Delegates at the In The City industry conference in Manchester have been told that new technology could make CDs copy-proof without alienating listeners. Consumers have complained past pirate-proof CDs wouldn’t play on their PCs or older CD players. But experts reckon they have developed copy-proof technology without the limitations.
Delegates at the industry conference have also launched an education programme to combat perceptions among young people that music should be free. As part of the debate some industry insiders criticised labels who have started using free MP3s to promote album releases. "Is it right that people in our own industry are giving music away?" Andrew Yeates, of the British Phonographic Institute, asked. "We are shooting ourselves in the foot," AIM’s Gavin Robertson added. They’re wrong of course (see the CMU feature on the 'death of the music industry' – click on the downloads button at www.cmuonline.co.uk), but the education programme is an interesting idea.
Meanwhile the worldwide industry body the IFPI has announced the introduction of a new, optional logo that record companies can use to inform consumers that a CD incorporates technology to control copying. The logo will be used worldwide and can be incorporated into artwork or stuck onto the box. IFPI Chairman and CEO Jay Berman told us: "Copy protection is a logical response by the music industry to protect its product from mass copying and digital piracy. The new, optional logo will be of practical help to record companies and retailers in informing consumers that a CD carries some form of copy control."