Record labels go after `casual' pirates

[BJ_M]

(KRT) - The record labels are in pursuit of a new class of music pirates - not the millions who download bootlegged songs over the Internet but those who copy music CDs for their friends.

The music industry considers the seemingly innocuous act of duplicating a music CD for someone else "casual piracy," a practice that surpasses Internet file-sharing as the single largest source of unauthorized music distribution. After fits and starts, the industry's largest players are taking measures to place curbs on copying.

Sony BMG Music Entertainment, home to some of the music industry's biggest acts, including Bruce Springsteen, System of a Down, and Shakira, plans to copy-protect all music CDs sold in the United States by the end of the year. Another major label, EMI, whose artist roster includes Coldplay and Norah Jones, will introduce copy-protected CDs in its two largest markets - the U.S. and the United Kingdom - in the coming weeks.

For consumers, it signals an abrupt change to the rip, mix, burn mania embodied by the 2001 Apple Computer ad campaign promoting the first iMac computer with a CD-burner and software for creating custom music CDs. These new copy-protected disks limit the number of times people can create copies of music CDs or add individual songs to music mixes.

"You can do with the CD you bought what you do with it if you're within the realm of personal use," said Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG's president of global digital business. "You can burn a copy that you play in your car or a copy that your son plays in his bedroom or make a personal mix. That's fine. That's the way people listen to music these days. If you attempt to burn 20 copies and distribute them to the kids who come to your son's birthday party, that's not possible."

Copy protection raises an even bigger problem for the millions of people who own Apple's iPod digital music player and use its iTunes software to organize their music and create custom CDs. Apple has refused to license its FairPlay rights-management software - even to the labels. That means certain copy-protected CDs won't work with iTunes or the iPod without employing time-consuming workarounds.

"They do not play on iPods simply because Apple has this proprietary approach," said Hesse of Sony BMG's copy-protected CDs. "We would be willing and able to put" FairPlay "on CDs in an instant if Steve Jobs would flick the switch and allow us to do that."

Apple refused to comment. However, well-placed sources within the music industry said the computer maker is still in active discussions with the labels to find a solution.

"We're working with all the major digital portable music players out there and our goal this year is to make them 100 percent compatible, so that when you put your disk into your computer, what opens up is your standard portable player interface," said Peter Jacobs, president and chief executive of SunnComm International, whose technology protects Sony BMG disks.

The music labels have been experimenting with various forms of copy protection since 2001. But early attempts yielded embarrassing results: the CDs didn't play in all stereos or computers.

The labels say such technical glitches are a thing of the past. EMI has distributed more than 127 million copy-protected disks in 48 countries with few customer complaints.

"The technologies we're testing have matured to the point where consumers can play, rip, burn and in some cases share their music with others while still protecting the intellectual property of EMI's artists," wrote Richard Cottrell, the label's head of anti-piracy in an instant message.

The industry has been emboldened by Sony BMG's success with the first copy-protected release from a major act. Velvet Revolver's June 2004 release of "Contraband" topped the Billboard charts and ended up selling more than 7 million copies worldwide. It suggested consumers were willing to accept copying curbs that mirrored those of the digital download stores.

Now, half of Sony BMG's new releases - including the Dave Matthews Band's million-selling "Stand Up" - are protected. All new CDs will be copy-protected by year's end.

EMI will test various copy-protection technologies in different parts of the world, starting with trials in the UK that began this week.

The copy protection technologies from SunnComm, Macrovision and Sony DADC differ in subtle ways. There are, however, some similarities. Many come with two sets of recorded music - songs in the unprotected format that plays whenever the disk is inserted into a CD or DVD player, and a separate "session" of compressed, copy-protected files that open when the disk is inserted into a computer.

SunnComm's newest technology doesn't require two recording sessions on a disk. It adds the copy protection to the music on the fly, in whatever format the labels choose: Windows Media or Sony's ATRAC. SunnComm disks will also play on Macs. That's not true for the Macrovision technology behind EMI's copy protection.

On the PC, a message appears that asks the buyer for permission to install a piece of software on the desktop. Answer no, and the disk is ejected. It won't play. Once installed, the software regulates how often people can rip a full copy of the CD to the computer, burn individual tracks or make full copies of each album. EMI, for example, will permit the consumer to upload an album once per computer, burn individual tracks seven times and make up to three full copies of each CD.

This not only prevents people from making endless dubs of CDs for friends, it potentially dries up the leading source of unprotected MP3s music files that feed the Internet file-sharing networks.

The move to embrace copy protection could boost Apple's online music rivals, such as Napster or Yahoo Music, which are based on Microsoft's technology, according to Paul-Jon McNealy, an analyst with American Technology Research in San Francisco.

Apple has three choices: do nothing and gamble that consumers will be so annoyed with copy protection, they'll stop buying music CDs; license its FairPlay technology; or embrace the technology of its longstanding rival, Microsoft, said McNealy.

Michael McGuire, research director for GartnerG2 in San Jose, Calif., said it's too soon to predict how copy protection will impact consumers who use iPod and iTunes. But it could prompt some consumers to stop buying CDs and go online for their music purchases.

"Are these people likely to write angry letters to the editor or to Sir Howard, registering disgust?" said McGuire, referring to Sony's new chief executive, Howard Stringer. "No. They'll find it somewhere else."

---

© 2005, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.).

[banger298]

what next paying for how many time you lisen or view to the the stuff

[lordsmurf]

do nothing and gamble that consumers will be so annoyed with copy protection, they'll stop buying music CDs

Or release so much crappy music that they stop buying music.
That would be me.

[Kingnog]

Wouldn't a computer reformat or some registry "tweaking" reset the counter, or whatever system it uses to regulate this stuff? I'm sure it won't stop online filesharing, as the article claims. It's just something else that's going to annoy consumers.

[lordhutt]

I wonder if the same people that write the protection schemes are the same ones that write the software to crack them!!! They could get 2 paychecks that way.

[BJ_M]

Wouldn't a computer reformat or some registry "tweaking" reset the counter, or whatever system it uses to regulate this stuff? I'm sure it won't stop online filesharing, as the article claims. It's just something else that's going to annoy consumers.

just do it in a vmware virtual pc

[Cornucopia]

Having dealt with...

Bad incomplete burned discs,
Open session discs,
Multisession audio tracks,
Multisession VCD tracks,
Mode "0" discs,
Altered Subcode discs,

some intentional and some accidental, I can say that I have yet to NOT be able to retrieve and copy what I want from whatever disc I'm working on. And I know I'm not alone.

Tools like BlindRead/Write, CloneCD, ISOBuster, CDMage, etc. are robust and have been around for a while.

The cat's out of the bag and has been out for years. No way it'll get stuffed back in.

Hell, even my parents can learn to hold down the shift key when they insert a disc into the computer, and they're 85...

Scott

>>>>edit: forgot to put in the important "NOT"!

[dbloom]

I recently purchased the newest Foo Fighters album, In Your Honor, that has this protection. It is the famous protection who's achilles' heel is the fact that it's completely software-based and uses Autorun. All you need to do is hold down SHIFT while inserting the cd, or run two command prompt commands to disable the DRMware once its installed. The only purpose of this is to restrict the consumer and force them to buy more copies for backups, mix CDs, etc, and that's all there is to it.

[BJ_M]

I recently purchased the newest Foo Fighters album, In Your Honor, that has this protection. It is the famous protection who's achilles' heel is the fact that it's completely software-based and uses Autorun. All you need to do is hold down SHIFT while inserting the cd, or run two command prompt commands to disable the DRMware once its installed. The only purpose of this is to restrict the consumer and force them to buy more copies for backups, mix CDs, etc, and that's all there is to it.

EMI, for example, will permit the consumer to upload an album once per computer, burn individual tracks seven times and make up to three full copies of each CD.

really not THAT restrictive .....

[MOVIEGEEK]

Yeah all this is scare tactics,there's no way this can work if you disable autorun or hold the shift key.
Not that this matters to me,I haven't bought an audio CD in two years....most of the new stuff is crap.

[dbloom]

EMI, for example, will permit the consumer to upload an album once per computer, burn individual tracks seven times and make up to three full copies of each CD.

really not THAT restrictive .....

Too bad the copies are made from crappy WMA sources stored on the CD. By the way, those copies are un-DRM'd, so the only REAL purpose of the technology is to prevent us from getting full quality when we use fair-use.

By the way, having to use a full-screen Internet Explorer wrapper to play the album just so we can see some random full-screen logo of the band is slightly inconvenient if we like to listen to music while doing other things on the computer.

We're not the ones pirating the music, we're the ones paying $15 or so to get the "real thing", as the recording industry says. Somehow, the "real thing" has become worse than pirated copies. This is the first CD I've actually bought, instead of downloaded, in a while. It will also be the last.

[sullen]

"This not only prevents people from making endless dubs of CDs for friends, it potentially dries up the leading source of unprotected MP3s music files that feed the Internet file-sharing networks."

Viva la Vinyl! It only takes one good mastering to get around this. Look at the Vinyl only preview of Elephant from the White Stripes. Someone just broke out the turntable and did it the old fashion way and recorded it.

[BJ_M]

makes microsoft happy though ... bill can sleep better at night

[dbloom]

"This not only prevents people from making endless dubs of CDs for friends, it potentially dries up the leading source of unprotected MP3s music files that feed the Internet file-sharing networks."

Viva la Vinyl! It only takes one good mastering to get around this. Look at the Vinyl only preview of Elephant from the White Stripes. Someone just broke out the turntable and did it the old fashion way and recorded it.

Even as of now, it is near impossible to find a CD rip of Seven Nation Army on p2p. Even though it got ripped, it became "the" rip and now you have to get the CD or search on p2p for a long time to get the highest quality.

That said, most of the files on p2p don't come from end users - those users actually usually do rip to protected WMA because that's what WMP does. Most p2p mp3s come from mp3 scene ripping groups, which are a little harder to shut down.

[painkiller]

Well, since the "music" industry doesn't really pay much attention anyway - I guess they really have no idea that a recent European report has stated that the decline in music sales isn't even as a result of the P2P filesharers.

So I guess that kinda explains why they wish to go after the "casual" thief.

I got news for them. (But they probably won't pay attention to me either.)

Those of us who were, and still are, real musicians already know just who the thieves are.



They really ought to consider their expenses in these trials of theirs.
Their kitty WILL dry up eventually.

[BJ_M]

Well, since the "music" industry doesn't really pay much attention anyway - I guess they really have no idea that a recent European report has stated that the decline in music sales isn't even as a result of the P2P filesharers.

So I guess that kinda explains why they wish to go after the "casual" thief.

I got news for them. (But they probably won't pay attention to me either.)

Those of us who were, and still are, real musicians already know just who the thieves are.



They really ought to consider their expenses in these trials of theirs.
Their kitty WILL dry up eventually.

yes - posted here

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=271545

[vitualis]

I rather like autorun... Guess I'll just have to rip and encode my CDs with Linux...

Regards.

[rumplestiltskin]

The copy-protection scheme is non-functional on OSX.

[Darth Paris]

So what happens when you copy the CS to your PC as .mp3 files and then uninstall the software? I really doubt it would delete the .mp3s. What if I place the .mp3s on a portable drive and transfer to another PC?

[adam]

This is probably out of character for me but I actually do think this kind of protection is too restrictive. I have no problem with protections that generally frustrate copying, or that prohibit the copying of a copy, or that track copies so that they can be traced back to the original.

But putting an arbitrary limit on the total number of copies that can be made seems unfair. Is it not possible to honestly make 4 copies for personal use? I can definitely see that happening.

In the US, section 1008 (note not Fair Use, that doesn't grant you the right to backup anything) says you can make backups of musical recordings for personal use...period. If the Legislature didn't feel the need to put a number limit on the right to copy I don't think the copyright holder should be able to read one into the law.

Unfortunately due to function of section 1008 it is probably impossible to prevent the labels from doing this. But if you got caught bypassing this protection I think you'd have a pretty good defense.

[mazinz]

but here is whats funny about this: I have one import cd with this type of protection (ask about installing the software message). I click no, disc stays in the drive, or hell even if i leave that message up on my pc it doesnt matter.

I open any general cd ripper (like cdex for example) and i was still able to rip the songs without installing their guard software from the cd itself. I then tried some other rippers with the same result.

So it seems you do not have to install any software from the cd to your pc and you can still rip it just the same. Im sure though more commercial rip type devices (like using windows media player) would crash with this, but again this protection did not seem to work in my case

for the record this was done on win xp

[DereX888]

Guys, who cares?
Just bypass any of such idiotic 'news' - because who cares, really?
Let'em waste more money on 'copyprotection' if they want to, its their money afterall. Most of the CEOs really have no clue about *anything* else but using email on their super-duper laptops and minis. Trust me, at my govt. work I see'em more often than I want to
Heck, most of them are CEOs just because theyre friends of a friends or a families of 'the powers that be'. What most of them really know is how to bullshit each other, preferably during golf. They are morons.
my favorite:
http://media2.guzer.com/videos/ms_motivation.wmv
(or here: http://www.guzer.com/videos/ms_motivation.php)

So don't blame all the smart-ass programmers in their tweenies selling them crap as a protection for their discs
After all - again - who cares?
We all did and will do whatever we please/want with any discs...

[Neroon]

Sooner or later all those pirate/witch-hunts are going to massively backfire, when customers who really only casually pirate realize, that if they are getting criminalized anyway they have nothing to loose by going p2p instaed of buying.

[waheed]

Let'em waste more money on 'copyprotection' if they want to, its their money afterall.

Not neccessarily. The cost of using copy protection is passed onto the customer. Its our money being used.

[Panash]

My understanding is that Philps are totally opposed to all this & insist on the removal of the 'Compact Disc' logo from such coppy protected products.

Anyone care to confirm this?

PN

[Nilfennasion]

Let them try it. I rarely, if ever, buy any of the aural turds they call music these days, anyway. If they want to really understand why casual copying is declining their sales, compare the tracks you can hear here:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00003IE26/qid=1119011708/sr=8-2/ref=pd_...music&n=507846

with that which you can hear here:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005Q4QX/qid=1119011753/sr=1-1/ref=sr_...glance&s=music

I sent a friend of mine in England several MP3s of the latter band. She has since bought two legitimate albums of theirs from Amazon. I rest my freakin' case.

Oh, and the insistence of CD-DA logo removal from copy-protected CDs is for real. Peaceville recently made the stupid mistake of putting copy protection on some of their current wave of releases (like they need it, their product is GOOD). Not a CD-DA logo to be found.

[ROF]

Let'em waste more money on 'copyprotection' if they want to, its their money afterall.

Not neccessarily. The cost of using copy protection is passed onto the customer. Its our money being used.

Not this customer. When a CD costs more than $4.99, I don't buy it because it's too high priced to be of value to me. If I really need new music for which a CD costs more than a DVD movie, I record it from the analog radio, turn on my 21st century radio (AKA P2P), or wait until the price drops to a point where I am not being robbed.

[yoda313]

Hi,

Big deal there's always the "analog" hole. Just hook up a cd player to your input jack and hit record. End of story.

Kevin