James Delahunty
19 Sep 2005 19:33
Sometimes when we encounter copy protection on CDs that make it a pain in the ass to rip the CDs, we often make a major mistake by blaming the artists because their work is protected with copy protection. However, in a lot of cases, artists who are signed to major labels like Sony that use copy protection on CDs don't agree with it and often become angered about it. Tim Foreman of Switchfoot has become the latest artist to speak out against Digital Rights Management Technology at a music forum.
He expressed his anger at DRM after the band received numerous complaints from fans that they could not import the music to programs like iTunes. "My heart is heavy with this whole copy-protection thing." Foreman said. "We were horrified when we first heard about the new copy-protection policy that is being implemented by most major labels, including Sony (our own label), and immediately looked into all our options for removing this from our new album." he added.
"Unfortunately, this is the new policy for all new major releases from these record companies. It is heartbreaking to see our blood, sweat and tears over the past two years blurred by the confusion and frustration surrounding this new technology." He also expressed his feelings about criticism being misdirected to artists over copy protection. "It is also unfortunate when bands such as ourselves, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, etc. are the target of this criticism, when there is no possible way to avoid this new industry policy." he said.
Instead of just speaking out about the copy protection, he also went one step further and detailed how a fan could work around the DRM to import the music to their favourite players. This is obviously something that won't be greeted by major record labels; the last thing any of the big four labels want is for their artists to firstly bash their copy protection policies and then actually give details to their fans, whom they have influence over, of how to get around them.
"We refuse to allow corporate policy to taint the family we've developed together." Foreman said in his defense. "We deeply regret that there exists the need for any of our listeners to spend more than 30 seconds importing our music, but we're asking as friends and partners in this journey together to spend the extra 10 minutes that it takes to import these songs." It is important that artists do come forward and make their feelings about copy protection known, whether they are for it or against it.
Since a significant number of artists probably don't agree with copy protection on their work that actually causes problems for their fans, it would be interesting to know how the industry would deal with such artists, considering that the music industry's major record labels wouldn't be too shy about legally threatening a website that gives details on how to bypass DRM protection -- what about their signed artists?
Source:
VnuNet.com