Results tagged “drm”

This will come as no surprise to music-savvy Chicagoans, but despite the popularity of big chain stores like Best Buy and Target, independent record stores still actually exist. Earlier this year, we celebrated Record Store Day and now Paste Magazine has named their top 17 record stores in the U.S. of A. We're not surprised by the inclusion of some of the more well known stores (Amoeba Records in L.A., Criminal Records in the ATL, and Waterloo in Austin), but we did raise an eyebrow when we saw the lone Chicago entry on the list: Dusty Groove America (1120 N. Ashland Ave), tabbing it "the best place to buy funk records no one's ever heard of." Don't get us wrong. Dusty Groove is an excellent establishment, especially if you're looking for funk and soul records and national recognition is always good. But we couldn't help wondering: whither Reckless? Or Gramaphone? Or...well, countless other fantastic record stores in the Chicago metro area?

Frankly, whenever we read about record sales, digital rights management, and record companies, we usually switch off because the whole issue is stupid and always ends up more complicated than it should (iTunes or iTunes Plus?). The major record labels have always reminded us of our Drunk Uncle Pete; they're late to the party and only after our money, while indie labels have been distributing DRM-free music through retailers like eMusic for a while now.