Sunday, January 1, 2006
Coldplay's new CD has rules: No MP3s, no DVD players, no car stereos

Coldplay's new CD comes with an insert that discloses all the rules enforced by the DRM they included on the disc. Of course, these rules are only visible after you've paid for the CD and brought it home, and as the disc's rules say, "Except for manufacturing problems, we do not accept product exchange, return or refund," so if you don't like the rules, that's tough.

What are the other rules? Here are some gems: "This CD can't be burnt onto a CD or hard disc, nor can it be converted to an MP3" and "This CD may not play in DVD players, car stereos, portable players, game players, all PCs and Macintosh PCs." Best of all, the insert explains that this is all "in order for you to enjoy a high quality music experience." Now, that's quality.

I wonder how Coldplay feels about their fans getting all these rules set down for them by the music label? I wonder if most fans who read these rules will be wise enough to blame corporate, or whether they'll just decide to dig up a band whose label treats them like customers, not crooks? It's amazing how the labels always seem to come up with new ways of screwing artists: if they're not cheating them out of royalties, they're systematically alienating their fan-base. Link (via Digg)

Update: Martin sez, "there's currently a great opportunity to tell Coldplay what you think of their DRM in 20 seconds or less via Skype.

posted by Cory Doctorow at 12:58:09 AM permalink

Sad, I'm gonna put a bunch of copyright protection on my CDs, and get rid of all my MP3s. Lets see how many albums I sell.

No mp3s, no DVD players, no car stereos...no customers.

What a crock!
I hope I can keep getting my 10 year old to listen and the Indipendants
It's hard to explain to him why I won't buy the same CD's his friends are listening to
But the more great music I can find for him and burn to CD he can spread the music, its soo hard though.

for some reason, i'm leaning on the side of believing that cold play is TOTALLY FINE with this situation.

You guy's have no problem punching the artists and the system that distributes their work to the masses.
You are also the same guy's that when the "system" , takes away your rights ,say's nothing and infact re-elects the same ideology for another 4 years.
The way I see it is you are afraid of all the Rules that the Establishment has put in place [the patriot act ] to make you pull your punches ,so you swing at "artists" and how they conduct their business within the establishment.
The right wing neo-conservatives have been VERY effective in getting some artists to fight amongst themselves.