Is Universal Music Group using audible watermarks on digital files?

What's the point of vandalising the audio in order to "assert authorship". Take for example the last U2 album. We know (or can easily look it up) that U2 are one of Universals acts. We know that, it's a fact, that's enough of an assertion of authorship - nobody needs to vandalise the audio to tell us something we already know.

Are there going to be no watermark-free versions of certain albums? If indeed ALL versions of a partucular album are 'watermarked' and there's no alternative then that's very foolish indeed. The music business is suffering enough without something like that making disgruntled buyers take their money elsewhere. (And if only *some* versions of a particular album are watermarked then it's going to make people seek out those versions.)

And if ALL versions of an album are vandalised then it's not going to stop piracy. If a vandalised version of an album becomes the only available version, and if people still want to listen (and they will) then it's still going to get pirated regardless.

 

Can you guys hear it? I scored 14/16 (Sennheiser HD600 thru Asus Xonar). It's very audible when you really dial in.

Audio Watermark Listening Test »

 

I just tried the first 3 and couldn't hear it so I didn't bother with the rest. I could hear it in the example though.

 

I found it much easier with the classical songs and others with real instruments. The electro-songs have to much going on making it almost impossible to detect.

 

Same - I missed on Kettel and Shakey Graves.

 

I can't hear it a all either. I tried all of the classical samples and a few of the others. In particular, if I could hear it, I think I would at the quiet part of Daphnis and Chloe at around 25 sec and at the beginning of Arabesque. Also at 20 second of Diamonds are Forever, there is a half second of silence. Can't hear it there either. I even tried listening louder than I would ever listen when really listening to music. All of the non-classical samples were too loud except the Santana.

 

I just downloaded the audio for a couple of them and looked at the spectrums. Although I could see very tiny differences between two samples there's nothing that resembles the big chunky "morse code" on the spectrum of the The Cure album on the previous page.

 

Did it again, scored 15/16. Missed the XXYYXX track. Some were harder to tell this time around, and a few may have been a crapshoot, but on many of the examples, it's still clear as day for me. AKG K702s/RME Fireface UFX again, but the room wasn't as quiet.

 

Have you posted on ponomusic forums yet? (there is a bit more traffic on the threads there now). Contacted a label distributed by UMG? Contacted other retailers?

Make your voice heard

 

When are they going to learn that DRM is a losing battle? It only hurts paying customers because pirates will always find a way to get around it.

 

Listened to some cuts from Taylor Eigsti's Daylight At Midnight through YouTube (industry-uploaded music from a "topic," not user-uploaded videos) and the watermarking was especially egregious on his piano and on Becca Stevens' voice. It would be one thing if it were just YouTube and other free streaming services that received compromised audio, but when the paid subscription or download nets the same result—including hi-res downloads like the 2015 Rush Sean Magee masters from HDtracks and elsewhere—something is really wrong. Unless and until Universal reverses its policy, I see no reason to subscribe to a streaming service nor will I pay for a single download of unlistenable garbage. And the really sad thing is that the great unwashed masses either don't hear the difference or don't care, so they can pirate away and still be happy, while those of us who do are turned off from paying for their content. In the end, no one wins.