Magnatune, the “Non Evil” Label
I read an interesting interview that Podcasting News did with John Buckman, founder of the Magnatune record label, which clearly states under its logo “We Are Not Evil” and clearly they are not:
“Magnatune has emerged as a leading open music record label. It licenses hundreds of albums with a Creative Commons license, and lets you listen to them online. If you decide you want to buy an album, you pick the price (as little as $5). Best of all, half of the purchase price goes to the artist!”
The interview is intriquing, as John discusses the use of his artist’s music in podcasting and the attribution that he is looking for, and the uses of the Creative Commons licensing. What I find the most interesting is how podcasting can be so instrumental in getting new emerging artists work out into the world, it is an incredible distribution channel. There are thousands of podcasts out there, and I am not quite sure how many thousands of listeners, but its growing daily. I agree with John as well, we just have to make sure that there are links back to the labels and artist sites so that they can be compensated if someone wants to by their music.
As a podcaster, I produce Trend Radio, and those who listen know I like to highlight emerging artists (in fact I am looking for more to highlight so send me your stuff!), and I also supplement it with various other tracks sometimes from mainstream acts. This is a non-commercial podcast, so I link to everyone I mention or play. I am going to check out John’s label and given his attribution policy, start listening and playing some of his artist’s tracks. Nice work John!