James Delahunty
6 Oct 2004 11:45
This is the new logo that will appear on CDs provided by Indie label !K7. This is an unusual approach to Copy Protection as other major and indie labels look for new copy protections to prevent P2P piracy. "Copy protection kills customer relationships," the label says on its website. The basic idea is to show customers that they are respected and not treated as potential music pirates. "Only those to whom respect is given show respect themselves," the label notes.
This is not the first case of this backwards approach however, other companies and music labels are realizing the fact that their customers may feel they are being treated unfairly and may stray from buying their products. Sony Music Entertainment and fellow Japanese label Avex both earlier announced their plan to stop using CD lock-down technologies. !K7 believe that the average P2P download is not a lost sale, as the average P2P user is a casual music listener who wouldn't have bought the CD anyway.
This does not mean that the company is happy with the file-sharing situations. The logo "makes it clear that you've bought a CD and you can use it however you want. It's also clear, therefore, that good music has a prerogative - it has a right to be treated with respect," it says, pointing to the quid pro quo: if we agree not to lock-down CDs, we expect you not to abuse it. It will be interesting to see how many more follow in this direction.
Source:
The Register