CD Players Glued Shut To Stop Piracy
from the getting-pretty-desperate dept
Joe Schmoe writes "A US record company has issued reviewers with portable CD players that are glued shut to prevent two new albums from being pirated online before their official releases. This is just sad and silly. The industry's worst gaffes (Eminem's last, ahem, album for example) are/were the results of internal leaks [it was pirated before it made it to its public release], not reviewers and customers (or is it theives - can't remember what we're called today). '...It's a sign of desperation,' Peters told New Scientist. 'I think it's time for them to start rethinking their business model because it's getting ridiculous...'" I imagine it doesn't make the reviewers all that happy either, since it suddenly imposes restrictions on them. What if they don't want to listen to it via crappy headphones?
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..since it suddenly imposes restrictions on them..
Not exactly "sudden", since similar tactics (glued shut walkmans, proprietary music formats etc) have been around for at least five years and some say before that...
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Meanwhile in a more productive move...
Bon Jovi is including a serial number with it's latest CD that purchasers can use to register and get higher priority on concert tickets and unreleased music:
http://americanxs.bonjovi.com/bj/pitch-eng.html
People will pay a fair price for a slightly premium product over a free one. If people are willing to pay a reasonable price for bottled water when they can get water for free, they will (and do) pay a reasonable price for a CD over free music.
steve snyder
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Proving beyond a shadow of a doubt..
that the labels are run by morons. Wouldn't it have been cheaper to preview the album through Pressplay (Sony owns Epic and part of Pressplay)? Unbelievable.
That said, I'm extremely tired of this continued "labels are greedy stupid assholes" thread here......
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Re: Proving beyond a shadow of a doubt..
That said, I'm extremely tired of this continued "labels are greedy stupid assholes" thread here......
Oh so am I. But, it seems that many people still haven't understood this point. As long as many ordinary people (and worse, the government) continue to make ridiculous statements it's important for people to dissect them and point out where they're making fundamental mistakes.
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publicity
there's a pet theory (which i buy into) going around that epic did this purely for publicity for these 2 upcoming releases. pearl jam's sales have been declining, and since they refuse to do videos, there are 1-2 mtv generations that really don't even know what eddie vedder looks like. and tori's numbers have been sliding since '97.
seems like pulling a "stupid" stunt would drive awareness of these releases, and interest in acquiring any pirated tracks that do get out. if people already like to say you're dumb, might as well ham it up...
a tangent to this theory is that the discmans are thinly veiled bribes ("hey, free discman! only slightly sticky."). i'm less inclined to believe this tangent.
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