A writer for Arthur and Blender donated a bunch of CDs to a thrift store, and then got in big trouble after somebody bought one and uploaded it on a filesharing network. My Data Crime – The Ticking Time Bomb of the Watermarked Advance CD:
By watermarking their advance CD, Ba Da Bing was hoping not only that they would make recipients too paranoid to upload, but that the object itself would do the threatening. The physical advance, not the publicist or the label head, is now attempting to renegotiate the time-honored and rather informal promotional contract between company and writer. Such renegotiations can be aggressive, and such aggression destroys the aura of chumminess that rules between publicist and writer. One of the reasons I fucked up is that the Beirut advance did not clearly announce itself as being watermarked—my name was printed on the CD, which I didn’t even notice, and there was no further warning.
How is a record reviewer supposed to make any money if they can’t sell their promos?
MP3: Beirut – “A Sunday Smile” from The Flying Club Cup, due October 9 on Ba Da Bing.
Via bb.
