It’s the last day of August, the 31st, and that means there are a whole bunch of incredible new albums being released in Germany today. As you’ve read over the past few weeks, hopefully you saw some you might like. Let’s just take a quick look back to remember what albums are out today…

• Joachim Witt - Auf Ewig-Meisterwerke
  Witt is wrapping up the Bayreuth Trilogy with his magnum opus, Auf Ewig. This album features all the greatest songs from his 25+ year music career, remade in a more modern sound. This is sure to be one of the highlights of the year.
• Emigrate - Emigrate
  After many years as a guitarist with Rammstein, Richard Kruspe found the need for a new outlet to release the songs he had stuck in his mind that didn’t match Rammstein’s direction. He formed the band Emigrate, recorded his songs, and now they’re out on CD. A definite must-have for Rammstein fans.
• mind.in.a.box - Crossroads
  mind.in.a.box is a successful Austrian electronic group and Crossroads is their new album. The European version is out today, but the CD will be released in America on September 25th on Metropolis Records.
• Schallfaktor - End of Love
  This latest EP from Schallfaktor includes several new songs plus a slew of remixes by other great harsh electro groups like Suicide Commando and Grendel. With 12 songs, it’s basically an entire album.
• Saltatio Mortis - Aus Der Asche
  Saltatio Mortis continues the trend of combining medieval instruments with modern day rock music. Fans have waited 3 years for this new album, but it has been well worth it. Check it out, if only for the awesome album cover.

Dependent Records has established itself over the years as one of the most well-known and successful German electronic labels and is the home of artists like Rotersand, mind.in.a.box, Suicide Commando, Stromkern, Girls Under Glass, and many others. But sadly, the label announced at the start of the year that they will no longer be accepting new bands to the label and will be shutting down permanently once their contractual obligations were met. With all of the recent releases coming from Dependent, it looks like that time is probably coming pretty soon now. But why did they make such a drastic decision? It’s not money, Dependent has actually been pretty successful. The real reason why they are shutting down is because of illegal downloading and piracy.

In label founder Stefan Herwig’s own words: “This is not about money, and it never was. It’s about being encouraged to continue to release music.” He explains how few albums are being purchased legally compared to the number that are downloaded illegally from P2P and torrent sites. “A popular claim often seen on Internet fora maintains that the P2P culture weakens the majors and bolsters the independent labels. This is, we can assure you, 100% bullshit.” In reality, piracy hurts the small labels just as much, if not more than the majors, because indie labels are operating with lower numbers and much slimmer margins. Stefan gives us a further example, “if 60% of the audience at a concert gained entry with forged tickets, the promoter, the band, the concert agency, and the venue would all be broke in a matter of weeks.” The same thing has been happening with the music itself, and Dependent has just had enough of it.

It’s sad, but true. Dependent estimates that the number of illegally downloaded albums exceeds their legally purchased albums by 3 to 5 times. And with no real legal actions being taken to change the ancient intellectual property laws in Germany (or in America, for that matter), industries where this is so important are dying fast. Who knows what the future holds for indie labels and the talented but underappreciated bands they support.

The Austrian futurepop duo mind.in.a.box is set to release their third album Crossroads on August 31st in Europe. The album will also be released in North America on September 25th. Both versions will be the same, containing 13 songs and playing for over an hour. You can already hear snippets from 6 of the new songs on their homepage or their MySpace page. It sounds great so far. If you’re into electronic music, it’s definitely worth checking them out.

Crossroads
01. Introspection
02. Amensia
03. Into The Night
04. Identity
05. Lucid Dreams
06. Fear
07. Stalkers
08. What Used To Be
09. The Place
10. Redefined
11. Lucid Dreams 2
12. Crossroads
13. Run For Your Life