Plain English Terms of Use
Basic Policies and Interesting Tidbits
Ads
We don't have ads on our site, and we never will. We sell music to you and for you, not your eyeballs to someone else. That's a big problem for a lot of the "Web 2.0" world, and we want no part of it.
Spam
We have no reason to spam you, because we're not amassing a database of personal information for sale to advertisers or any other third party. Any "data mining" or "social graph" work that we do will be solely to ensure that you know about events and music you might like! You can even opt out of that if you like. A corollary to that is the fact that you can delete your entire profile easily with no fuss. We don't save your data, because we're not selling it to anyone.
Privacy
We do not want to share your information with anyone. We feel privacy rights are sacrosanct on the web, and we'll fight to the bitter end to preserve yours. See the above.
Artist Royalties
We pay 80 percent of the song price to the artist (we want to increase that number over time). Song prices are $1 each. All royalties due are clearly reported on artists' private statistics pages. We pay quarterly, at the end of the quarter. By default we will mail a check to the address you specify on your registration form. Arrangements can be made for electronic payment via Paypal.
Pricing
Songs are $1 each. Albums are $10 each, no matter how many songs are on them.
Audio-files
We started this business partially out of a desire to have better audio quality in the songs we buy online. We want to use Metalabel as much as we want you to! If you're an artist, you'll notice that we have higher quality standards than anywhere else on the web. If you buy music on Metalabel, you'll notice the same thing. We want to replace the CD business, so we need CD-quality files. We also offer a couple of different formats (256K AAC, Apple Lossless Audio, FLAC, and 320K MP3s) to suit your tastes and predilections. All our audio files contain the cover art (if provided) and the full discographical metadata information. We care about such things, and we assume that you do too, if you love music.
File Types
mp4a
mp4a is our file extension for AAC files. AAC stands for Advanced Audio Coding. Many people think that AAC is Apple's proprietary format, but it is not. It is an international standard, like mp3, though it is not as widely supported as the mp3 format. Like mp3, it is a lossy format, meaning that audio information is lost when encoding to it.
flac
flac is our extension for FLAC files. FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. It is not very widely supported—we support it for those who are adamant about retaining open-source lossless audio files, and who know how to transcode and play them.
alac
m4a is our extension for ALAC files. ALAC stands for Apple Lossless Audio Codec. ALAC is a proprietary format, but not strongly. There are several open-source applications for it, and it works on iPods and in iTunes.
mp3
You know it and love it. Though flawed, mp3 is the most popular audio format.
Samples
The samples in the Metalabel Player are at a much lower bitrate than the songs purchased. The samples are 128K MP3s.
DRM
Come on, now. We don't use it, and we want nothing to do with it.
Technology
We know people love hearing about and using the latest greatest technology. We do too. We did some cool things to build the site, but nothing outrageously bleeding edge. We're "Web 2.0," but you can barely tell. And we like it that way. We try not to throw it in your face with enormous fonts, cartoon characters, and candy colors. We use Ajax around the site, but not so you'd notice: we keep it real useful and unobtrusive; it's definitely not an end in itself. The site was built using Mason/mod_perl. We use Amazon S3 to serve our files. We decided very early on to become OpenID consumers as well, to make it easier for people to participate across the Internet. If you look in Statscan, you'll see some nice sparklines: We use the Google Charts API to do all of our statistical reporting. Artists and scouts will see what we're talking about in their statistics pages. We use the Google Maps API to geocode events. I don't think we've used a single commercial software resource to build the site, and that's just fine by us!
OpenID
OpenID 1.1 vs. 2.0
OpenID is a fantastic technology. As of May 16, 2008, we are OpenId 2.0 enabled.
Information & FAQ
How-To & Frequently Asked Questions
How Does It Work?
Metalabel is free to join for independent artists, labels, and users. Register as an artist, user, or artist scout.
How Does It Work for Labels?
Register as a label. If you are incorporated in the United States, we will require your tax id number.
As of April 23, 2008, labels can choose between paying a flat annual fee for an unlimited number of sales for any or all of their artists, or sharing a percentage of each sale. The flat annual fee varies according to the number of artists the label is distributing through Metalabel.
| Option | Artists | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| a | 1-3 artists | $500 |
| b | 4-8 artists | $1350 |
| c | 9-14 artists | $2300 |
| d | 15-20 artists | $3250 |
| e | 21-25 artists | $4000 |
| f | 25+ artists | $10000 |
The unlimited sales option requires that the fee be paid before affiliated artists can upload music to our servers.
Otherwise, 80 percent of the sales price goes to the label. Music costs $1 per track and $10 per album.
After label registration, register artists individually and upload music to site.
See the “For Artists” section directly below for further information about registration and site features.
How Does It Work for Artists?
Register as an artist then upload your music as 256K AAC, Apple Lossless Audio, FLAC, or 320K MP3 audio files. Add your profile picture, cover art for your album and/or tracks, and liner notes, and then you’re in business.
All music is DRM-free.
As of April 23, 2008, artists can choose between paying a flat annual fee for an unlimited number of sales or sharing a percentage of each sale. The annual fee is $200. Otherwise, 80 percent of the sales price goes to the artist. Music costs $1 per track and $10 per album.
Metalabel asserts no rights to your music. Metalabel is nonexclusive. You can sell your music anywhere you like.
The statistics features track your sales, event RSVPs, friends, and royalties.
Invite your friends and fans to join, and help build a community for people who love great independent music.
What About for Regular Folks?
Register and upload a profile picture, it’s that simple.
Invite your friends and communicate with them in an environment free of advertising, confusing interfaces, and spam!
Post events, bulletins, music reviews, and forums that are seen by the community and the entire Internet.
Support independent music and artists with every purchase you make.
What About People Interested in Becoming Scouts?
Register and click the scout button.
Recommend the site to artists.
Post events and track RSVPs.
Win great prizes.
I’m Not Logged In. What Can I See and Do?
If you're just looking around, welcome to Metalabel!
Obviously, we want everyone to see what we’re about, so guests who are not logged in can view the info, the FAQ, and the about us pages.
All artists’ and scouts’ public profile pages can be viewed by guests who are not logged in. No other users’ public profiles can be viewed by guests who are not logged in.
If you are not logged in, you can also read our members’ public bulletins, music reviews, and public events.
The STATIC discussion forum is also open to the public.
All our members have their own RSS feeds, which are visible to the Internet and which are composed of their public music reviews, bulletins and events as well. The Metalabel RSS Feed compiles all the publicly viewable events, bulletins, and music reviews, as well as the Metalabel Blog. Of course, this RSS feed is public.
How do I Register?
You have to use the registration form. Only the fields highlighted in yellow are necessary to complete registration. Of course, the more information you give us, the better we can serve you, by sending you events and bulletins of interest to you, in your geographical area. Your information is safe with us, by the way. Read the column over to the left on our basic policies.
You can upload a profile picture, choose a nickname, choose a password, tell us what you want to appear under your profile picture, tell us what you want to appear on your public home page, tell us your favorite genres, what genres of music you make, all that stuff. If you don’t choose a profile picture, you will be represented with one of our dusty old album covers!
How do I Buy Music?
In order to buy music on Metalabel, you must register using the registration form, and then you must log in. See the entry up above. Then, you have to buy credit on our credit page. After doing so, you will see your “bank” in green in the horizontal navigation bar. You can then buy songs or albums, in the store pages, from the Metalabel Player, or from other users’ playlists.
How do I Sell Music?
To sell music there are two steps.
First, you must register as an artist using the registration form. Artist registration is slightly different from user registration—we require more information. First, check the box that says you want to sell your music with Metalabel. Then another set of form fields will appear. Check the box that says you agree to the artist terms of use. Type the name of the person authorized to sell your music in the “Signatory” field. This will probably be you, thus your name. Enter your group name, and finally, select a genre and subgenre if you wish.
When you check the box that says you want to sell your music with us, you will notice that some of the form fields above it become highlighted in yellow. More information is required for artists, like your real name, your address, etc. We need this information for financial purposes, i.e., to pay you and to keep our records. After registering, you must log in.
And the second step, after logging in, is to look on your private homepage. My homepage, for instance, is http://metalabel.com/users/akbeats.html. You can't see mine, and no one can see yours either. Your page will have your name instead of akbeats. In the left-hand column, you will see a list of options with which you manage your Metalabel account. The first option is “Your Music.” If you click that link, you will be taken to a page that displays current tracks, and allows you to upload new tracks for sale.
In the upload section, you will see, clearly marked, what fields are required and which are optional. You can create an album out of multiple file uploads or you can upload a collection of singles. You can upload cover art for one album, which will then be copied to each of its songs, or you can upload individual cover art for each track in a collection of singles.
After uploading your music, which can take a while, because of upload speed and processing time, you are ready to sell your music. Tell your fans where to find it—http://metalabel.com/yourname.html—and go gigging!
How do I…?
Almost everything that you want to do on Metalabel is listed in the left-hand column of your private home page, i.e., http://metalabel.com/users/yourname.html. Think of this as your control panel. You can create content, upload music, make events, check statistics (if you are an artist or a scout), modify your visible playlist, edit your profile (almost everything can be changed), upload photos to your photo album, etc. You can even totally delete your account. We don’t save your data like some other social networks. You can really delete all of it.
Private Homepage? Public Profile? What?
What we call the “private homepage” is where your “control panel” resides. This is where you can change your information, create content, and manage your account. Its URL has the form http://metalabel.com/users/yourname.html. It is where you go when you click the “yourname (Home)” link in the horizontal navigation bar. No one else can see this. It is private.
The “public profile” is what everyone sees when they go to a URL of the form http://metalabel.com/yourname.html. You can use this URL across the Internet anywhere you like. Everyone can see it. If you are an artist, your music will be listed there, along with a Metalabel Player loaded with your songs available for purchase. All your comments will appear there. Your playlist will appear there. Your events, photo album, and other content you create will appear there. You can take a look at your own public profile by going to your private home page and clicking "View Your Profile."
WTF?
We ain't get what we want yet… I ain't braggin' or nothing, but [we] got somethin' that I know that everybody wants to hear. 'Cause I know I been waiting to hear it…
Raekwon the Chef, "Can It All Be So Simple," Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers (1993)
This is a site for music lovers, touters, and shouters. Those who know a hot group or the next big thing before it hits the radio. It's for independent and underground artists out there hustling and gigging, selling CDs after the show, on planes trains and automobiles to the next show. You know who you are.
Fans know the power of music. We hate to sound clichéd or ridiculous, but at its best …, well, you know it's like nothing else.
Meanwhile, you artists know how hard it is to make a living at your craft. From the early days of the twentieth century, from the first smash hit Dixieland Jass Band record in 1917 to whatever topped the charts last year, artists have been getting screwed by the record companies. The blues artists would go in and record for a couple dollars, not knowing the full ramifications of mechanical reproduction. Today, artists get signed and think they're going to make a lot of money, only to find out they have to pay for things they've never even heard of before they see a single red cent. And even before that the label has to decide whether it's going to release their album and promote it properly.
The basic relationship was established back in the 1920s: the label gets mostly everything, and the artist doesn't get much of anything from recording until sales get well into the millions.
But there can only be so many Michael Jacksons, Britney Spears, Jay-Zs, and 50 Cents.
Mid-roster artists are underpromoted. Even some stars are underpromoted. Low-roster artists can be totally ignored. And then there's the artists who are signed just to keep them off the market.
A lot of talk these days is about how "recorded music should be free, and artists can make a living off live performances." We don't see any reason why this has to be true: not when people do still buy recorded music! We still buy recorded music! And as long as artists make recorded music, they ought to be able to get paid (handsomely) for it. In our opinion, that "live performance" argument is a ploy by the record companies to disguise their dwindling power; if they can persuade enough fans and artists that recorded music ought to be free, they can use this argument when artists demand higher royalties; they can also pretend like they still have something nobody else can offer artists promotion-wise, like concert advertising and billboards. And then they have a reason to demand a percentage of the artist's touring revenue, which used to belong solely to the artist. This is happening now because some artists think they have no choice. (Several social networking sites also promote "free music" because they don't care about musicians at all; they give away music for free because they're really selling eyeballs to advertisers; the music is mere ad-bait.)
But the same technological progress that created the record industry is destroying the record labels' monopoly on distribution and promotion. It's also making radio irrelevant. And both have only themselves to blame.
Artists from Courtney Love and Prince to Trent Reznor and Radiohead have recognized the new situation. Many artists, but Courtney Love most articulately, have demanded precisely what we have finally delivered: a fair deal for the artist in the face of this new technology.
It's very simple, and yet no one else has done it.
Not Apple or Amazon, because they are still dealing with labels when they sell songs, so the artist gets the exact same single-digit-royalty deal as before, and independent artists get lost in the shuffle among all the searches for whoever's hot that week.
Not any of the other online music companies, of which there are several, each with a different gimmick to impress the venture capitalists and corporate suitors. If these companies are not still dealing with labels as well, their gimmicks remove the focus from where it should be: the music, and the future of the those who make the industry go: the fans and the musicians.
We're going to make it right. Metalabel is the place fans can go to promote the music they have discovered, share their discoveries with others, and support their favorite artists. Metalabel is the place where artists can finally get a fair deal, straight up.
Join us today!