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IBM pilots anti-piracy system
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February 8, 1999: 2:39 p.m. ET
Big Blue and record giants to test copy-proof digital music distribution
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The age of unauthorized music pirating over the Internet may soon be coming to an end.
IBM and five top record companies announced Monday they had entered into an alliance to test a system developed by IBM that delivers copy-proof, CD-quality music over the Internet.
The music companies involved - CNNfn parent Time Warner's (TWX) Warner Music, Seagram Co.'s (VO) Universal Music, EMI Group (EMI) PLC's EMI Music, Sony Corp.'s (SNE) Sony Music and Bertelsmann AG's (FBTG) BMG Entertainment Group - will provide albums and singles for the pilot.
Record industry companies, including those involved in the pilot, have been working with technology firms as part of a Secure Digital Music Initiative to develop a piracy prevention system so that record companies can ensure a way of being paid each time a song is transmitted over the Internet.
The allied companies said their trial system "will work toward SDMI's goal of developing ways for consumers to conveniently access music while protecting artists' intellectual property."
The IBM (IBM) system will be tested for six months beginning this spring in San Diego in 1,000 homes wired for broadband cable modem delivery, the companies said, adding that a narrowband telephony modem test will also be conducted.
After making their selections and providing credit-card information, consumers can download onto their PCs an entire album or single from an online music store and "burn," or create, their own compact disks. They will also have the option to download and print graphics from album covers.
Other companies working on anti-piracy systems for the recording industry include AT&T (T) and RealNetworks (RNWK), which are part of the Secure Digital Music Initiative.
The company that creates the anti-piracy technology most widely adopted stands to profit greatly from the experience, as the market for digital distribution has been estimated to be worth billions of dollars over the next several years.
News of the IBM alliance was first reported Monday morning by the Wall Street Journal.
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