Let's face it, when we ran the numbers ("Weird Al Says Digital Is a Raw Deal For Some Artists"), it came out that when you use iTunes, Napster, Urge and others to lease the music of a major label artist, it's highly likely that the artist you love really isn't seeing much money from that transaction.

So, is anyone besides the RIAA making money with music online? Absolutely.

The widespread idea that popular music is popular due to its quality is incredibly misguided. Sure, independent music varies widely in artist ability and talent but, in an Internet connected world its becoming increasingly easy to find amazing independent musicians to listen to and love.

If you're a music fan, listen up, cause I'm about to let you know how to find great new music from artists who actually get a fair cut of their online sales.

If your a musician looking to expand your audience, and maybe find a way to buy groceries with the proceeds of your talent, put down that guitar and take out a notebook, 'cause I'm about to show you a few people who are doing just that.One reason popular artists are making little from online sales are the middlemen involved (Apple | Napster | etc), the record labels, and the digital distribution houses that lease the master quality recordings to the online vendor. It's as if someone took the arcane structure of the physical world record business and tried to make it even more complicated and less transparent on-line. (Now, who do you think might have caused all that?)

The secret is, Apple, Napster, URGE, Yahoo Music and Real aren't the only games in town. There are other alternatives out there with completely different formulas and designs for how your digital music landscape should look.

Digital Record Labels and Distributors

The easiest alternative to major label music is the one closest to the conventional model of how record sales work. Actually, these record labels work the way most people assume the major record labels work, by offering a fair cut of the album sales to the artist in return for the right to sell the artist's work. Unfortunately, for many artists the major labels don't offer this equitable relationship.

The line between the record label and the record distributor is getting very blurry, and it's hard to say that either of these choices is just a "label".

There are a few "labels" that do work with artists so that everyone involved makes a buck, and with over 12 billion dollars spent through the music industry last year, there are plenty of bucks to go around. Now, it's more often that those record buying dollars shift to entities that exist outside of the major label system.

Magnatune The record label who's slogan is literally, "We Are Not Evil". More of a label and not a distributor for other labels, Magnatune's selection is limited when compared with an eMusic or an iTunes style store. What Magnatune lacks in selection, is more than made up for in philosophy. Magnatune does not have exclusive contracts with any of its artists.

That's right, each Magnatune artist is free to sign another deal, sell music direct or explore other options with their music.

Magnatune has written its own set of rules about 21st century music sales. Not only does the artist have the freedom to explore other avenues with their music, the consumer gets to decide what music is worth to them. The minimum price for any album from Magnatune is $5, but customers can pay any amount they wish up to a maximum of $17 dollars. It might renew your faith in mankind to know, Magnatune's customers regularly choose to pay more for an album than the minimum. John Buckman, the label's founder and CEO has stated that the average paid per album is around $8 for downloads, slightly more for physical CDs.

Adding yet another anti-evil variable to the Magnatune equation, the company treats themselves as a locker for your music. If you purchase a download today and lose it later (Mp3 player gets stolen, your hard drive crashes) you can download it again for free (try that one with iTunes). Downloads are also offered in multiple formats, the common Mp3 is popular but, some power users and audiophiles prefer FLAC, WAV or OGG files.


eMusic is on the way to becoming the dominant force in independent digital music sales. eMusic's song files are actual mp3s, rather than WMA or AAC files, which contain Digital Rights Management software that prevents them from working on all players, or stops them from playing if you stop paying for your subscription. The Mp3 files from eMusic can be used on any Mp3 player (even the iPod).

There are no restrictions on the files you buy. You can burn them to CD as many times as you wish, use them on any number of Mp3 players and transfer them to any computer you own.

There is nothing stopping you from doing things with the Mp3's you get from eMusic that would violate the copyright laws of the U.S., except for your own conscience. That's the point. Most consumers are honest, and if you offer them a product at a reasonable price, they will choose to buy (rather than steal) it.

eMusic song files are offered by subscription, at prices starting around 25 cents each. Most of the proceeds go directly to the artists.

You won't find everything you're looking for on eMusic. No Brittney Spears, no Mariah Carey. But you will find artists you know (Willie Nelson, The Pixies, Bob Marley, Tom Waits) along with a host of up and coming indie artists you'll love.


The Creative Commons

Some artists give away their music. (No, not just the ones with the major label deals) Some artists have figured out that the most dangerous thing for them is not piracy, but obscurity. The music of the major labels and the alternative labels layed out above only account for a tiny amount of the music being produced today. With home recording equipment becoming cheap and easy to use, many musicians are making music in their bedrooms and using the Internet to gain wide followings.

Your first thought might well be that so-called 'bedroom' musicians couldn't possibly be talented. After all, if they were, that good, they'd have record deals, right? You'd be amazed to find that some of the music produced by outsiders to the music business is incredibly good. Many independent artists have every bit the talent they'd need to become radio superstars, they just lack the backing (and payola) of the major label system.

The Creative Commons Foundation was started in 2004 to offer copyright holders a new way of thinking about, and working within, copyright law. The Creative Commons license is granular, sort of a choose-your-own-adventure of copyright contracts. Here's how it works...

In the United States, everything created is instantly under copyright. You don't have to mail anything to anyone, or file anything with any office, that napkin you wrote your song on in the bar is already legally protected from use by anyone else.

In fact, unless you hire a lawyer and draft up an agreement, it's pretty hard to give anyone legal permission to use that bar napkin (or anything else you've created) legally, for any purpose.

That's where the Creative Commons (or "CC") comes in. They've hired the lawyers --in fact, they were founded by a pretty smart one -- and they wrote all the contracts for you. They even wrote easily readable summaries of the legal documents, summaries that anyone can understand (even without a lawyer). In short, they've put together all the things you might want to do with a digital file (give permission to share, remix, use for commercial purposes) and they've compartmentalized them into several straight forward "licenses" that allow you to say once how you want your file to be used, and have that statement stick digitally and in a court of law.

This creates limitless possibilities for artists and fans alike. With artists being able to easily that you can share their music legally, it removes any fear you have of lawsuits that might come from your sharing music with your friends. When you share music with your friend, that creates one more fan for the artist you love. You've just done the artist you're a fan of a favor, you've done some nano-marketing on their behalf.

Multiply this by the power of the Internet: More artists and more people = More chances of you finding new music.

That's the idea behind the Creative Commons. Now, where to find music you can legally download and share..

Netlabels using the Creative Commons

Here is a short list of free "Netlabels" comprised of artists using the Creative Commons that would love for you to download and share their music.

Sundays In Spring - Featuring mostly mellow indie and alternative rock
MASA Records - Another indie and alternative rock netlabel
Comfort Stand - Kitchy electronica with irony and feeling
Observatory Online - Mellow electronica, IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) and "chill"
Please Do Something - An "all genre" netlabel. Lots of music from many artists

Jamendo (Or Creative Commons on musical steroids)

Not quite a Netlabel, more of an archival distribution service, Jamendo is using the Internet and open source to make music publishing a point and click affair for independent artists. Based in France (and with a heavy Francophone presence represented in the music offered) Jamendo's popularity is growing daily, and they currently have over 1000 free "Internet albums" available for download.

Every song, image and bit of text on Jamendo is available under the Creative Commons. The music on this site alone could easily fill your iPod, and every bit is free and legal.

Jamendo has developed software for musicians to use that helps them package an album for free distribution, and upload it automatically with album art and genre tags to categorize the music and make it easier for potential fans to find. Instead of searching through hundreds and thousands of independent musicians blogs looking for one you like (ala Myspace) Jamendo allows you to look from the other end.. finding the music first, then learning more about the artist through reviews, commentary, forums and links to the artist's own site.

Independent Artists

Brad Sucks - Meet Brad Sucks, the self-proclaimed "one man band with no fans". Brad's brand of ironic rock has spread like wildfire via the Internet in the last several years. His "fan funded, professionally manufactured" album "I don't know what I'm doing" was presold though his own website, allowing fans to kick in the money needed to press and print CDs at a professional level.

In February 2002, Brad began offering downloads of his music on his Web site. According to Brad, "If the worst-case scenario is becoming a well-heard musician who never gets paid, I can live with that."

Taking things a bit further, and tapping the power of the Internet meme, Brad released "Outside the Inbox", a compilation of spam inspired songs by himself and other artists.

Listen to (and legally download) Brad's song, "Dirtbag"

Lisa DeBenedictis - A mom of two, Lisa records music at her home in New Hampshire, when she finds the time. She's managed to release two albums over the last two years, and shows no signs of taking a break.

Lisa holds the distinction of being one of the most remixed Internet published artists in the world. Thanks in no small part to a contest held by CCMixter that offered a Magnatune record contract as first prize, and a spot on an album of remixed Lisa DB tunes as a prize for the runners-up. The contest saw so many entries of such quality (the majority by amateur, "bedroom remixers") that two full remix albums were produced as a result.

Listen to (and legally download) Lisa's song, "Tigers"

Summary

I hope this has shown you that if you're down on the RIAA and DRM, you don't have to miss out on having an iPod with a full belly. There are thousands of musicians out there that would love your fanatic devotion, and there are a myriad of better ways for them to receive your monetary compensation for their hard work than through the major label system.

Musicians and fans go together like peanut butter and jelly. More and more, it looks like the major labels make as much sense acting as your go-between as does mayonnaise between your Skippy and your Smucker's'.