Add Record Stores To Those Pissed Off By Copy Protection

Say That Again

from the do-they-even-listen-to-what-they're-saying? dept

Is there anyone that the record labels’ copy protection plans aren’t pissing off? We already know how it’s upsetting legitimate buyers and musicians, but apparently music retailers are also getting fed up. They’re complaining that people are either returning copy protected CDs as defective, or simply putting them back down once they see the copy protection designation on the disc. Of course, these stories are anecdotal, and the article has the required defensive comment from a record label representative, saying that they don’t really care about complaints, implying that anyone complaining is only trying to do something illegal: “People have had the freedom to give 10 friends a copy of a disc. For anybody that’s used to doing that, all of a sudden they’re limited… We know that people are used to a certain thing. The thing about it is that it’s not the right thing to be doing.” It’s not a surprising statement, but it shows exactly how screwed up the industry is. Actually catering to customer wants isn’t a priority. Telling those customers that what they want to do, and what they’ve been doing, is illegal is much more important. No wonder customers, record stores and musicians are all pissed off. About the only ones who don’t seem to recognize how much damage they’re doing are the record labels themselves.