RIAA Gag

The RIAA has filed a $1.65 trillion lawsuit against AllofMp3.com. Apparently, they're counting damages at 11 million songs, $150,000 a piece. Now personally, I don't use allofmp3.com - it doesn't take VISA card. But mp3sugar.com is easier to deal with. Thanks to cheap or free music downloads, this last decade I've had enormous pleasure in discovering new artists and listening to a broader range of music from old artists. I've certainly bought more CDs as a result, often to get music that I couldn't find elsewhere, or to give as gifts.

The Tom Waits 'Raindogs' album is a great example. I have a couple of Tom Waits CDs. I'm not likely to walk into Tower Records (especially as the nearby branch just closed... (evil cackle)) and get another. However, after downloading a copy, I have discovered what a gorgeous set of tracks it is and know the perfect person to buy a copy for. In the words of Gary Graff, Tom Waits voice sounds

like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months and then taken outside and run over with a car.

A site that lets me quench my thirst for new sounds is Weirdo Music. Everything is free and (I think) legal. Lots of unavailable old records ripped to digital format and unsigned electronic artists doing unusual things.