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Sony pees in the wind

Posted by Adam on Monday, May 20, 2002 at 7:48 PM (EDT)

The major music labels have been testing copy-protection technology on several new releases by artists that (for the purposes of Punknews.Org) are not really important to mention. However, Sony Music's copy protection, probably the end result of countless hours of work, has been broken already by common office stationery. To crack Sony Music's elaborate copy-protection system, simply scribble around the rim of the disc with a felt-tip marker.

Am I advocating CD piracy? No. In fact I truly believe the artist should have control over how their music is distributed. Piracy is especially nasty for independent artists / labels who don't have the financial overhead of a corporation like Sony. However this is just another example of how the industry simply doesn't get it. If your consumers are demanding more convenient distribution and are not willing to pay big money for a one good song and eleven tracks of filler... maybe you should try dealing with that little problem first. Full copy protection is a pipe dream and is not solving the underlying problems with this industry... oh well, dinosaurs will die...

Rants! (27 comments)

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. Seriously.

Someone (May 20, 2002)

What also is funny is that, technically, markers should be illegal in the United States under the DMCA. --Big Letter Guy for further information check out this article about Celine Dion's CD (which features this technology) and how you can override it with a post-it note.

Someone (May 20, 2002)

And they are wondering why their sales are so low!

seek (May 20, 2002)

Yea I read this on some german web site. I loved it. No matter what kind of protection there is--on anything--crackers will find a way around it. The crackers outnumber the protection engineers, and they always will.

5+ Replies

Someone (May 21, 2002)

What will happen when bands find that putting out records/CDs is a money LOSING proposition?

seek (May 21, 2002)

It won't be, but that wasn't my point. I wasn't advocating anything, I was just stating the truth.

Someone (May 21, 2002)

I don't care about your "point". I just asked you a question.

JonBonBandersnatch (May 22, 2002)

they'll tour, make a more modest living than they are now, and clear out all the suckers in it for the money. sounds nice to me.

Someone (May 22, 2002)

you said crackers. i am offended. i am a white person and i dont like to be referred to as a cracker.

Someone (May 22, 2002)

How about pasty faced honky jive turkey?

Someone (May 20, 2002)

You make it sound like in the article that people only copy CDs when they only like 1 song and don't want to pay full price. Well I know tons of kids that just copy everything and anything, even their favorite artists. I guess this isn't so bad because all my friends listen to is mainstream crap. I would never do that to a band like Alkaline Trio or the Bouncing Souls (just 2 examples), they don't make tons of money and they live off their CD sales, so I hope none of you guys just copy these CDs, support the damn artists!

3+ Replies

JonBonBandersnatch (May 21, 2002)

i thought bands made their money off of touring and merch. aren't labels the ones making the real money off of albums?

Someone (May 22, 2002)

If artists wanna make money they should go get a job. All music is free now as far as I'm concerned. Doesnt matter what kind of band either.

Someone (May 22, 2002)

You are a pure bred idiot.

Someone (June 23, 2002)

and a queer

Exar_Kun (May 20, 2002)

i download full cds but i eventually buy them, i would just rather buy them at the show or if i find them cheap.

Jon_the_Skafather (May 20, 2002)

so.......does that mean that the pen truely is mightier than the sword? that's funny......to think that technically a gun can be more legal than a pen. funny but sad.

1+ Reply

Someone (June 23, 2002)

well, they're thinking about outlawing toy guns. why don't they think about outlawing REAL guns???

Someone (May 20, 2002)

I don't see why people in bother w/ the copy right protection. Like seek said above there's always away around it, and always will be. I mean if I'm watching Spider-Man and the new Star Wars on my PC right now, well that just says something... -Kirbaaaaay

Someone (May 20, 2002)

I bet if you clone the CD with a program called CloneCD (www.elaboratebytes.com) I believe will copy the entire CD. It doesn't crack the encoding just makes a RAW copy of it. So you would have the burn protect on the new CD UNLESS the actual protection is part of the physical disc. Give it a try.

1+ Reply

Someone (June 23, 2002)

yeah, its actually part of the disc in some cases

CallingLondon (May 21, 2002)

instead of going though all this trouble, spending millions of dollars on trying to stop people from burning a fucking CD, why don't they just LOWER THE FUCKING PRICES. CDs are insanely expensive, and that's why people resort to copying. don't they think people would rather have the actual album, with the artwork and all, if they could buy it for a reasonable price? i know i would. i mean i buy CDs anyway. once in a while i have friends burn me a CD, but i must buy a new CD 3 or 4 times a month. i think they need to stop wasting money on stupid copyright protection systems and think about what the real problem is.

3+ Replies

Someone (May 21, 2002)

right on man, if you go to a mainstream record store (which is all some areas have), cds run like 17, 18 bucks. thats fucking absurd. maybe people would buy cd's if they we're reasonably priced.

Jon_the_Skafather (May 21, 2002)

the record company doesn't have much control over the price of CD's. realize that there is a middle man involved, the record store. they choose the final price on cd's and how much the cd will cost. so make sure not to blame this on record companies as much as the distributors(record stores).

Shindo (adam) (May 21, 2002)

Up untill just recently, record labels used to set their CD prices. The US court system deemed that anti-competative but the practice has been slow to reverse itself...

Someone (May 22, 2002)

Well, the labels all have to have list prices for their products, don't they? After that, it's up to Tower Records or wherever how much they want to jack it up after that. I'm pretty sure both parties are guilty. But anyway, whoever made the original comment, I think you're right.

lockdown59 (May 22, 2002)

But think about the costs to cover. Out of those CDs purchased, portions go to things like: the cost of renting the studio, paying the band, paying label employees, paying for the pressing of CDs, etc. Its not just the record store as the middle-man. I go to Best Buy mostly to get my CDs. I have never bought a CD from them more than 15 bucks, and normally I get one for 12 or 13 dollars. and they have stuff from Go Kart, Fat, Vagrant, and probably many more. Though i have been looking for the Lawrence Arms there, to no avail.

lockdown59 (May 22, 2002)

Its a Win-Win situation for Sony. So, as we all know, manufactures tons of electronic equipment from CDs to Computers to Video games. Also, they own Columbia and Epic Records (and I htink some more, correct me if I am wrong). So, if CDs put out by artists on these labels are pirated using Sone CD burners, what the hell, its till money in SOny's pockets.

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