Comment: Audio Spoilers - Spoiling More Than Audio

By aggressive, we really do mean aggressive. Not to the level that a massive boxing glove springs forth from the jewel case to smack lest you even think of piracy; but certainly a step-up from puddling around with spending too much money on silly and flawed encryption technology. In what seems like a fit of pique, certain companies have resorted to smearing 'aural spoliers' across review copies.

Whomadewho's latest, The Plot, has, for example, a lovely lady interjecting "It's Gomma Records. Don't share, baby" throughout. We've named the spoiler voice from last year's Hot Chip album Made In The Dark 'Dalek', as it sputters "THIS. IS. THE. PROPERTY. OF. EMI. RECORDS" across the eagerly awaited music. Most disappointing of all is Drag City's decision to reproduce an air-horn, of all things, across the starting and end seconds of each and every track of Bill Callahan's Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle.

So what, you say? Well, besides the insulting lack of faith in our professional integrity, there are practical issues. With the Callahan release for example, the reviewer was in the position of knowing that they were about to get a massive dose of air-horn in their ears, just not when exactly. It's a little bit like knowing you are about to receive an electric shock - it makes concentrating on anything but wary anticipation difficult, to say the least.

Professionalism saw the Callahan release get the three stars it deserved, but, understandably not eager to undergo the process again, musicOMH took the matter up with Drag City's UK PR. The response? "The label say if people won't review (it) like this then (best) not to bother". The PR, tasked with delivering this immense piece of arrogance, seemed on the point of despair. This seemed more than a little sad.

What's truly disappointing is that it's not the usual suspects. You almost expect the big bad majors to indulge in this stuff, though mercifully we've not had the Hot Chip experience repeated. That the minors and so-called 'indies', like Gomma and Drag City, are getting their hands muddy with this sort of carry-on is another story altogether. While the smaller labels are likely harder hit by piracy, you also expect them to be altogether smarter in the way they handle the impact of the internet on music sales.

Here's the core issue: while a little revenue might be saved by these measures, it won't stop leaks. Nor does it take into account the fact that, put bluntly, it has the potential to piss off early adopters and tastemakers. How much revenue do you lose as a minor/indie label if you don't have these people on side? How much again if reviewers take you up on the offer to simply not review your product? Drag City seem to think they are taking the cost-effective option, but it sounds like deeply faulty logic to us.

It all goes to show that the music industry, from the majors to the indies, is still not coping with the changes brought about by the internet, almost two decades on. The popular analysis goes that they are busy with ever more ridiculous anti-piracy measures, forever trying to seal Pandora's box - quite literally in the case of the enterprising internet radio site of the same name that actually, wait for it, committed the heinous crime of introducing people to music that they might like and linking them to Amazon and iTunes for purchase.

Indeed, it could be suggested at the very mention of the 'I' word that record executives froth at the mouth and become purely unreasonable. Is it an inability to understand the technology involved and its practical applications? Or, more woeful still, a downright refusal to?

What the issue of 'aural spoilers' highlights, in particular, is that the industry hasn't adapted well at all to the audience having a voice. The marketing model prior to the internet focused heavily on transmission - sending a message out to a blank-faced public. Sure, there were focus groups and the like, but that was always an artificial construct.

Now, the receivers also transmit - and they are original and critical transmitters as well. They find music they love and share their enthusiasm with others. They criticise what they don't like, and other people listen.

And in the face of this the music industry persists with the idea that the 'great unwashed' can get fucked and listen to what they are told to listen to. They should be encouraging the new networks; supporting them; nourishing them; using them to develop loyal and, above all, paying fans.

It's a farce, really. The music industry has a gift that no other industry on the planet has: thousands, if not millions, of people willing to talk about the product, for free, and at length, out of a genuine passion for music.

Audio spoilers just go to show how woefully poor the industry is at recognising that gift. Yes, in a society where information flows freely, piracy will always be a factor. By all means, record companies should make contingencies - just not by shooting out at the people who can help them gain extra revenue. One day we will look back and laugh... at them. We really will.

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