Rights revolution putting the artist first

'THE behaviour in the recording industry has been consistently evil. This is my reaction to it. Treating everyone ethically does not seem revolutionary, except in the music industry."

The stars are underground, particularly the "revolutionary" ones, but working his way up to the surface is the name of John Buckman, the author of the above lines. You don't know Buckman's name, you don't know his label, and you don't know his unique operating principles. But you soon will.

Buckman is the founder of a record label called Magnatune, a four-employee startup company with offices in California and London. By way of a corporate statement, Magnatune use the epigrammatic "We are not evil".

The label was set up after Buckman's wife signed a deal with an indie in the UK - and promptly lost the rights to her music for 10 years. Equally wary of both indies and majors, Buckman thought there must be a third way.

Magnatune split all album and licensing sales with musicians on a 50:50 basis (an unheard of ratio in the industry - usually the deal is loaded on the side of the label). In addition, all artists on Magnatune retain the rights to their music (which simply doesn't happen, even on the most artist-friendly indie). Because Magnatune is an online label, prospective buyers are able to hear an entire album before deciding to purchase. And if they do purchase, it's for an average price of $8.

If it all sounds a bit hippyish and utopian, it's worth noting that Magnatune have just posted their first profitable year and are currently taking on an average of 10 new artists a month. The label is now seen as something of a musician's sanctuary for acts who have been dicked around by majors in terms of restrictive long-term contracts and so on.

Magnatune is attracting the attention of the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and the Big Four major labels. You could be forgiven for thinking that the RIAA want Magnatune closed down and its offices set on fire. Apparently not. The RIAA, taking a bit of a break from dragging teenagers into courtrooms for downloading music, are talking up the label. And as for the Big Four majors, they've been in touch with Magnatune enquiring about Buckman's business model.

The idea of artists signed to a label retaining ownership of their music is truly remarkable. Labels owning the music of their acts is the very bedrock of the music business. It helps Magnatune's case that it's an Internet company and as such doesn't have massive distribution costs. It also means that the company was global from day one.

The music on the label goes from straight-up classical to arty electronica.

"While major labels are angering their client base, we are generating excitement among ours," says Buckman. "I think it's because customers want to support the artists. They can see exactly where their money is going. On an $8 purchase, $4 goes to the artist, $4 to the label. People love what we are about. It's like Linux's fight with Microsoft."

Currently, Magnatune have 185 artists with 356 albums. Their biggest selling genre is classical. Perhaps the most appealing aspect of the label is their "pay what you think it's worth" principle. Click on an artist on their site and you can hear their entire album for free - you're not downloading the album to your hard-drive, you don't own the album. If you decide you want the album, you can click on a suggested price button. It is usually about $8, but you can just pay a minimum of $5 if you feel that is all the album merits. "You would think that everyone would just use the $5 button, but the average price paid is $8.93," says Buckman.

Don't expect John Buckman's name to be immediately placed alongside those of Shawn Fanning and Steve Jobs as examples of people who irrevocably changed the music industry. At least, not just yet.

[ www.magnatune.com ]