DMUSIC WRITER CALLS FOR BOYCOTT OF ALL MAJOR LABEL CDS FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER

Anything that can be done, can be undone. DRM and "secure" CDs are an attack on our fair use rights -- for this reason, we must boycott all CDs released by major labels for the month of October.

The simple premise sets the stage for the future. The record labels will continue to implement digital rights management into music files. The drm will be hacked. The labels will try again. It will be hacked again.

The new game for the recording industry is digital rights management. The major labels will put CDs on shelves that have two sets of files. One set will provide CD audio, although not standard CD audio; rather, a format meant to stop music lovers from storing that audio on personal computers and portable digital audio players. The second set will provide audio that can be transferred to personal computers; however, these files will come in a format we do not prefer, namely Microsofts WMA format. Furthermore, WMA will attempt to prevent music lovers from performing simple tasks like making a copy of the audio file, transferring it to another machine, and burning it to a CD. This is a clear violation of fair use rights.

Now, record labels will claim that these violations of our fair use rights are actually an attack on piracy. But these attempts at attacking the mechanism of piracy will fail because of the fact that whatever can be done can be undone. Nothing is unhackable. The only way to defeat piracy is by attacking the motive.

I call to arms the original MP3 Community. I call to arms the DMusic Community. We can no longer stand for this type of tyranny. The MP3 revolution" took off because of the technology, but the technology took off because of actions by major record labels just like the one described above. Were still alive people. And we need to continue to fight. And that is why I urge you to boycott all major record labels by not purchasing CDs for the entire month of October.

I know many of you hard core MP3ers havent purchased a major label CD in years, and I think that is great. But if you love music, you want to see the musician prosper. So stop by Fairtunes.com and like services to award the artist directly. Furthermore, find what youve been missing by only listening to traditional radio and by only watching MTV -- check out music.dmusic.com and other independent artist resources.

Thank you,

Simon Foust