.com/
They're using their grammar skills there.
Xbox Media Center has a built-in SHOUTcast interface. And after falling in love with that, I found streamtuner to bring that and others to the PC realm.
Initiate snu-snu!
I'm a big fan of Pandora. You can type in a band name or song name that you like, and it'll start playing similar music. A lot of the music will come from non-mainstream bands.
No, I will not work for your startup
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
There is a dizzying array of music available under the Creative Commons family of licenses released online via "netlabels". Much of it is electronic (ambient, IDM, etc.), but other genres can be found.
I've recently started blogging netlabel releases that I personally enjoy at: http://circumjacence.com/
Much of the material I blog about comes from a fairly short list of netlabels, including (but not limited to):
http://camomille.genshimedia.com/
http://www.earstroke.com/
http://www.hippocamp.net/
http://www.archive.org/details/lost_children
http://www.mono211.com/content/news.html
http://www.1bit-wonder.com/
http://www.sundaysinspring.net/
http://www.sutemos.net/en/
Much of the music is actually hosted on archive.org, which has a good starting page at: http://www.archive.org/details/netlabels
There is a whole world of CC-licensed music out there for the adventuresome listener!
http://www.aquariusrecords.org/
Chiptune all the way baby.
http://www.8bitcollective.com/
http://www.8bitpeoples.com/discography_gfx.php
A Christian label with one of my favourite bands, Relient K, has a promotional site with a few free tracks - and good ones.
http://freegotee.com/
Many /. readers have already experienced the future of music distribution. Imagine a system where high quality digital music (in both lossless and lossy formats) could be found for all but the most obscure artists, and even many of them as well! All indexed and searchable by genre, likeness, etc.. All with download speeds high enough to max out whatever fat pipe to the nets you happened to be sitting on. That system was Oink.
I have subsequently gone to concerts, bought a fair bit of merchandise and even the occasional CD from the artists I discovered through Oink. I discovered a distressingly large proportion of my current playlist through Oink. I say distressingly because the fellow running Oink was located in a country with copyright laws as messed up as the U.S. (U.K) and he was shut down. Oink is now, sadly, dead.
Let me make this clear. Oink was not legit. However, it was *better* than any legit music store in existence, and not because it was free. If the labels could get their act together and offer a service like Oink for a monthly fee, I'd pay through the nose for it. However, the labels simply don't understand the new music consumer. We don't want to pay $10 per lossy album when we have digital players that would take in excess of $30000 to fill at those rates. Some of us (although certainly not all) want to be able to download high quality lossless tracks that are as good as physical CD's so we can enjoy them on high quality audio rigs. As for DRM, none of us want anything to do with that BS.
If the labels give us what we want and we'll gladly tithe 20, 30, 40 dollars a month of absolutely rock-steady continual income to them on perpetual basis. If they ignore us, we'll just wind up on Oink's successor, whenever one finally rises to dominance in the gaping hole formerly filled by Oink. Maybe it will be in a country where they can squish it, and maybe it won't. One thing is certain though, eventually the Oink model is going to take over. Having used it, I just can't imagine going back to the legitimate alternatives.
I second that one about KFJC , and Spliff Skankin, their Reggae DJ.
And as a former KFJC DJ, who currently works at 3 radio stations on the Mendocino coast, I still "tune in" to KFJC on the web when I can.
Also, folks might try their local community radio stations , the low power one's in particular, as they often feature "new" music.
And by "new" I mean music that one hasn't likely ever heard before, not necessarily "new" by calendar date.
Another source of new music is on KZYX , where they have several musically "adventurous", late night shows offering some non-RIAA music.
"Up All Night" with DJ Pete, and "Sonic Attack"/"Music Out of Bounds" all feature "new" music.
And theres an exceptional Reggae show every other Friday night from 10 to Midnight called "Heavyweight Sound", hosted by DJ Larry, and he features rare, vintage 7", 10", & 12" Rock Steady, Dub, and Reggae singles.
Sorry, no Bob Marley... or Shinehead... etc., but unless you collect rare Jamaican singles, it WILL be "new" to you.
Also my two late night radio shows on KZYX where I attempt to play at least 35% or more, of "new" music every show, and as much "good" non-RIAA music as I can find.
And then there's Jamendo , with 5750 published albums, and ALL for FREE.
On jamendo, the artists distribute their music under Creative Commons licenses, and via BitTorrent or eMule to legally distribute albums at near-zero cost
There's some ripping good music on this website, and ALL of it RIAA free!
If it don't GO... chrome it. ~ Frank Banks
Geometric Visions: The Rough Draft has the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.
Request your free CD of my piano music.
I listen to Shoutcast streaming radio stations (using a really old version of Winamp, hmm).
I'm into industrial music so my favorite streams are from sites like these:
http://www.digitalgunfire.com/
http://www.ampedout.com/
and sometimes, Radio Free Positron.
Probably the last 10 CDs I've bought have been through those sites. It's been many years since I paid money in a brick-and-mortar store for a CD, especially one on an RIAA label.
Like most of the other responders here, I'm a Jamendo [http://www.jamendo.com] fan. The site's a breeze to use, powerful, and a ton of variety. I grab everything from piano solos (Rob Costlow) to country (Kelly Alan), to everything else (Try^d) there.
The other site I'm overly-addicted to is CCMixter [http://www.ccmixter.org]. Not as high-quality, but worth looking at. There's some sweet samples and decent mixes made there.
Both are [mostly] filled with Creative Commons [at-nc-sa] licensed content, too.
(c) 2007
I'm looking for inexpensive, and legal.
Interesting approach. I'm looking for quality, everything else [i.e. price, affiliation, medium] is secondary.
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
I don't want the fact that some music is RIAA or not to affect my music choice. As if the whole mainstreem/indie division wasn't enough (and I have fallen victim to that kind of thinking), now we have RIAA/not RIAA music? Neither of these division have anything to do with the music, with its sound. It's horrible, horrible, way to go about choosing music. If I hear music I like, I'll get it, be it mainstream/indie/riaa/not riaa, music is supposed to be a pleasure, buying/acquiring music should be pleasure... a painless carefree experience. I am not buying a car, I don't have to worry that if I buy a wrong album I'll end up in a ditch somewhere.
Lighten up people, just listen to the music, and stop thinking about it.
About three months ago, I had a "discussion" with someone who claimed that piracy would be the end of the music industry and that no one would want to play music anymore. My assertions that real musicians (and I know quite a few) just want people to listen to their music. They'll work a day job, go without eating, or do anything else it takes to keep playing in front of groups was dismissed. In my experience, the guitar/bass/sax/whatever is always the last thing to get hocked and the first thing to come out of the pawn shop.
Real musicians play for the people, not the money. They always have and they always will. This fifty-year invention of the rock star lifestyle is just a fad.
Weeeell...
I am not a musician (nor I play one on TV). I have many friends that are, but I am not.
But I am performer (mostly with fire, sometime just dancing), and a writer. I used to be a code monkey, I more or less gave it up because "it did not make me happy".
So, you see: sure, I do it for love. I do it because after a well made performance, I am glowing so much that I could do ANYTHING (and in most cases, I did: talk about going to the most beautiful girl present, that happened to be a model, and say "come here, we are having more fun that your group", and it was true, btw). Most of the time, I don't make a lot of money; I have a score of freelance "day jobs" to keep up with the "fire of the art": in this moment, on the other tab, I am translating a technical manual, and I do some webdesign, and some IT consulting, and massages, and so on.
Still. When I MANAGE to live on this passion, it IS great. I prefer it, by far. When I can live, and invest on tools and training and so on, even better.
Sure, it feels a bit like cheating, because "work" is supposed to be boring and so on, so being paid for something that I often said "it is better than (most) sex (and drugs)" feels strange. But very good.
Am I not a REAL artist, since I would really like to live on what I do best, what I do for love?
I am not sure.
Probably, Real Artists(tm) don't do it for love, they just say to bring it (who?) in bed...
I'm pretty astonished at all these responses. Just talk about music on any online music-related forum and you'll get acquainted with all sorts of stuff you've never heard of before. That's how I heard about all my favorites.
The label Illegal Art is interesting in that they are an entirely independent electronica label which features artists who sample music without copyright clearance or permission. They are not only an non-RIAA label, much of the music is derived from (both perceptibly and imperceptibly) a host of RIAA artists. http://illegalart.net/
They make me sick and I hate the entire industry. I don't download any music or buy it for that matter.
bt.etree.org (free live shows)
downloads.khinsider.com (classic video game soundtracks)
and the ubiquitous www.shoutcast.com for the pumped indie stations.
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
This Norwegian independent label called Metronomicon Audio label has a lot of really creative genre-crossing music going on... I really reccomend checking them out. Lots of free MP3s to be downloaded and cheap CDs, CD-Rs and Vinyls to buy. And don't be afraid of the Norwegians, they sing in English ;-)
http://www.metronomiconaudio.net/
And as other people mentioned, check out CD-Baby too: http://cdbaby.com/
South By Southwest festivals release a torrent of their showcased artists every year - 739 MP3s in the 2007 one. I've lost count of how many albums I've bought off the back of listening to these.
A few years ago a friend told me to check out the band Porcupine Tree. I checked them out and saw them in concert. I bought everything I could from their merchandise table. While there I found out about http://www.burningshed.com/ - they are a small label, but they do a lot of direct sales. Check them out.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Bleep yet.
this band isn't affiliated with the RIAA either. I've gotta agree with the parent: CDBaby and myspace are pretty good, although I've noticed that a lot of bands have stopped offering their MP3s for free on myspace.
Another site which I like a lot is 3hive, which does reviews of bands which offer MP3s for free.
Need Geek Rock? Try The Franchise!
Local bars and concerts. Duh.
I think that podcasts are one of the best ways to learn of new music. For example, ones like this: JD's Musical Alchemy. Where I've discovered bands like Beatnik Turtle who are releasing one song for every single day of 2007. There's just an incredible amount of music out there.
music from New Orleans, the reggae islands, South America, all over Louisiana and the south.
yummykind.com
myspace.com/inoyun
craque.net
virb.com/yummykind_music
Lots of free music, direct from the artists
Jamendo.com is a good source for Creative Commons music, found many a good artist from there; though you'll have to wade through quite a bit to find the good bits.
I go to http://www.beatport.com/ and http://www.dancetracksdigital.com/ Both excellent sources for underground, cutting edge dance music (this means no crappy rock, hip hop etc).
Hi,
the Austrian public radio has a very successful alternative program called FM4 and they have a (in Austria) very well known platform for people who make music to exchange their songs and make them available for the public.
This platform is located at http://fm4.orf.at/soundpark and has (metric!) tons of music of all different kinds. I'm afraid the website is German only but it should be accessible for you English speaking people too.
Greetings, astifter
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio
For those that are into techno (while there are other artists, theres few decent ones that arent techno)
If you're playing music via a Flash music player like the MySpace player, you can use Firebug to tell where the actual music file is located. Not sure if this works all the time.
Everyone knows that the best new music is underground. Listen to psytrance, freeform, NuNRG or the likes. For some 100% legal and free samples, check out one of these mixes. http://rave.ca/?s=music_info&i=3642 http://rave.ca/?s=music_info&i=4007
Never say never. Ah!! I did it again!
First, I educate myself about what's out there
1. I read album reviews (www.pitchforkmedia.com, www.lostatsea.net, and www.popmatters.com)
2. I go to www.allmusic.com and start cross referencing artists that I know about. So, for example, perhaps I'll start with Elliot Smith and see whose listed under "similar artists", then I'll check out his influences and his followers. I'll repeat that process for any of the bands I stumble across and enjoy.
To hear the music I do the tried and true "Download it first" thing. I'll use Usenext or bittorrent to download the albums I'm interested in hearing and check them out. I'll eventually, at some point that same year, buy the album.
Since I've been doing this (about 4 years) my record collection has grown by about 300 albums, dwarfing what it once was. My musical taste has expanded into genres I used to think were "lame"; I've started to enjoy a huge array of genres, and I'm find listening to music to be a far richer experience compared to what it once was.
Whether the artists in question are RIAA or Non-RIAA I don't typically care (I'm a small label guy for the most part, though) - all I want is some good music.
of sources for non-RIAA music here in the sidebar of my blog, under the heading "Liberated Music".
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
If you have a music player phone, or can side copy over to pc, try www.voeveo.com. It has CD Baby artists and a lot of other independent labels from around the globe. Even if you can't download, there are 30 second samples to preview, and links back to the artists pages for their albums etc.
Warning: this is a self-plug. I work on the site.
My uncle is on CD Baby, but he also has his music on EricHermanMusic.com, his own website. I often talk to him about music sales and distribution and have learned that artists actually make more money from CD Baby sales than a lot of other avenues, but the place where the independent artists makes the most is their own website or the one that they link to on their website. He tells me that he sells on Amazon, but makes so little there that it is hard to even justify doing that.
http://www.ijigg.com/search?s=linux or http://www.ijigg.com/songs/V2AEEDPAD ...both links go to the same song, but the 2nd one brings up a nag screen to join, where the first one doesn't
This is the song that never ends.
It goes on and on my friends.
Someone started singing it not knowing what it was,
and they'll continue singing it forever just because,
[repeat]
Now you too, have access to an RIAA-free song.
From Denmark What's the easiest way to get into Denmark legally?
...and so its distribution is often allowed for little or no $$ required of the end-user. One favorite source is NPR's concert podcast.
Many artists (or maybe more accurately, their record co. people) will allow fans to make ambient recordings of concerts and put them online. These vary in quality, but a good find can be a treasure. Some sites intend to provide only material an artist/label/venue allows to be recorded, and remove material an artist's reps complain about. It's caveat emptor in terms of legality, but this kind of distribution doesn't appear intently targeted by the legal eagles (who have a better case against someone if they can demonstrate a financial loss from trading recordings they're already attempting to sell). Etree is a favorite.
I would also recommend a look at http://songramp.com/.
Check out ourstage.com. They have a large and growing collection of independent, and often original, music and film in many different genres. They run a monthly contest based upon users choosing their favorites with prizes of up to $5k going to the winners. You can also listen to the music in a player and on facebook.
to be pretty good. How 'bout you?
What?
You can find decent independent music available for download on the following sites. (I think the top two are probably the best.)
www.jamendo.com - You can download entire albums here, but it leans towards electronica. European acts also seem more heavily represented than American ones. There's a LOT to choose from, though.
www.last.fm - A lot of independent acts distribute their music through Last FM. Some will at least allow you to freely listen. Many go a step further, and let you download the songs outright.
www.soundclick.com - Some freely downloadable music here. One issue with Soundclick is many of the independent artists have been infected by the dreaded 'micropayment syndrome', where they try and charge you some minor amount for their work.
www.myspace.com - Some artists let you download their music from MySpace, but I find there are less overall than the other sites that I've mentioned.
www.virb.com - Similar to MySpace and Soundclick. There are artist pages here that you can download music from.
Internet Archive [http://www.archive.org/] - Lots of free music here, for those who have some time to browse through the archives.
Opsound [http://www.opsound.org/] - Creative Commons music available here. To find anything good, one has to sift a little bit, but if you have time to kill, go for it.
There's a Greasemonkey script for firefox to show if music on Amazon is from the RIAA or not. http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/7967
There's MacIDOL.com (my fave), macjams.com and icompositions.com - you have to be a Mac user to put your original composition on them, but the music is downloadable in MP3 format by anybody. There's an enormous range of genres and you don't have to wade through too much junk to find great stuff. 99% of it is free download, too. Artists to check out are James Bouchard, Talking Ape, Slumbering, iFingers, Paul Brazier, Deadman Turner and Bill Josey to name just a tiny, tiny few. A big fave of mine in the non-RIAA stakes, too, are The Sunray Estate and you might find a bit of good rock'n'roll to download at The Breed's site. I've got to say I'm impressed with anybody looking for music from sources other than the record industry. They're the real supporters of music. Record labels don't care about the artists, just the money.
"I hope you like Guinness, Sir. I find it a refreshing substitute for, er... food." Col. Jack O'Neil, SG-1
All you have to do is select from the list of bands known collectively as "Indie." These bands are either too talented and original for their work to go mainstream, or (FAR, FAR more likely from my experience) are so terrible that they can't even get on a label, so they proclaim their "independence" to draw attention from the fact that they suck balls.
Ok, I know this is offtopic but this seems to be the place to ask. I have this friend *cough* who illegally downloaded some albums. Some of them he really enjoys and wants to support the artist but he is unsure how to do this. I suggested he buy cds but he said he didn't want the environmental footprint of that method, plus he already has the music and listens to it in a digital format that he prefers. He was curious about which of the online music stores give the largest cuts to the artists. Obviously the indie download sites will give a larger percent but what about bands like... Tool or Gorillaz? What is a good music download site to download these so as to support the artist?
http://greenobyl.com/ please.... think of the children!!