SlashNOT

Moondog writes: The RIAA announced today a new product it has developed with YES.net. It’s called “Flame That Tune”.

“The whole thing is based on our existing song fingerprint technology,” said YES.Net Director of Technology Christopher Barone. “For some time now, we’ve been able to have our servers listen to the radio and use digital fingerprints to ‘Name That Tune‘. Now we’ve developed technology that can analyze a song’s fingerprint and tell a consumer whether or not a particular song is a piece of crap.”

“There is this whole market segment out there of indies who don’t care if they make money on music. They just want their music to be heard,” said Cary Sherman, President of the RIAA. “So get this: they offer their MP3s for free. As ridiculous as that sounds, this has become wildly popular. The problem is, the average consumer has to wade through a tremendous amount of crap before finding a decent song. With Flame That Tune, the consumer will no longer have to listen to a song to decide whether it’s crap or not. We can do the job for them.”

The product is to be released early next month. Critics are concerned however. Some say that Flame That Tune is simply a ploy by the RIAA to keep consumers hooked on music you have to buy.

But the RIAA and Yes.Net are undaunted. “We’re excited about this new product,” said Sherman. “For years we’ve been working with radio stations to help them educate consumers about what good music is all about. And let’s face it. The average consumer wouldn’t know a great song if it hit them over the head. That of course, is where we come in.”