Free downloads 4, Evil free music March 3, 2006
I want to tell you about a record label that lets you listen to their entire catalog for free, Magnatune.com . I’m serious! They actually want you to listen to their stuff for free, no DRM, no time limits, no restrictions. And get this, you are not gonna believe this, they want you to share the mp3’s you get from them. They don’t mind. If all this were not insane enough they go right over the edge and let you use the music from their artists to create derivative works. They call it “Open Music” and describe it like this
“Open Music is music that is shareable, available in “source code” form, allows derivative works and is free of cost for non-commercial use. It is the concept of “open source” computer software applied to music.”
Now, I must tell you that this generosity applies only to the 128kbps versions. If you want better quality you have to buy it but this is where it gets really weird. They split the money they make with their artists 50/50.
If all this were not bad enough, theres more. If you do buy music from them, you can still share it legally, to a point.
“Give 3 Free Copies to Your Friends
While other record labels are busy suing
their customers for introducing their friends
to great music…
At Magnatune, we want you to copy our music
for your friends.
Yes, at Magnatune you can legally copy any
album you buy for up to 3 of your friends.
Why do we do this? Because we know you’ve
discovered great music through your friends.
It’s always been this way: from mix tapes, to
CDRs to Peer to Peer. People fall in love with
new music by being exposed to it by others.
It’s such an obvious point, and everyone knows
the truth of it, yet the music industry has always
fought it (despite the fact that you’re actually
trying to help them!).”
On Magnatune’s statistics page they boast 210 artists, 439 albums, 5662 songs. Thats a lot of free stuff and if you like what you hear buying it will help the artists, promote fair use, and make this business model stronger. One of the problems with the entertainment industry, in my opinion, is that they have become so used to making all that money on the backs of artists that they no longer know what it is like to work for a living them selves. They just expect it now. Anything less is unacceptable to them and they are willing to do away with our rights in order to keep it that way.
Have fun listening without the fear of a law suit
- Posted in : CC, Free Downloads, Music
- Author : fairuseday
Comments»
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