Hear no evil

摘要

If, as many people hope, the internet means that the major record labels will gradually become obsolete, what exactly is going to displace them? Apple's iTunes is clearly a part of the future, but it is arguably just a new distribution channel for the major labels' so-year-old system of big stars and massive marketing budgets. . A more radical answer is Magnatune, an independent online record label founded in 2003 by John Buckman. It has all the ingredients that could help future artists bypass traditional labels, earn more money and enjoy greater artistic freedom. From a listener's point of view, the firm's website, www.magnatune.com, is enticing. You can legally listen, free of charge and with high sound quality, to full albums by any of the 200 or so artists who have signed to the label. (Your correspondent was immediately hooked by a song called "Making Me Nervous" by a one-man electro-pop band from Ottawa called Brad Sucks.) Music streamed is free, but to download it to your computer or burn CDS, you have to pay.