Tuesday May 15 10:00 AM EDT
Label releases copy-protected CD with Pride
By Gwendolyn Mariano CNET News.com
As teenagers slip through Napster (news - web sites)'s
increasingly dense
filters for the latest pop craze, veteran country music singer
Charley Pride is
trying to sell a new method of thwarting file traders:
copy-protected CDs.
Nashville, Tenn.-based Music City Records is
betting
that the technology protecting "A Tribute to
Jim
Reeves," to be released Tuesday, will keep the
songs
from appearing on Napster and alternative free
file-swapping services.
In March, a federal court order required
Napster to
block access to certain files identified by
the record
industry as copyrighted works. The company has
been
covering its service with complex filters, but
record
labels, musicians and publishers are still wary of the Net and
its ability to
open doors to free music.
As a result, the music, publishing and film industries are
working with digital
rights management companies to thwart would-be pirates.
Although record
labels and film studios have had some success in courts, the
technological
side has proven more difficult. Last year, BMG Germany's push
to secure CDs
using technology from Israeli security company Midbar failed.
BMG
abandoned its project after complaints piled up from customers
who said their
players could not read the discs.
On Pride's new album, encryption technology by Phoenix-based
SunnComm
prevents people from copying the CD's music on a burner or
downloading it
onto Napster in a digital form, according to Music City
Records. The
recordings can be downloaded into MP3 or other music file
formats, but only
after an individual purchases the CD, which has a list price of
$16.98, and
registers that copy.
Bob Heatherly, chief executive of Music City Records is
confident that the CD
will prevent people from breaking the encryption code. The
label, which was
founded in January, decided to release copy-protected CDs in
response to
Napster's controversial service, which does not compensate
artists. Heatherly
added that when he negotiated with Pride to sign him on his
label, the singer
wanted to ensure that his music was protected.
"It's the first release on Music City Records, so it's kind of
a landmark for me
and Charley," Heatherly said. "It looked like the labels were
laying back to
see what the courts do, and I can't believe the courts are
continuing to let
Napster run the service...(so) it was a perfect time to do it."
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/cn/20010515/tc/label_releases_copy-protected_cd_with_pride_1.html
