Getting Legal Music, Part 1: The Options

There’s a lot of controversy going on in the music industry right now: Music piracy, waning album sales, Digital Rights Management (DRM), and ever-increasing cases of litigation against filesharers seem to fill the headlines. Fans of music today are faced with a seemingly simple choice: Purchase all of their music via legal, “acceptable” means, or obtain it illegally through any number of (possibly risky) channels.

I’m not going to go into a long and frustrating article on the root causes behind these issues; nor will I dissect the moral and legal implications of either choice. If you’d like to read an excellent essay on just those topics, I encourage you to check out When Pigs Fly: The Death of OiNK, The Birth of Dissent, and a Brief History of Record Industry Suicide. Instead, I’d like to describe how I am going about obtaining music in such a turbulent industry.

I like buying music. I like the knowledge that my money is contributing directly to the artists I enjoy. And since the majority of the music I listen to is on so-called “independent” record labels, I can have some confidence that the artist is getting a decent cut of that profit - more than a major label would kick back to them, at least. Furthermore, using legal channels to obtain music eases my personal conscience: I can sleep better when I’m not downloading illegally. I don’t say this to suggest that filesharing is wrong or that you’re going to hell if you engage in it. I’m just stating that I personally feel more comfortable buying my music.

I get the feeling that many music fans would prefer to purchase their music for the same reasons. But it isn’t as easy as you’d think to be legit. Let’s review the options for getting music legally:

Brick & Mortar (BAM) - The “old school” way - walk into a ~~record store~~ Best Buy and purchase a CD.
- Pros - Get a physical product. Get album artwork, liner notes, lyrics, etc. You can do what you want with it (make personal backups, etc).
- Cons - Have to leave the house. Possibly more expensive. Requires much more effort to get on an iPod, etc.
Digital subscription services - Pay a monthly rate and get unlimited music for your PC and a portable device.
- Pros - Selection. Millions of artists at your fingertips, and you can legally obtain almost anything you can think of. Speed and convenience of downloading what you want, when you want. Incredibly low price (if you’re counting cost per album).
- Cons - Tied to the subscription. DRM-encrypted files means if you stop paying, your files stop playing. Songs won’t play in every portable player - only ones supporting DRM. Bad if you like to own your media permanently - and do what you want with it.
iTunes - Ah, iTunes. The greatest digital music store in the world, and yet so (personally) frustrating.
- Pros - Selection. Convenience. iPod compatible.
- Cons - Cost. Albums almost always cost as much as their physical CD counterparts. DRM on most iTunes songs means you can’t copy them repeatedly - you’re locked down to what Apple considers “acceptable use”.
DRM-free digital stores - eMusic, AmieStreet, AudioLunchbox, AmazonMP3, iTunesPlus
- Pros - Everything compatible - these files will play in every portable player in the world, including the iPod. No DRM or other encryption to prevent copying, backing up, or burning to CD. Selection for independent artists is usually quite good. Cost is oftentimes much lower.
- Cons - Selection (non-indie). The major labels don’t like the idea of music sans DRM, so they’re hesitant to sell through these channels. Cost can be as high as iTunes in some cases. Inconvenient to search multiple stores to find an album.
The Artist/Label - The most often forgotten avenue. Buy it straight from the artist’s (or their label’s) website.
- Pros - No middle-man - more money goes to the artist. Price is usually as low or lower than retail options. Songs are almost always DRM-free and of high quality.
- Cons - Selection - not all artists/labels offer their albums digitally. Can be inconvenient to manually search every artist’s site to see if they sell online.

In my opinion, the best possible option would be #5 - buying directly from the artist/label. But that’s not always possible, as not all labels directly sell their albums in digital format. So for me, the clear runner-up is #4 - DRM-free music stores. What options are there for buying DRM-free music, and how can this process be made easier? Continue reading Part 2 to find out.