Yamaha Ltd has developed digital watermarking software that it claims will enable secure distribution of musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) files across the internet. The software authoring tool called MidStamp embeds a digital watermark into an existing MIDI file – a collection of digital data that can be read by any MIDI-enabled instrument or device. The MidStamp information will remain embedded in the file if it is illegally copied and can be viewed to reveal the original copyright information. Previously, music publishers have been reluctant to issue MIDI files of copyrighted material because of the ease with the files could be copied. Yamaha hopes that the new security software will encourage the release of more MIDI files, which are one of the main ways of distributing music across the internet, because publishers can protect intellectual property and income from copyrighted MIDI files.
