IFPI and Microsoft – GRid-locked
p2pnet news view Music:- “Here’s a laugh and a half,” says Paul over at state51 in the UK.
But before we get to that, “What is GRid?” – asks Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music’s IFPI (International Federation of Phornographic Industry).
Answer? »»»
GRid provides a system for the unique identification of “Releases” of music over electronic networks, so that they can be managed efficiently. A Release is defined precisely in the Standard but can be understood as a collection of recordings or other media that are grouped together for commerce. Products can be made from Releases by, for instance, choosing a technology to encode the recordings (such as MP3 or AAC) or a business model (such as sale or rental).
By assigning a unique GRid to a Release, it can be identified without ambiguity in, for instance, reports of sales of products based on the Release.
OK?
state51, meanwhile, says it’s, “one possible deconstruction of a flashback to a collective hallucination,” going on, “state51 started life in 1991 and has a long history of innovation in music and technology.
“We have developed a platform to manage music, metadata, rights and digital assets. Working with successful indie labels and distributors this software has delivered millions of tracks to hundreds of music services around the world.”
So the company has been, “trying to get with the programme on applying new and advanced identifiers to some music releases – namely GRid,” says Paul, observing the IFPI is the GRid registration authority.
But there’s a slight difficulty.
The form people use to apply for a GRid issuer code —-
—- only works in IE on Windows.
“Maybe this is a backstairs way to do what the music industry failed to do with Secure Audio Path – sell the entire industry to Microsoft in return for a little more Soviet style market control,” says Paul, adding:
“That was a joke, by the way – even if the intent was there I doubt the ability to execute.
“Sometimes it is really difficult to maintain respect for the good in my industry when there is such a quantity of crap to wade through in order to achieve simplest and most basic things.”
Now you know. 
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
October, 2009
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