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.
Terms of Use
Plain English Terms and Conditions of Use
This is a non-binding "translation," pretty much paragraph by paragraph, of the full-text user agreement on the registration page. This is provided only as a courtesy and as an aid to your understanding. It is not a legal document.
This is a contract, and you must agree. If you don't, you can't use the site. (In fact, we have made every effort to insure that you cannot register without agreeing.)
You have to be 18 years old or have parental consent to order any song on the site.
Either Metalabel Development, LLC, i.e., Metalabel, or its content providers own everything on the site, from software to design, pictures, songs, etc., and we retain any and all applicable property rights to everything.
You can't copy anything without our permission.
You can't hack us or attack us.
You must agree to our usage license to buy a song. When you buy a song, you'll get a copy of the license agreement in your e-mailed electronic receipt. Short of purchase, we allow you to listen to a lower-quality full-length sample on our site, but only so you can see whether you want to buy it.
When you buy a song, you cannot resell it or redistribute it in any way. You can't use it in dirty movies or in any insulting or illegal way. You can't use it to compete with us, and you can't ship it or export it anywhere illegally.
We will prosecute copyright violations. We're not the RIAA, but we're trying to grow and nurture the music and the musicians we love! So, copyright violations can bring a charge of $150,000 per file. You may even have to pay our legal fees if we prosecute you.
We must reserve the right to disclose information to government agencies. We do not want to disclose your information, and our presumption is and will always be on the side of your privacy, but we do have to reserve that right. We hope you understand.
Because we're doing financial transactions, we require personally identifiable information on two of our forms: the "buy store credit" form and the registration form, where this information is required if you're an artist. We use this information to complete your transaction or payments to you. We do not store your credit card number on our servers, and we do all the normal things to protect you from fraud.
We don't spam our users. We will send you e-mail receipts, reminders of events to which you RSVPed, and events in your area that you might be interested in. If you don't want to receive reminders or notices about events, you can e-mail us at noemail@metalabel.com. We must send you e-mail receipts, though. You can't opt out of that.
We use cookies for authentication. And that's all we use them for. We don't track you, we don't spyware you, we're not trying to hurt you.
When you add content to our site, like, say, custom playlist or a song rating, you're granting us the right to use that content in any way we see fit, as long as it doesn't reveal your personal info. Of course, to continue the example, you can also use that playlist elsewhere. Also, if you're from Oregon, we don't think it's a violation of your right to privacy to say that "there are 1,000 users in Oregon."
You can't sue us if the site goes down. We don't promise you that the site is good for anything at all! What you see is what you get. Use it at your own risk.
Your use of other sites perhaps linked from this one is not our responsibiity either.
Depending on what state you're in, our blanket denial of responsibility may not apply or may only partially apply to you. We'll see you in court.
That court would be in New York State, but we might decide to sue you in some other venue.
We can change our terms when we want. You have to read the fine print.
Finally, buying songs. Any songs for sale are indeed for sale: you'll buy a license to copy them for yourself, store them for yourself, and use them for yourself. You are not buying a license to redistribute them or share them in any way, whether commercial or not.
That's it. You're bound by this agreement.
Plain English Artist Agreement
Like the user agreement above, this "translation" is non-binding. It in no way replaces or supplements the full legal agreement on the registration page. This is provided only as a courtesy and as an aid to your understanding. It is not a legal document, but merely an informal exposition.
You can end this agreement anytime you like. Metalabel Development, LLC., i.e., Metalabel, never asserts any copyright or ownership of your material, so we can retain no ownership after you end our relationship. To cease being an artist, just edit your profile and unclick the "artist" box. You can delete particular song files at any time as well.
By signing up with us you agree to the following:
We can transcode your song files to any format we like, for sale and delivery to anyone we like through any media we choose.
We can retransmit, reproduce, distribute, broadcast, or publicly perform your songs or any part of them.
We can make compilations with your songs on them and distribute those as well.
We can use your likeness, group name, photograph, etc., for marketing and promotion.
However, and this is vitally important, you must retain all ownership and copyright interests. So if you don't completely own the rights to your song, you can't distribute it with Metalabel.
You get 80 percent of every sale on every song. Our song prices are $1 each now, so that's 80 cents a song.
If unclicking the "artist" box isn't good enough for you, and you want to make your termination of this agreement more explicit, write to us at terminate@metalabel.com. If you haven't deleted your albums, we will do so within 30 days after you tell us to terminate.
When you upload a song for sale to Metalabel, you guarantee to us that the song is yours to distribute and that there are no rights issues with samples or labels or anything like that. If there are any third-party issues, you agree to take care of them yourself. If there are minors in your group, you guarantee the legality of your arrangements with them. You'll be on the hook for any fees or damages arising from rights issues. You guarantee that the file is legal in every other way and that it contains no viruses.
You can't sue us if the site goes down. We don't promise you that the site is good for anything at all! What you see is what you get. Use it at your own risk.
You can't sue us for good-faith mistakes, either, like if we mislabel a song of yours or something.
If you do find something to sue us about, we'll see you in court, and that court will be in New York State.
You can sue us for money damages only. No equitable relief.
This is the agreement, and it can only be amended by Metalabel in writing.
Signing up as an artist, and filling in the "signatory" field on the registration form is a valid electronic signature, and it is legally binding. If you need to, please seek legal counsel. Signing it is an avowal that you have had the opportunity to do so.
Signing it is an avowal also that you have the authority to enter into the contract for yourself and your group.
That's it!
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!