But something was wrong. When Freedland, 20, first inserted the ‘Stand Up’ disc into his laptop in preparation for transferring it to his iPod, ‘it took over my computer,’ he said.

The screen went blank, then a copyright agreement popped up. The music wasn’t going anywhere.

At first one should not fault the artist, in this case the Dave Mathews Band, for this kind of unacceptable copy-protection. I found out that the two SSRI albums being distributed by Higher Octave/EMI (In the Arms of Love and The Santa Fe Sessions) are being manufactured with some kind of copy-protection in Europe. But, if such an artist re-signs with a label that acts in this fashion, people should consider taking action, i.e. not buying their albums. In my case I switched manufacturing and distribution to 33rd Street Records and our recent CDs do not contain copy-protection of any kind, and as of this month La Semana and Transit come with a CC license that gives the customer additional rights.
Thanks MJ