There is a new, interesting, and possibly effective (?) method of leak protection for advance CDs sent to press and promo folk, as seen on the front cover of a cd that I received from a major label two weeks ago:
PLEASE NOTE: This CD has been individually watermarked. This means that there is a serial number, traceable to an individual (you), embedded in the music. The watermark is not changed or destroyed by extracting clips of the music, or by using any compression technology such as mp3. This security measure allows us to trace any individual leaks, in the unlikely event that they occur, and protect the rights of the artist. The sound quality of the audio playback is not affected. The CD should not be copied, left with any third party or heard by any other party. Thanks in advance for your understanding... Enjoy!
The best part is the "Enjoy!" at the end. In this case, there is a bar code printed on the cd, with a serial number, and a name printed on it : Jennifer Hansen. Damn that Jennifer Hansen, she could get herself in trouble.
Lucky for me, Jenifer Hanen, I don't know how to nor have taught myself how to capture songs off of cds or compress them, and then burn them to a new cd or trade them online. I worry about learning stuff like HTML, XHTML, CSS, Perl, CGI, Photoshop, and how to be a better writer, web designer, and photographer.
