What if you could choose how much you wanted to pay for a CD instead of paying what the label says? What if you could use that CD in as many forms as possible, playing it everywhere and anywhere without the fear of the RIAA creeping into your wallet and trying to suck money from you? What if music you bought online was DRM ( digital rights management ) free? Well you get all that and more, when you buy from magnatune.com .
I came across the Indie label Magnatune while listening to the perfectly delicious Wanda Wisdom of luckybitchradio.com . About a millisecond later, I was pointing my web browser away from the porn and towards Magnatune. Within five minutes I had purchased my first CD online, at the price I wanted to pay, using my PayPal account. The longest part of the process was waiting for the download to complete.
I chose a CD of Electronica by Dr. Kuch called 'Analog Disease,' which I can't stop playing. Nine tracks, eclectically perfect, give you a great upbeat ride through some bizarre beats and unique vocal loops.
A short while after that, I was using the freshly downloaded tracks in my own podcast, free of the worry that I was spreading around copyrighted music. It doesn't get any more delicious than that.
I highly recommend you visit magnatune.com to check out their catalog. There's lots of Ambient and Classical, with splashes of Jazz, some Blues, and some deliciously Electronic chill-out music. The whole payment system is unique as far as I can find. Take a few minutes to read some of their information pages and get familiar with the process before you dive in head first.
The single most impressive thing is how Magnatune gives it's artists 50% of the price you pay. That's an unheard of split in the mega-label recording industry, where an artist may make only cents on each album sold.
So my message for the week is to support the indie folks out there. Buy from Magnatune and support the kind of business model that they are forming in the music industry. Don't let the mega-labels control what you buy and how you buy it.
A quick aside: If you missed the Windy City Gay Idol kick-off at the Closet you should be spanked. Don't miss a chance to participate in this uniquely Chicago event. Even if you don't like karaoke, I promise you'll have a fun time watching the contestants and listening to the judges. Dig around in this copy of Nightspots for the full schedule of Idol events and mark your calendar in red ink. There are some great judges scheduled, and you never know who'll make an appearance at the next Idol.
With you in 4/4,
Peter Mavrik
peter@windydcitymediagroup.com
radiopeter.com