Vote for the craziest digital music idea ever.
Here’s my favorite:
Embedding Credit Card Numbers in MP3 Files - The briefly available AnywhereCD service which allowed consumers to buy a CD and receive all the digital tracks immediately tried to get digital licenses from all the major labels. Only Warner Music Group ended up being part of the launch, but another major label (not WMG) asked the company to embed the credit card number of the purchaser in every file it sold. This was meant to act as a deterrent to sharing the file with others. AnywhereCD never agreed to this implementation.
Why it was crazy: Consumers wouldn’t buy books from Barnes & Noble if they printed your credit card on every page. Penalizing customers who are/were still willing to buy a CD (the big cash cow) by exposing their personal information is counter productive. Besides probably being illegal in several US states once exposed (and it would be exposed), users would surely revolt rendering the service dead. The industry should have been embracing ALL new services which promoted CD sales.
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