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SOHH Gyant Randomness: Could The NMC Tag Method Be The Answer To Curtailing Unauthorized Downloading?
Posted on February 24, 2009 10:40 AM
Over the weekend I observed an interesting sh*t storm develop between music fans and The New Music Cartel. For those of you who may not know, a handful of top music blogs have decided to join forces to become a dominating force in today's music scene. Nahright.com, Youheardthatnew.com, 2dopeboyz.com, Xcluisveszone.blogspot.com, Onsmash.com and dajaz1.com make up the gangsta's of new music.
And over the weekend when the crew decided to tag Kanye West & T-Pain's new song "Flight School" with their brand, hip-hop fans seemed to go ape sh*t because the song wasn't available to be downloaded without their tag playing throughout the record. That's when it hit me. "Could the NMC be on to something?"
If you're lost on the definition of tagging music, it's basically a method used to control how your music is put out in the Matrix. You'll notice from time to time when a record leaks online you might here a voice over alerting you of its origin. Think of it as the poor mans copyright, that prevents lurking DJ's from unauthorized usage of the material. It's also used to brand the person -or persons- who leaked the record.
Anyway the NMC tagged the Kanye and T-pain song in an effort to control the spread of the record, while also getting their props on leaking it to the public. Lowkey from Youheardthatnew.com told me that the record isn't even completed because it belongs to another artist who hasn't laid their verse yet. So the leak had to be handled a specific way.
But, the reaction from the NMC's readers was particuarly interesting to me. Many were upset that they couldn't download the song without hearing it riddled with "New Music Cartel". And that's when it hit me. What if the entire music industry came together and made it mandatory for ALL new music from ALL their artists be tagged unless purchased? This idea could dramatically decrease illegal downloading.
Think about it, if artists released music that was tagged, and it was done in a way that wouldn't compromise the integrity of the record then why not? It's become abundantly clear that downloading music has become a way of life, but if a tag initiative was launched, I feel that could be a great way of at least keeping it somewhat controlled.
A lot of consumers I talk to hate tags on music, and often times opt out of downloading a song that have them. Personally, I hate tags. But I don't mind it if I'm listening to new music for promotional purposes. If I like the record then I'll either search for a tagless track, or just wait until it pops up on Itunes.
And what if the idea was expanded to all the file sharing sites like Zshare, Mediafire, Sharebee, etc. that required any MP3 file to be tagged with the companies brand. The only tagless music would only be available after purchase.
Eskay at Nahright.com doesn't think that tagging music will help one bit. Here's his quote when I reached out to him.
It would make no difference if you ask me. A 5 second drop could easily be edited out and even if it couldn't, most people wouldn't mind a single 5 second drop if they meant they could get the song for free.
But even if every promotional track had such a drop, it wouldn't stop anybody from ripping the CD once it hit retail (or weeks before, as they do now) and sharing it.
While I half way agree with Eskay, I still think tagging music would make obtaning free music all that more difficult. And most people aren't all that computer savvy to snatch a track and edit ish out, etc. But what do I know. This blog was just a random thought.
But it's an interesting thought all the same.
Email: sohhgyant@gmail.com
8 Comments
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Really? hard to believe.
I heard this news times from many friends playing on a ta ll da ting site ___TallMingle Com___,i did not believe, i think that they are know nothing but da ting and love.
i am wrong.
Doesnt matter what they do, we still gonna burn cd's and download. Get your lazy azz out and do a show for some money.
Trick Daddy did this yearsssssss ago when he dropped "Thugs Are Us" to slow down all of the bootlegging and it worked too. I remember it so clear, throughout the entire cd you would hear "whoa whoa slown down Trick Daddy, you know Slip N Slide Don't Play"........it would happen like every 2 or 3 minutes on the leaked cd.
>>And most people aren't all that computer savvy to snatch a track and edit ish out, etc.
^it doesn't matter. all you need is one person who is savvy enough to make one tagless copy and it's a wrap. that's really all it takes.
conversations about trying to battle downloading are a waste of breath. it's never going to happen. either adapt or die.
I think that you have a point here. of course they couldnt just tag the track one time. it would have to be tagged throughout the whole song, but that can definitely get annoying. there will still b some people to download it, but it will probably decrease at a huge rate. and even though there would be people to rip the albums and share them, people still have to buy those albums, so album sales will increase by at least small margin.
Cosign Atl Red....They never be able to stop illegal downloading...As long as there is limewire which is based outside of the US, billions of people will be able to download for free...
Uh, you know this is why mixtape djs originally existed right? To get the new music out without the whole record leaking. You have the ones that could cleverly mix/scratch/blend or you had the djs that would put their dj name and exclusive all over the mixtape (big ups to some of my NY djs). These wack djs just started deciding it was ok to leak music and make compilations (that they call mixtapes). Let's go back to THAT way...
Gyant that is a great thought I might add. I know me personally I hate tagged music and will immediately dismiss it, if it has a bunch of craziness on it. You watching how the regular consumer reacted is point proof of how crazy this can get. The blogs that you mention are some high traffic blogs and I have been monitoring their downloads for new music.
These guys need to take a second look at that. I'm not saying it will stop it but it may curb it just tiny bit. I will have to concur with Clo Fresh all it takes is one track to hit the internet and it's over. There is always going to be someone who will fix the tag. Perhaps the record companies need to make it rip proof if there is a such thing.