Volumes have been written and blogged about the recent Sony/BMG rootkit
fiasco, which was the company’s attempt to protect its music CDs
by installing software that would prevent certain copying onto computers
and P2P networks. We will spare you the detailed recap and focus on the
impact on the musicians whose CDs have been “protected”.
A recent Businessweek article tracked down the managers for some of
the 50 or so bands whose CDs contained the offending XCP software. The
artists on this list include Van Zant, Celine Dion, Trey Anastasio,
Neil Diamond, and many more.
It’s clear that the managers who were contacted for this article
understand the negative, and possibly long term, impact this fiasco has
had on their artists. "We’re really upset about this," says
Patrick Jordan, director of marketing for Red Light Management, which
represents Trey Anastasio, former front man to jam band Phish. Anastasio’s
latest solo album, Shine, was released Nov. 1, just as news of Sony’s
rootkit was worming its way onto Internet blogs and listservs. "I’m
expecting a decrease in sales," Jordan adds. […] Indeed,
Shine debuted with 15,000 sales its first week. But by week two, when
the rootkit fiasco was in full swing, sales had plummeted to 7,000. "It’s
been damaging, and certainly we’re going to discuss that with the label," he says.
To add insult to injury, a NY Times story details the negative effect…by
looking at the customer reviews section on Amazon.com. Review areas for
artists like Van Zant and Celine Dion aren’t about the music,
but instead are stuffed with consumer complaints about Sony/BMG rootkit
problems. Meanwhile, the ripple effect of the bad publicity has dragged
down artists’ sales. From the NY Times: "It’s kind of unfair
to us," Johnny Van Zant said of the whole affair, no doubt echoing
the thoughts of other Sony BMG artists whose albums are now unfairly
trashed, tagged or wholly ignored in favor of copyright bickering.
Damien Kulash, lead singer of the band OK Go, wrote a compelling piece
from the artists’ perspective about DRM protections on CDs. Despite
millions of dollars in development, most DRM technologies fail because
they’re either quickly cracked by clever folks, or they’re
so strong that they become disruptive or damaging, and are rejected by
consumers. Instead of reducing piracy, Damien points out that poorly-designed
DRM strategies can push more people to filesharing networks.
From Damien’s NY Times op ed:
“Meanwhile, music lovers get pushed away. Tech-savvy fans won’t go
to the trouble of buying a strings-attached record when they can get a
better version free. Less Net-knowledgeable fans (those who don’t know
the simple tricks to get around the copy-protection software or don’t use
peer-to-peer networks) are punished by discs that often won’t load onto
their MP3 players (the copy-protection programs are incompatible with Apple’s
iPods, for example) and sometimes won’t even play in their computers.”
“Conscientious fans, who buy music legally because it’s the right
thing to do, just get insulted. They’ve made the choice not to steal
their music, and the labels thank them by giving them an inferior product
hampered by software that’s at best a nuisance, and at worst a security threat.”
We applaud Damien for this thoughtful article. There’s no doubt
that musicians are concerned about unauthorized copying, but many are
equally aware that poorly-designed attempts to control music fans’ behaviors,
especially the ones who are buying CDs in stores, do more to damage to
the label and that artists’ reputation than reduce the level of piracy.
We urge you to read this piece:
Buy, Play, Trade, Repeat
Op-ed by Damien Kulash, New York Times, December 6, 2005
You can read a more off the cuff version of this piece on Coolfer, where Damien was guest blogging in November.
You can see OK Go’s amazing no-cuts choreographed dancing in the
backyard video for their song “A
Million Ways to be Cruel” here.
Eat your heart out, Justin Timberlake!
Sony’s
list of CDs with XCP technology
Sony’s Escalating "Spyware" Fiasco
By Lorraine Woellert, Businessweek, November 22, 2005
Link By Link: Railing at Sony BMG, Disguised as a Review
By Tom Zeller Jr, New York Times, November 21, 2005
Sony debate could clarify digital-music rights issue
By
Keith O’Brien, PRWeek, December 5, 2005