People collect coins, baseball cards, stamps. I happen to collect music. Specifically I'm interested in owning all the songs from bands I like in maximum audio fidelity (this means no crappy MP3s downloaded off the 'net are gonna cut it). This, of course, leads to me spending a lot of money on music. How much you ask? Well, let's just say I'm pretty much an RIAA executive's wet dream. But I'm trying not to be.
In case you've been living under a rock, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a well-financed trade group of big record labels trying to protect a dying business model in the face of overwhelming technological change. I am still awestruck that they are going around suing individuals and websites to try and combat file sharing. Suing your customers, real smart way to get people to buy your stuff guys!
I'm pretty outraged that the money I've spent on music is going to finance this sort of heavy handed intimidation. So what's a music collector to do? Well here's the guidelines I try to follow:
1) I avoid major label music. The major labels fund the RIAA, so I try not to fund them. This is becoming easier since there's been less major label music that's appealed to me in the past few years. Independent labels (such as Matador, Merge, and Sub Pop) have been putting out the best music anyway.
2) If I must buy major label, I try to buy used. The RIAA hates this. In fact they have tried (and failed) in the past to levy royalties on used CDs. If you buy used, the RIAA gets exactly ZERO dollars. Since CDs don't make physical contact with the laser that reads them they tend to be pretty durable. A well-kept used CD is almost indistinguishable from a brand new one. There's tons of great sites on the net selling used CDs. Check out Second Spin, Half.Com, and Spun.Com. Even internet mega-seller Amazon offers used CDs through it's marketplace sellers.
3) If a major label CD I want is unavailable used, then I try to make sure I am at least funding a seller I like. This means buying the CD at an online site I like (for example, Deep Discount CD or CD Universe) or a local store I enjoy (these are a fast dying breed being replaced by the Best Buys of the world, but I manage to escape to places like CDepot once in a while).
So how can you tell if an album is on a major label (i.e. RIAA affiliated)? Why the mega-useful RIAA Radar, of course. A great resource! Use it to purchase wisely and hit the RIAA where it hurts. The pocketbook.