I wonder if music labels and whoever else is signed up to this 'Audible "Magic"' service will ever get it - they are creating a far bigger problem than actually exists, as justification for implementing a system that does nothing but cause annoyance and loss of goodwill.
They will never eliminate all piracy, it just isn't possible. Is piracy wrong? Yes it is. Does that make measures like this acceptable? No, it does not. The only way they will reduce piracy is to offer consumer-friendly alternatives - some of them are slowly getting the hang of it, with the likes of Spotify, Google Play Music, pay-what-you-want albums, and so on.
Then something like this happens and the goodwill they've accumulated for moves like the above is chipped away at, again, by them overreacting and hoping to "eliminate" a problem that didn't really exist in the first place.
If someone is playing music in the background while talking / playing game sounds over it, how many people are really going to take the time to download the ENTIRE video (sometimes hours worth), cut it, and then rip the audio, to have a copy of the song that just happens to have added vocals? Next to nobody, I'd be willing to bet.
And you know what? If someone is "dedicated" enough to getting the song for nothing that they would go to all that hassle, let them. You will never entirely defeat piracy, only reduce it. If they would go to those lengths, the overwhelming likelihood is they would have never bought your song anyway.
Let's look at this from a different angle. If I hear a song on a video or stream, and go "I like the sound of that, what is it?" and find out through Shazam / Soundhound, I'm then likely to stream that via Google Play or buy the song or album, giving the artists at least some money. If I can't hear their music at all, that opportunity is gone because I would never have heard the music to decide to purchase it in the first place.
I feel like I read less and less about people pirating music these days given the ease of use and relative low cost of Spotify, Google music etc. That is surely having a positive effect on record labels, and yet they still feel the need from time to time, on occasions such as this, to treat everyone like criminals and send their public opinion spiralling downwards.
Moreover, what have they achieved through this? Nothing, from what I can see. They don't get revenue if their song is detected, and they compound that by removing any ability for sales to happen from someone hearing a track for the first time, liking it and going out to buy it. They've gone from X sales via streams, to no sales. Well done, record companies and Audible "Magic" (where's the magic?).
