This isn’t normally something I would mention, but I was so pleased with their setup that they deserve some praise. I wandered onto Tympanik Audio’s own site after looking for Autoclav1.1’s album Love No Longer Lives Here on Amazon and being discouraged by its high price. Three $5 albums and a few impulses later, I manage to end up with six releases for $62 shipped. The user interface is sleek, well designed and organized, and their integration with Paypal is pretty seamless, including a detailed itemized list of what you’re paying for. They only charged me a dollar per album for shipping, which turned out to be two bucks less than the postage label on the box claimed when it arrived at my doorstep.

Attn: other labels. Do what they do.

Also, the Autoclav1.1 rocks. First impression is that it’s definitely worth picking up.

I just noticed that within the last two months, the Metropolis Records catalog has become available for download on eMusic.com, an online music shop like iTunes that specializes in smaller indie labels. I’ve been a member on that site for a few years now, and Metropolis joining up now means that pretty much all of the major American distributors of darktronica music are now partners with eMusic.

This should not be construed as a plug for eMusic, because I think their business model is utterly out of touch with the state of the industry–you pay a flat rate on a monthly basis to download a fixed number of tracks (my plan is $15 for 50 songs a month). There’s no option to pay as you go, except by bumping up your plan with a “booster pack” of more songs; you can’t just buy a whole album, and you can’t subscribe for unlimited downloads. This means you often end up unable to download a whole album because you don’t have enough tracks left in your monthly quota, so you have to wait a few weeks to get the rest. However, they do have 30-second previews of any song in their inventory, and you can get some bang for your buck if you like a lot of bands that tend to put out 10+ minute songs. All in all, they have a place in the marketplace, but it’s a mixed bag.

Bottom line is, it’s a good source for stuff that’s hard to find from other online shops, and now Metropolis Records is on there as well.