Napster announced today that it has signed a licensing deal for Relatable's new commercial release of its advanced acoustic fingerprinting technology, TRM.
TRM uniquely identifies audio recordings based on the recording itself. TRM analyzes the acoustical properties of a recording's waveform to identify it precisely, regardless of its audio format, bit rate or minor signal distortion.
"Digital fingerprinting technologies are developing rapidly, and Relatable's new acoustic fingerprinting technology shows great promise," said Hank Barry, Napster's Interim CEO. "We are now working closely with Relatable's engineers to coordinate their technology with our file filtering systems; we hope they will be a substantial part of our overall filtering solution." Engineering teams from the two companies are working together to refine and optimize TRM so that it can be incorporated into Napster's current file screening system and into Napster's new membership service.
"TRM will help ensure that the millions of music files transferred through the new Napster system will be accurately monitored and it will enable the appropriate allocation of royalties to artists, music publishers and record companies," said Pat Breslin, CEO of Relatable. "TRM delivers unprecedented speed and can effectively scale to handle the volume of the Napster system," added Breslin.
As can be expected users laugh at the idea.
"It's insulting" said one long-time Napster user. "Their attempts to filter by song titles didn't work because they figured all their users were just too stupid to work around it. Hell, haven't they heard of encryption?"
Experts have suggested that even the most sophisticated analysis may be beaten by a simple encryption. Another problem for Napster may be any accidental blockage of freely distributed independent music. In such an event Napster may become vulnerable to legal action based on the Anti - Trust laws.
It is not yet known when Napster will introduce this new filter but it is expected to be soon since the pressure on them is getting greater by the minute.