Oriole Independent Artists is a for-profit organization that sells music online and provides independent artists with tools and an international infrastructure that they can use to promote their music or their band. OIA is helping musicians to be heard while protecting their rights as artists, and independent record labels in selling their music online.

According to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America): " [...] To the extent that artists use MP3 technology to distribute their work - music that they own the rights to - that's great; in fact, it's a potent example of the ways in which the Internet can connect creators and fans and produce new opportunities for the distribution of music." - RIAA Press Room

We at Oriole Independent Artists also share RIAA's view stated above.

One of the highest priorities of Oriole Independent Artists’ work is fighting international music piracy on the Internet. Therefore, we take active measures to insure that all music distributed online or via any medium by OIA is distributed legally. This is guaranteed by a series of pre-distribution contracts signed between OIA and its partners, labels, and independent artists, and random sample verifications of licenses granted to us.

Should you have any legal questions pertaining to Oriole Independent Artist's business model, ethics, or copyright protection measures, please, feel free to contact us.

Digital Right’s Management

“Digital rights management (DRM) is an umbrella term referring to any of several technical methods used to control or restrict the use of digital media content on electronic devices with such technologies installed. […]

Some digital media content publishers claim DRM technologies are necessary to prevent revenue loss due to illegal duplication of their copyrighted works. However, others, including civil libertarians, argue that transferring control of the use of media from consumers to a consolidated media industry will lead to loss of existing user rights and stifle innovation in software and cultural productions." - Wikipedia

"[...] And if the major players get their way, their reassertion of control would take the form of Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology embedded in every computer, CD or DVD player, car radio or mobile device, providing an extreme means of control over any attempt to share music. DRM, whether in software or hardware form, is impossible to employ without some level of infringement of the user's civil liberties.

Whether this is simply a matter of denying fair use rights, or delving deeper into setups such as TCPA/Palladium which entertain the possibility of remote data-mining, the risks to privacy are very real. When combined with anti-circumvention legislation, this results in a situation where the terms of copyright law are no longer defined by the government but by the publisher." - Miriam Rainsford

Oriole Independent Artists understands the concerns of record companies who are worried about losing income from illegal copies of their music, and artists who in turn may risk loosing royalty revenue. Though our default sales format is mp3, we will put music up for sale in DRM-protected formats if specifically requested by the licensor of the music. Recordings for which OIA is the licensor or co-publisher are sold in mp3 format, e.g. without DRM.

Customers’ Right

When buying a record… who owns it?

You, of course!

Oriole Independent Artists is part of a growing movement on today's market. The recordings you purchase from Oriole Collection are free of DRM, so you have the right to listen to them on any of your digital music players. Our philosophy is that, when you buy one of our recordings to listen to, it's yours!

Oriole nonetheless is sensitive to artist's rights, and is concerned with the illegal copying and distribution of its music, and so we encourage our customers to fully adhere to applicable copyright laws.

On Musician's Rights: Why Go Independent?

In the standard recording contract between a record company and an artist, there are some points of which the aspiring artist is often unaware, and which are at odds with what OIA feels are an artist's creative rights. Let us list just 10 of such contractual obligations below:

1. An artist must record a record at the record company's demand.

2. You can only record your music for the record company with which you signed a contract.

3. The record company chooses which songs are recorded and placed on an album.

4. The record company insists on being involved in every stage of the creative process.

5. The artist must appear where and when the record company demands for a performance.

6. If the record company belongs to a union, the artist must too be a member of that union, or join with 30 days.

7. If the record company does not feel your music will sell, it will simply not record your music, nor promote you.

8. If the record company desires, you must perform with another singer or band, in order to increase record sales.

9. The record company owns your songs once recorded.

10. From a CD with a suggested retail price of $14.98, the artist can expect a royalty of $0.447 after the artist's account expenses (production costs, promotion costs, etc.) have been paid off.

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