"guaranteed that a minimum of 2 million this year will be made with MusicGuard."
google.com
by TTR, 1999-09-30
TTR Combats the Scourge of CD Piracy
TTR Technologies, Inc. Announces MusicGuard(TM), Groundbreaking New CD Anti-Piracy System -- Warlock Records and Strictly Rhythm Music First to Sign on New York, NY
September 24, 1999 -- TTR Technologies, Inc. (OTC BB: TTRE) launched MusicGuard(TM) with the announcement today that Warlock Records Inc. and Strictly Rhythm Music signed license agreements to protect all their new releases, beginning in 2000. Last year, Warlock sold nearly 4 million albums and has guaranteed that a minimum of 2 million this year will be made with MusicGuard. MusicGuard, TTR's newest technology, protects CDs against illegal copying. This is the first time audio CDs will be protected against piracy.
Adam Levy, president and CEO of Warlock Records and N-Coded Music (distributed through Red/Sony) said, "With the advent of inexpensive CD recorders, illegal CD copying is rapidly becoming a gigantic problem for the record industry. MusicGuard provides the industry with a solution to this problem. I am pleased to be one of the first users of this exciting new technology."
Mark Finkelstein, president and CEO of Strictly Rhythm Music, said, "When the kids who make compilations of dance music realize that illegal copies of my CDs don't play, they are just going to go somewhere else to copy and will go to the music store to buy ours."
Marc D. Tokayer, chairman and CEO of TTR Technologies, said, "TTR has been at the forefront of the war against digital piracy, first in the area of software and now with MusicGuard in the area of music. We are thrilled that our technology will be instrumental in thwarting the scourge of CD piracy. We are especially happy to be working with Warlock Records and Mr. Levy in this effort."
Leading industry figures have expressed the hope that, for the first time, there appears to be a viable solution to the global problem of CD piracy. Michael Fine, Grammy-winning producer and former vice presidents of artists and repertoire at Deutsche Grammaphon, said, "MusicGuard offers an elegant, sophisticated and inexpensive solution to CD piracy."
About CD Piracy
According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the industry loses about $5 billion annually to global piracy of recorded music, $1 million a day in the United States alone. Two recent developments have caused this issue to become one the highest priorities in the industry. Until recently, to produce good-quality audio CDs required an investment of millions of dollars. Today, for as little as $180, anyone can walk into a computer store and buy a CD burner. Blank recordable discs (CD-R) are widely available for less than $1. With this technology, anyone can easily set up a pirate CD factory. The second recent development is the acceptance and widespread use of MP3 compression technology. This technology has made the Internet a feasible vehicle for the electronic transmission of music. Today there are thousands of web sites offering music in MP3 format. Most of the music being downloaded is pirated with no royalties being paid to the artists or to the record companies. This form of piracy is growing exponentially and is not included in the $5 billion mentioned above.
About MusicGuard
MusicGuard is a unique hardware-based technology that prevents the unauthorized copying of CDs. No other technology available protects content on the original, authentic CD. CDs protected by MusicGuard play normally in the existing base of CD/DVD players with no effect on music quality. Trying to make a copy of a MusicGuard-protected CD will result in either the copying process aborting or an unacceptable degradation of quality on the unauthorized disc. Similarly, attempts to produce MP3 files from a MusicGuard-protected CD will either fail or result in inferior and unusable audio. TTR anticipates that MusicGuard will be available for general release at the beginning of 2000.
About Warlock Records
Warlock Records Inc. was formed in 1986 by Adam Levy. From humble beginnings working out of his New York City studio apartment, within ten years Levy, along with partner Joel Bonner, built the company into a multimillion-dollar industry and one of the oldest and largest independent record labels in the United States.
Levy's roster includes stars such as DJ Skribble, Trick Daddy, Jonathan Butler, Candy Dulfer and Grammy Award-winner Arturo Sandoval, as well as the enormously popular series Dance Music USA. Warlock Records also owns and/or distributes more than 45 associated labels, including N-CODED Music, for which he is president. Warlock also owns all the masters to two of the most famous 1980s independent dance music labels, Streetwise Records and Sleeping Bag Records.
About Strictly Rhythm Records
Strictly Rhythm Music is one of the most respected dance labels in the world, with such hit artists as the Gold Recording artists the Venga Boys, Reel 2 Reel and Planet Soul.
About TTR Technologies, Inc.
TTR Technologies Inc., a leader in digital anti-piracy technology, designs, markets and sells proprietary anti-piracy products. The company's first product, DiscGuard(TM), embeds a non-reproducible digital signature on CD-ROMs that prevents illegal copies from operating. DiscGuard and MusicGuard protection are transparent to the end-user and are a cost-effective way for software and music publishers to reduce piracy of their products. |
