Magnatune is an American independent record label based in Berkeley, California, founded in spring 2003 by John Buckman, then-CEO of e-mail software company Lyris. It aims at treating both its musicians and its customers fairly—its tagline is "We are not evil". It originally only sold music for download through its website, but added a print-CDs-on-demand service in late 2004, and in October 2007 began selling complete albums and individual tracks through the Amazon.com Music Store. In May, 2008 Magnatune launched all-you-can-eat membership plans, and is believed to be the only online music site to offer a DRM-free unlimited membership. From March 2010 Magnatune dropped the CD printing service, and moved exclusively to the all-you-can-eat membership plans. Magnatune was the first record label to license music online and as of May 2008 had sold over 3000 licenses in its five years of existence.

Magnatune describe themselves as "a pioneer in the fair trade music movement". Magnatune was one of the first commercial enterprises to use Creative Commons licensing.

John Buckman is founder of Magnatune, a Berkeley, California-based record label he founded in 2003 and which is known for its commercial application of Creative Commons licensing and overtly artist-friendly business practices. Buckman's methods include forming non-exclusive agreements with musicians, sharing profits equally with them, and allowing them to retain full rights to their own music. This approach is sometimes referred to as "fair trade music." Since founding Magnatune, Buckman has signed more than 250 recording artists across multiple genres.

In August 2006, he launched the for-profit corporation BookMooch, an online community for the exchange of used books, which—in combination with his work with Magnatune—has established Buckman as a prominent figure in the Free Culture movement. In February 2007, he was elected to the board of advisors of the Open Rights Group. In September 2007, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and in February 2010 he was appointed Chairman of the Board.

Brad Turcotte (born 14 November 1976), is a musician from Ottawa, Ontario. Turcotte performs under the name Brad Sucks. Promoting his music through sites such as Magnatune and ccMixter, as well as MySpace and Podsafe, he has used micropatronage to fund his albums, and releases his songs under a copyleft license, granting freedom to share and modify his work.

Turcotte received free publicity through blogs and interviews in free culture magazines. His first full CD, I Don't Know What I'm Doing, was released both through Magnatune and a limited "professional" printing from his own website.

Turcotte opened his website in 2002 with the intention of producing "open source music". His self-produced single, Brad Sucks One, included the audio source files used to create the finished files, and later he posted these source files to his website along with the mp3s.

I Don't Know What I'm Doing was released independently and without charge online on the 19th of December 2003 in mp3 form. It was also released in CD form on the 7th of June 2005 through both Magnatune and a limited "professional" printing from his own website with an extended version of the final track.

Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1986), better known by her stage name Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Raised in upstate New York, Del Rey moved to New York City at age eighteen, where she attended college and began writing music and performing in clubs.

In 2008, Del Rey contracted with an independent label and recorded a self-titled debut album which was briefly available on iTunes in 2010; Del Rey ultimately bought back the rights to the album and it was withdrawn soon after.

In June 2011, she released the song "Video Games" on the Internet, accompanied by a self-made music video that went viral in the following months. The song was later released as a single in October, leading up to Del Rey's major-label debut album, Born to Die, which was released on January 31, 2012 through Interscope Records. Born to Die debuted at number one in seven countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia. The album has spawned two worldwide top 10 hits: "Video Games" and "Born to Die".