Promo MP3 Rip-Off Morality Question

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Copies of the new Radiohead album, plus the new Wallflowers album (as if anyone wants it) are doing the round, despite hem hem superhuman security precautions. To what extent is this a bad thing? Can record companies stop it? Who should get promo copies, anyway? Are tightly guarded promo CDs about intimidation of critics as much as stopping piracy? Etc. etc.

― Tom, Wednesday, 13 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

In order:

None.

Nope.

Everyone.

Probably.

There, simple. ;-) I would say more, but oddly enough there's actual work here at present...

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 13 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

i am probably in the minority, but i think this is kind of a bad thing. i guess record companies can't stop it, and it's not THAT big a deal, but too many people are coming to see music as something that should be free. hey, it's available on napster, why not get it? promo copies should be sent to people who are legitimate reviewers -- it's up to the individuals to prove their worth to the record companies, so someone like tom could very well become a regular recipient. it's not that hard to get on their lists.

anyway i think anyone who downloads whole albums in advance of their release ought to think about what they're doing and the consequences. i.e., if you share it on napster, it almost certainly will mean the band losing money.

― catherine, Wednesday, 13 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

How different is this from the profit loss due to copying that can happen after the music is released officially? You just said on your pita, Catherine, that you taped the new Beck album. This is the modern (after the decline of tape-copying when many people gave up tapes) equivalent.

― Josh, Wednesday, 13 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

'Sides which, as has become all the more depressingly clear with time, it isn't the band losing on these things so much as the record companies. And frankly, which it comes to the major labels and the wannabes aiming for that level, I am *more* than happy to see them go down.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 14 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

getting back to what josh is saying, i still think that in our society as it is that taping an album is more of a "crime," if you will, than downloading mp3s. to me, having music on a cassette, despite how "passe" it is, is still a legitimate form that's easy for one to listen to. technology being what it is, downloading mp3s and then burning them onto a disc still isn't very feasible for most. point in fact: i never bought the albums i taped from others; i have on the other hand purchased albums i've downloaded off the net.

― fred solinger, Thursday, 14 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

the supreme court has already ruled making taped copies for personal use is not a crime. however, posting a song online where potentially millions could have access is quite a different thing indeed. it is essentially the same as me making a million dubbed cassettes and mailing them to all my close personal friends.

i have a friend who has refused to buy cds since purchasing his cd burner and discovering mp3s and that was almost two years ago. if napster is a revolt against high cd prices it doesn't wash, why then don't these same people steal cars to rebel against the outrageous price of a toyota corolla? it is the same story, if something is free there will be always be those who will be there to take advantage and then they will begin to evolve so that they come to feel they are indeed entitled to free music.

― , Saturday, 16 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

josh, i know, and i felt guilty about taping that beck album! i had my way with it and then didn't need to buy it when it came out. i'm sure this is happening with many radiohead fans too. and i agree with the person who said that it's one thing to make a tape for my own personal use; it's another to share it with millions of other people, some of whom might not be so reasonable as fred, who still buys cd's. there are plenty of kids for whom downloading and burning IS easy and second nature and as time marches on and technology improves there will be more and more of them.

― catherine, Thursday, 21 September 2000 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

four years pass...

Depends.

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 01:29 (eighteen years ago) link

Depends.

-- Mark (r-...) (webmail), August 10th, 2005. (MarkR)

On conditions such as, you know, if it's in /1up/ or /2up/.

― Mickey (modestmickey), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 02:48 (eighteen years ago) link

Why do rock critics and radio DJs need promo CDs anyway? Fuck them. They can wait until the release date just like everybody else.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 11:55 (eighteen years ago) link

Or even just download it in advance like everyone else - but I'm convinced most of them don't give enough of a shit about music to even bother about that!

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 12:04 (eighteen years ago) link

a half decade gap between answer and question. is that a record?

― piscesboy, Wednesday, 10 August 2005 12:08 (eighteen years ago) link

There was a thing a few months about critics being sent more vinyl these days wasn't there?!

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 12:09 (eighteen years ago) link

Then they just ripped the vinyl to mp3s, didn't help anything.

― svend (svend), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 12:33 (eighteen years ago) link

Snrub = kidding, right? I mean, if every publication reviewed records five months after they came out, what would be the point of Magnet?

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 18:41 (eighteen years ago) link

four years pass...

sony cut the promo cd supply, and word-y people react :

http://whatsheonaboutnow.blogspot.com/2010/03/end-of-promo-copy.html

personally speaking, my postie is chuffed to bits re the falloff in promo cd supply being directed towards irlm hq as my letterbox is a finger snapping beast. oh, and it also means i have a lot more freedom to listen to what i want to = major bonus.

― mark e, Wednesday, 3 March 2010 21:50 (fourteen years ago) link

I forget what streaming software it is that Sony use exactly but I had to use something called the MPE Player to listen to an Island (iirc) promo last week and it didn't work properly and completely fucked my PC up. Cocks. Soundcloud or god forbid an actual DL link, no problem

― sometimes I feel like throwing my glands up in the air (DJ Mencap), Wednesday, 3 March 2010 22:16 (fourteen years ago) link

i have used that MPE once for that guillemots bloke solo album.
was bearable experience, (actually i should qualify that, album was shite, the s/w bearable)
- but certainly wont be rushing to click the links next time i get any more such offers.
and yes, surely it must be a matter of time before soundcloud is bought out by a major and sucked up to be the main avenue for promo supply.

― mark e, Wednesday, 3 March 2010 22:26 (fourteen years ago) link

Play MPE works just fine on a Mac. I use it all the time. Get a real computer.

And that Sony thing may well be UK-only; Sony Latin here in the US just sent me a bunch of CDs.

― neither good nor bad, just a kid like you (unperson), Wednesday, 3 March 2010 22:34 (fourteen years ago) link

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