They really aren't evil!
17/03/08 21:43 Filed in: Internet
Mangatune, is a music label
that claims “We are not evil”. Well it seems
that this is true.
I'm talking here about the fantastic web site
Magnatune. A
web based record label...no distributor, er I'm
not sure, but anyway, they have the wonderful
tag line 'We are not evil'.
Basically they have a large catalogue of over 500 albums, covering all sorts of genre from Rock and Punk to World and my personal favorite Electronica. Nothing new there, but the thing is that all of the music, all of it, is right there on the web page playable through a flash based player with no talking over the intros and outros at a very reasonable bit rate. So you can hear the whole album, as many times as you want and if you have the right tools (which I do, WireTap Studio) actually download straight from the web site. Okay I shouldn't really be doing, but as they point on on the web site, there is no way they can stop you from copying the music any way, so why bother trying. This definitely stuck a cord with me and I'd always felt a bit guilty about using the music this way, especially since they tell you up front that 50% of the income goes straight the the artist.
Also you get to choose how much you want to pay for the downloaded versions (they also do CD's, but they are sooo 20th century!)
Now I'm sure none of this is unique to Magnatune, but I just love the way they do this. They know as the whole music industry dose that there is no way they are going to stop people from stealing music. DRM in the end just ends up hurting those who have brought the music and only offers a very low barrier to those who want to copy and distribute it. The music industry as whole seem to have forgotten that the way to spread music is to let people hear it! If they like it and are going to buy it, they will. If they are not going to buy it then they are going to copy it no matter what you do.
Magnatune get this, they really do. So when I paid my £8 each for my first two albums (yes I paid £2 more than the recommended amount) I find that I'm permitted to give this music to three others, perfectly legally! As they say there is no way that they can stop me, so why not just allow it!
So yes I will be distributing the two albums (Oscilloscope by Liquid Zen and Ice Castle by Kirsty Hawkshaw) to my friends and I can do so with a clear conscience.
The very fact that they allow me to do this, practically guarantees I will be buying lots more music here. Okay it's true that they don't have any of the big artist here, but thats not really a problem is it, since you can hear the whole album, and in fact, since the artists here are not with a big label probably means that they are not so constrained by what might sell and so they have full creative control of there work. That has to be a good thing!
Basically they have a large catalogue of over 500 albums, covering all sorts of genre from Rock and Punk to World and my personal favorite Electronica. Nothing new there, but the thing is that all of the music, all of it, is right there on the web page playable through a flash based player with no talking over the intros and outros at a very reasonable bit rate. So you can hear the whole album, as many times as you want and if you have the right tools (which I do, WireTap Studio) actually download straight from the web site. Okay I shouldn't really be doing, but as they point on on the web site, there is no way they can stop you from copying the music any way, so why bother trying. This definitely stuck a cord with me and I'd always felt a bit guilty about using the music this way, especially since they tell you up front that 50% of the income goes straight the the artist.
Also you get to choose how much you want to pay for the downloaded versions (they also do CD's, but they are sooo 20th century!)
Now I'm sure none of this is unique to Magnatune, but I just love the way they do this. They know as the whole music industry dose that there is no way they are going to stop people from stealing music. DRM in the end just ends up hurting those who have brought the music and only offers a very low barrier to those who want to copy and distribute it. The music industry as whole seem to have forgotten that the way to spread music is to let people hear it! If they like it and are going to buy it, they will. If they are not going to buy it then they are going to copy it no matter what you do.
Magnatune get this, they really do. So when I paid my £8 each for my first two albums (yes I paid £2 more than the recommended amount) I find that I'm permitted to give this music to three others, perfectly legally! As they say there is no way that they can stop me, so why not just allow it!
So yes I will be distributing the two albums (Oscilloscope by Liquid Zen and Ice Castle by Kirsty Hawkshaw) to my friends and I can do so with a clear conscience.
The very fact that they allow me to do this, practically guarantees I will be buying lots more music here. Okay it's true that they don't have any of the big artist here, but thats not really a problem is it, since you can hear the whole album, and in fact, since the artists here are not with a big label probably means that they are not so constrained by what might sell and so they have full creative control of there work. That has to be a good thing!
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