Buy Direct or Buy Used.

The RIAA is ruining music. Here are the steps I take before buying an album. I first check online to see if the album is available directly from the artist, then I check and make sure that the label that the artists are on are not a part of the RIAA: www.boycottriaa.com for that. If their label is associated with the RIAA I start to look for it in the used section at CD stores or buy it used from Amazon. If I'm lucky I'll buy an album directly at the artist's concert because they usually get to keep the money they make from sales at the venue, although that may not be the case at all according to Courtney Love's article. Also, apparently the CDs aren't always available for sale at the venue either as I found out when I went to see Muse and My Chemical Romance.

I don't actually like to buy used CDs because the artists do not benefit in any way. But if they would allow me to buy their music directly from them on their website I wouldn't have to buy used. www.bishopallen.com is one such band, although they recently decided to sign with a label in order to get more serious about their career so not all of your money will go directly to them, but they have a really interesting method of distributing their music. www.cloudcult.com is another band of interest who I gladly gave my money directly to. Supposedly their method is working out really well for them, it's good music too.

www.harveydanger.com offers their album "Little by Little..." on their website for free with the stipulation that if you like it you should throw a little money in the pot. I didn't like it. But at least they're not affiliated with the RIAA. www.radiohead.com IS affiliated with the RIAA but they have decided to offer their new album "In Rainbows" up for download where you get to decide how much you want to pay them. Or you can get a box set for $56.50. BAHH I say!

The reason I dodge the RIAA is because they are detrimental to music artists everywhere. Courtney Love, of all people, sums it up well:

http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/06/14/love/print.html

To sum up the article if you don't want to read it, she tells how the artists get paid a million dollars to split up among the members once they sign to a major label. They then produce the album, hire a bunch of lawyers, and go on tour, all the while that million is getting sucked up like a sponge. Now as long as they continue to tour they do alright, but if the band has differences and split up they get poor quick! That's why Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of TLC had to file for bankruptcy. So in buying used music the record store wins, and you didn't have to put your money towards something so malicious as the RIAA.