We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to notify you that your Associates account has been closed as of June 26, 2009. This is a direct result of the unconstitutional tax collection scheme expected to be passed any day now by the North Carolina state legislature (the General Assembly) and signed by the governor. As a result, we will no longer pay any referral fees for customers referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com after June 26. We were forced to take this unfortunate action in anticipation of actual enactment because of uncertainties surrounding the legislation’s effective date.

Please be assured that all qualifying referral fees earned prior to June 26, 2009 will be processed and paid in full in accordance with our regular referral fee schedule. Based on your account closure date of June 26, 2009, any final payments will be paid by September 1, 2009.

In the event that North Carolina repeals this tax collection scheme, we would certainly be happy to re-open our Associates program to North Carolina residents.

The North Carolina General Assembly’s website is http://www.ncleg.net/, and additional information may be obtained from the Performance Marketing Alliance at http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com/.

We have enjoyed working with you and other North Carolina-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program, and wish you all the best in your future.

Best Regards,

The Amazon Associates Team

You can read more about this issue here. This isn’t as huge a loss for Dave’s Lounge as it is for some others, as I was only making $20/month on the average from Amazon, and that was in part because of some help from other listeners. (Robert Fischer was a big help in this regard.) Still, Amazon Associates commissions were usually enough to cover web site and podcast hosting for a year, and now that’s gone.

So until this matter between Amazon and NC lawmakers is settled, I would advise everyone out there not to use the Amazon links on this web site. I plan to remove some Amazon links from this site in the next few days. I’m also going to look for some alternatives to Amazon, because unless iTunes sales pick up (or lots of listeners start signing up for eMusic accounts this weekend), I’ll need some other way to help cover this podcast’s expenses. Dave’s Lounge has always been able to pay for itself, and I’d really like that to continue.

It’s summer time here in the northern hemisphere, so hopefully this week’s music will get you in the mood for summer. Plus, new music from both Natalie Walker and MinusBlue! Huzzah!

Playlist for Dave’s Lounge #118:

1. MinusBlue, "Ocean Sky"
2. Natalie Walker, "Over and Under"  Buy from: eMusic | iTunes
3. Daniel Artner, "Breaking News"
4. Global Noize, "Dar’abesque"  Buy from: eMusic | iTunes
5. Under the Radar, "Pinging the Moon"  Buy from: iTunes
6. Podington Bear, "Blossoming"  Buy from: eMusic | iTunes

Not an eMusic member? Click here to sign up for a free 15-day trial and receive 25 free MP3 downloads, plus 30 MP3s a month for only $9.99. It’s a great value for indie music lovers and a great way to support both the artists and this podcast.

If you’d like to listen to this episode or any other on your iPhone, check out the Dave’s Lounge direct download page.

Enjoy the show!

Dig Dave’s Lounge? Digg Dave’s Lounge!

No one will question that this a big deal. For years, the RIAA and the major labels have insisted that Digital Rights Management was an absolute necessity for selling music online, even though there was zero evidence that this sort of copy protection ever did more than treat paying customers like criminals. The fact that any of the major labels agreed to this is a pretty big step.

It’s only one step, though, and the way this step was taken leaves me, like the boys at Engadget, just a bit cynical.

For starters, this move shouldn’t absolve the RIAA and its labels of shady business tactics. EMI is not rushing to leave that organization, which still thinks suing music fans is a worthwhile business practice. I’m pretty sure those labels have no plans to work with podcasters like me anytime soon, either.

Moreover, we should look at the way this deal benefits Apple. Steve Jobs spent years telling the RIAA labels that he wasn’t going to raise the price of music sold through iTunes. Singles would stay at $0.99. This deal changes that. DRM-free tracks are now $1.29. Surely, this was a concession Jobs had to make to convince EMI to do the deal. The labels get to charge more, Jobs appeases the EU antitrust probe by showing that Apple is making inroads toward removing DRM, listeners get better audio quality, and everyone makes more money.

Except, of course, the EMI artists themselves. If they’re lucky, they’ll get an extra penny per sale. This is why signing with a major label is a bad idea.

Of course, if you’re an indie label or unsigned artist, selling DRM-free music through iTunes seems like a great idea. However, the way Jobs set up this deal, it would appear that the only way for an indie artist to sell DRM-free tracks is to sell “premium” tracks. You’ll still have 128 Kbps AAC files wrapped in DRM for $0.99, but you’ll also have 256 Kbps AAC files with no DRM for $1.29. This is sure to be a standard for all artists selling through iTunes.

I have a really problem with the idea that “DRM-free” is equal to “premium.” After all, eMusic sells DRM-free music for about $0.33 a song. The only reason Apple is doing it this way is to appease the big labels that want to charge more per song. That’s all part of the deal, though. If you want to sell DRM-free music, you’ll have to charge listeners $1.29 per song. You’ll also have to sell music in AAC format. If you want MP3, you’ll have to go through eMusic.

Here’s one more thing that nobody’s really talking about. These premium downloads will be twice as big as the regular iTunes downloads. Suddenly, that old 20GB iPod and that 2GB iPod nano don’t seem quite so spacious, do they? Surely, iPod lovers will want to upgrade to newer models with a lot more storage space for these larger files. Apple probably has a slew of 40GB iPods and 8GB nanos in the pipeline just for this…

Anyway, the real question now is how soon Apple will allow indie labels or artists who got into the iTunes Music Store through CD Baby, Tunecore or The Orchard to sell DRM-free music. Sure, independent artists have other ways of selling DRM-free music, but none of them are as dominant in the marketplace as iTunes. Apple has done a pretty decent job of letting the indies play in their sandbox in the past. They ought to be allowed to play now, too.