Taking the Ting Tings: For the love of Sony BMG

[See below for update on 9 July 2008]

You might be thinking that this post is about the new debut album from The Ting Tings called “We Started Nothing.” It is. But it’s also a tale of DRM in an analog world. Let me explain.

At the local independent record store in my town, they had a vinyl copy of the Ting Tings album. That link is to the vinyl edition at Amazon.com, but my local record store has better prices than Amazon, thankfully. At any rate, on the album was a sticker that said inside was a coupon for a free MP3 download of the entire album. This is increasingly common these days with vinyl releases. Several records — such as by Interpol, Lupe Fiasco, and Dave Gahan — actually come with a copy of the CD when you buy the vinyl edition.

I got the record home and listened to it. Good stuff. The standout track for me was “Shut Up And Let Me Go.” That’s a great song.

And yes, there was a coupon inside the sleeve for the download. Many of the independent label albums I tend to buy include such a coupon. It’s usually a fairly easy matter to put in the code and download the MP3 tracks of the album. The MP3s are usually low quality (192 Kbps), but I suppose it’s better than nothing.

The Ting Tings download was different though. The URL on the coupon was this. That link redirects to an IP address that is “Powered by Neurotic Media.” Ever heard of Neurotic Media? Me neither. But I can tell you one thing: Neurotic Media are bastards. Their CEO is some guy who’s a founder named Shachar Oren. Neurotic’s website says that he is “the system architect behind the company’s patent-pending, ground-breaking technology platform.” What is this patent-pending, ground-breaking technology you may ask? It’s DRM, folks. This guy is inventing ways to screw over every music lover they can get their hands on. Not convinced? Let me continue the story.

So that page to download the Ting Tings album on MP3 has the following ominous warning: “Attention: Using Internet Explorer 6+ and Windows Media Player 9+ is strongly recommended. Also, please ensure Internet Explorer is set to ‘Accept All Cookies’ before you begin.” In hindsight I should have seen it coming. I was in a hurry, and I happened to be in Windows XP at that moment. I don’t know anyone who would use Windows Media Player and why would they recommend the Microsoft platform to download supposedly DRM-free MP3 files? There’s a simple answer: DRM, digital rights managment.

I left Firefox waiting, and brushed the dust off of Internet Explorer 7. I put in the special code on the coupon. And then the download began … or not. The next thing I noticed is that IE 7 had presented an alert. It asked if it could pretty, pretty please install some software called “DRM something something.” I was in a hurry, and I said yes. The software installed. I was then given the download. At this point, I was fully expecting DRM-laden Windows Media Audio files, but it was in fact DRM-free MP3 files.

So what did that website “Powered by Neurotic Media” install on my computer? Well, wherever that software went, it was well hidden. I never did find the software. I looked in the IE 7 add-ons. I looked in the Windows downloaded ActiveX programs folder. I looked a bunch of places, and it was simply not to be found. Of course it wasn’t in the Add/Remove Programs control panel.

Who had hired this evil company Neurotic Media to install DRM software on my computer? Why, it was Sony BMG of course. Sony BMG is known most for having lost a lawsuit in 2005 concerning CDs that they had added damaging DRM software to some of their CDs that left Windows users exposed to dire security risks. The DRM company that Sony BMG used then was called SunnComm. You can read all about it here.

There are two things you should know about SunnComm: 1) the uninstaller they were forced to provide for their rootkit software exposed users to security risks. That is, the software to remove their harmful DRM software was itself, in fact, a security risk for Windows users. 2) The second thing you should know is that millions of these DRM-laden CDs are still out there. If someone puts them into their computer, it automatically installs the software whether they accept the license agreement or not. Okay, and here’s the kicker: if you try to find the uninstaller now, it’s gone! SunnComm went out of business because of the lawsuit, and their website went dark. Because of the lawsuit Song BMG has terms of the settlement which includes links to SunnComm’s nonexistent website for the uninstaller. If you happen to put one of these CDs in your computer, you are screwed.

So for the love of music, don’t buy music from Song BMG. It only results in pain and misery. And whatever you do, avoid any website that says “Powered by Neurotic Media.” This public service announcement was brought to you by Manufactured Environments. Thanks for reading.

Update (9 July 2008): I received a terse email from a gentleman at Neurotic Media informing me that I was “mistaken” about his company. What follows is the complete text of his email and my response.

From: Josh Gertz [josh@neuroticmedia.com]
To: Daniel Stout [daniel@danielstout.com]
Subject: You are mistaken about Neurotic Media

Daniel,

I read your post about my company and I want you to know that you are mistaken. The file you attempted to download from us is a .zip only with mp3 files inside of it. The active X control that MS asked you to install is from MS (not Neurotic Media) and has nothing to do with DRM. There is NO DRM involved in this promotion.

Please call me at your convenience and I’ll be happy to explain.

Josh Gertz
EVP Sales & Marketing
Neurotic Media
Office: (404) 705-8885
www.amplified.com

From: Daniel Stout
To: Josh Gertz
Subject: Re: You are mistaken about Neurotic Media

Hi, Josh –

Thanks for getting in touch. Let me start by saying that I am a music lover. I am enjoying the resurgence in the vinyl market and have been buying lots of vinyl in addition to the many CDs that I buy each year.

I should also say that my faith in the music industry was seriously shaken in 2005 when I purchased a CD from Sony BMG called “Howl” by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. This was a CD laden with the infamous SunnComm rootkit DRM that Song BMG lost a lawsuit with the EFF over. The revelations of the insidious nature of that particular brand of DRM software firmly convinced me that the major labels do not have the interests of music lovers in mind. In fact, inexplicably, it would seem that they do not like their customers.

I have purchased a number of vinyl LPs over the past year or two that have included a download coupon such as I found in the Ting Tings album. In most cases, these are bands that were on small independent labels. Perhaps they didn’t have the resources to hire Neurotic Media, but I think in most cases the downloads were handled by a third party, sometimes by the vinyl pressing company itself, sometimes by others. But in none of these instances was anything downloaded to my computer other than a simple ZIP file containing the MP3 files of a given album.

I had never heard of Neurotic Media until I went to download the Ting Tings album, so my experience with your company is limited to this one instance. I was initially wary because of the text that requested the user use IE 6+ and Windows Media Player and to have cookies enabled. Why would you need to make this disclaimer for a bunch of DRM-free MP3 files? According to your help documentation on that site, it is because you frequently deploy DRM-laden media in WMA format.

And if I’m downloading a DRM-free ZIP file, why would IE need to install an ActiveX control at all? You can blame Microsoft, which seems cowardly, because the fact is it was your website that caused that ActiveX control to be installed. As I indicated in my blog post, when I went later to remove the control, I was unable to find it. So by visiting your website, software – of which I have no idea what it was (except that I remember the name began with “DRM …”) or where it went – was installed on my machine.

The only reason for a company these days to advise a customer to use the Microsoft platform in an instance such as this is because of DRM. Even if there wasn’t DRM involved in this particular promotion, clearly your company is on the side of the equation that pits companies like Sony BMG and Neurotic Media against consumers and lovers of music. Your company is only helping the campaign started by the major labels to alienate the music industry’s best customers.

I would be happy to hear that this first impression is an incorrect one, if you can prove otherwise. I welcome your response to my email. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Daniel Stout