Anti-Piracy Voice-Overs to Prevent CDs from Leaking
Written by Ernesto on January 12, 2008Recently, more and more CDs are being protected by voice-overs to prevent these albums from leaking to the public before the official release date. The voice-overs are pretty effective, but there is a downside, they start to annoy reviewers and even start to affect album ratings.
“WARNING: All songs on this promo CD are voice-over protected to avoid any piracy and illegal file uploading on the internet before the release date”
This is the message printed on the cover of protected CDs. Most filesharers are probably familiar with the “for your consideration” messages displayed in DVDscreeners, but similar messages on CDs are less known. The voice overs do their job, because of their inferior quality none of these albums are uploaded to the Internet. However, they also make it harder for the reviewers to do their job if the music fades out every other minute, and it’s starting to annoy them.
For example, take the review of Steve Lukather’s latest album on Komodo Rock, which was published earlier this week. Lukather is the guitarist from the well known band Toto, and his new album is set for release on February 22nd. The reviewer rated the album 2.2 out of 10, but not because it was a bad album. On the contrary: “What I’ve heard of this album is actually pretty damn good, very emotional, very mood driven, and had the potential to be a truly great album”, he writes.
So why the negative rating? The reviewer on Komodo Rock explains: “Well there’s no chocolate here, but what we have instead is a disembodied voice telling me what I already know, and destroying all the hard work Steve Lukather has put into this album. I’m all for protecting the rights of artists and labels, but this is not the way to do it, this is not a solution, this is a request to reviewers to ignore what their ears tell them and imagine what this album sounds like.”
We asked the reviewer about the prevalence of the voice-overs, and he told TorrentFreak: “The first track on the album is clear of all voice overs, so the first time this appears is at the 1:16 of track 2. It then repeats again at the 3 minute mark, and then one last time at 4:48. This track is 5:53 in length. This then continues throughout the album in this way, apart from track 8 which again is clear of all voice overs.”
The movie and the music industry are treating their own people as thieves now. Last week we reported about a 17 year Oscar screening veteran, who resigned because he had enough of being treated like a criminal. Similarly, the annoying voice-over anti-piracy messages are becoming a thorn in the side of music reviewers. Perhaps the entertainment industry should focus more on adapting to new technologies, and offering consumers some alternatives, instead of protecting their outdated business models.
Previously: UK BitTorrent Users Under More Pressure From Lawyers
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‘Are’ just sounds better to me.
I mean we are talking about more than one album right? Albums is just does not make since. The only way to make is work, is to make the sentence singular. Like “Because it is of inferior quality the album is not uploaded to the internet.” When talking of several albums “Because they are of inferior quality the albums are not uploaded to the internet.” And that is that. Grammar placed aside. If it sounds natural then it is correct.
[quote comment="261893"][quote comment="261860"]pirates are a dying breed. :)[/quote]
Yeah right[/quote}]
I second that
[quote comment="261966"]
Record sales are up retard. We are just the forefront of the fed up consumers. If they would adjust their business plan to fulfill the market’s needs/demands then this wouldn’t be a problem. But they don’t. They release low quality music from low quality artists at high prices. They are fighting a losing battle. One group of stubborn idiots cannot take a world wide market…they are in denial, not use my friend.[/quote]
why would they adjust their business plan, they have no reason to. even if they do, its always for their benefit. its a business they are running not charity.
if they release low quality music at high prices, its because people buy them. blame the consumers idiocy.
its the consumers who are losing the battle. buying what they dont need (at high pricess), wanting the lastest, never satisfied with what they have, consumerism at its best..
[quote comment="261270"]wow, are there really that many people from non-US countries here? No wonder you’re so angry. You live every day knowing that nobody cares what you think. You might as well be invisible, and that’s gotta suck.[/quote]
mate, what is wrong with you?? you embody the zenophobic idiotic american stereotype, an association most people wouldn’t want.
i don’t even know where to begin to flame that bullshit comment!
you are pretty stupid though thinkning there’ll be an isp tax:
1. what about pirated games, software, books…
2. who gets the money, what artists companies…
3. what about people who don’t file share?
go back to your small minded redneck facist world and stop spamming these posts!
“you give them power by GIVING THEM MONEY. foools..”
Well, I’m not down with the name calling, but your message is accurate. If we ALL stopped buying, the RIAA would have no more funding (eventually), and the lawsuits would stop.
When the RIAA filed the first round of lawsuits a few years back, I made the conscious choice to stop supporting an industry that sues its own customers.
I stopped downloading, and I stopped buying, as well. Music just isn’t a part of my life anymore.
In good conscience, could I support an industry that sues its own customers? Absolutely not. How could anyone?
It’d be funny to explain it to them- A bunch of goons and thugs dressed up in suits. “No, don’t sue your own customers! You’ll kill the business?”
“What? ME get MONEY!!! GIMMEE!!!”
“ME SAID!!!”
If I were a primary stockholder in one of the main record labels, I would tell my goons to call off the RIAA goons. (They’re all bufu buddies.)
“Every time the RIAA files a round of lawsuits, I will round up the board members, and we will fire ten of you executives.”
“Wha? Huh?”
You’d have to fire 50 mouthbreathers in suits before the rest would even understand what was going on.
Someone has to grab the wheel and make it stop, and then the record companies need to do a massive warm and fuzzy PR campaign to save their business, and even then, it’ll take years to do that.
There may be some stockholders who get that, but it’s probably too confusing for the people on the inside to be able to understand.
108th
They’re not suing their customers.
They’re suing people that are stealing from them.
What kind of idiot is unable to grasp that distinction?
[quote comment="262572"]They’re not suing their customers.
They’re suing people that are stealing from them.
What kind of idiot is unable to grasp that distinction?[/quote]
nobody is stealing anythink el idiotto. they just share it. What, it’s copyrightet? we don’t give a shit about any copyrights or trademarks ha ha ha.
[quote comment="261370"]
Perfection is an illusion. God is imperfect. You know why? Because we were created in his image.[/quote]
Well, even if God was perfect, the Bible was written by men, so anything in there is imperfect. Not to mention, all of those ultra-conservatist Christians that won’t change their views period are going to Hell anyway. They think they’re perfect (like God) and that pride (albeit slightly indirect but none the less prevalent) is going to send them to the same level of lucifer. I’m glad the big business leaders are going to a worse place than us “pirates”/”thieves”/whatever else they want to call us!
And that tax won’t work, if someone doesn’t illegally download, they’d get taxed as well for the easiest way for it to work, and no one wants to get taxed for no reason. So either they sue for taxing for no reason, or they start downloading with p2p and soon enough everyone will be getting their moneys worth and the music industry will lose more money. It’s a never ending cycle of increase taxes and lose more money until no one can pay, and thus revolution.
On topic though, to decrease movie priating too, they should add in voice overs in the actual movie as well, then there won’t be any screeners or bootleged movies at all because of the poor quality. You know, every few minutes a voice over tells us not to pirate. Sounds great! /sarcasm
Anyone remember the “My Love” leak?
“Atlantic Records, for T.I. Clearance”
Good times…
Refund please!
@109 by anonimo
Hi, anonimo, where do you live?
What about someone is stealing from you some money, and telling you, be not upset - is quite rigth, because you have made the thing possible to happen, and you have some money to eat, so be quiet?
Copyrights and trademark are not so bad, and i do not want to ignore them. If you are a man of some mental work, you know, what about i am speaking.
The problem is, that the music industry will have a lot of money, and they see, they cannot get what they want. Why? They have not realized, that we do not need them at the same level anymore where they were for some years.
In some countries peolpe think, success is equal to money. So, the other side must be true, anyway.
As more money i have the more succes i have.
Wrong. Jung people do not listen what is expensive, but what is fine for their taste. And, if they will have money, they will buy original, because originals have their values.
[quote comment="261010"]The bible is the most pervasive thing, it is written by corrupt men who sought to corrupt the mindsofmany and they have done a splendid job
I’m the savior you guysorgals have been looking for since ancient time
I’m a virgin, i am aloner, i am in touch with nature, and have done much to help everyone since my birth.
I know all, see all, hear all, and a perfectionist. I am never satisfied until perfect.
believing is seeing
I am here to offer my help to humanity who are on the path to destruction
I am the the solution to world peace
I will bring world peace through love, co-operation, and understanding of the world we live in.[/quote]
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/
[quote comment="261009"]Who cares.. Just wait for the official release and rip it then.
Someone should steal the original recordings of an album one day so the recording industry has no COPY of it anymore. Then they may realize the difference between stealing and copying.[/quote]
Oh how I chuckled when I read that.
[quote comment="261151"]The voice over doesn’t stop people from leaking because they can just get an audio splitter and joiner[/quote]
Not if it fades in and out to voiceover.
So far I haven’t had any review copies with voiceovers, although I guess most of what I’ve reviewed recently have been from indie bands. What I found much more annoying was two CDs I reviewed in the fall of 2005 (Disturbed’s 10000 Fists and whatever cd Trapt released around then) that wouldn’t play on a PC. They had been written so as to make anything capable of reading a data track think that all of the CD’s tracks were data. Apparently, plain ol’ stereos without support for MP3 discs and such would read it just fine, ignoring header data… but I didn’t own any of those. In the end, I had to torrent advances from people who’d managed to rip them to be able to review them.
[quote comment="261837"][quote comment="261775"] i don’t see how this plan could be implemented without pissing off alot of legal downloaders (and of course, pirates).[/quote]
Legal downloaders will now download music for free, as much as they want. Downloads are reported and the money collected is distributed accordingly. It is similar to radio: radio stations play music as much as they want by paying monthly fees. They report their playlists and artists are paid accordingly. It’s the same model.
Yes, pirates will be pissed off. But nobody gives two shits what they think. They don’t matter anymore.[/quote]
and how do you plan to report downloads? you can’t trace every individual that receives a complete mp3 file over p2p sharing. If somehow a way is found, torrents will just go underground.
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