Watermarked Security Promo CD-R's

For any fan of music or music collecting, the watermarked promo CD's are an important yet rare point of conversation. Our database at LPCatalog has 26 of these particular items that range from the years 2002 to 2014. There are many features of these compact discs that make them very unique to any normal radio promotional CD,DVD, or cassette. To start, they are individually watermarked.

What does this mean? Well, this means there is a serial number embedded in the music that is traceable to the recipient of the CD. This is done for security purposes in the unlikely event that a leak may occur, it can be traced. The watermark is very dynamic as it can not be changed or destroyed by extracting clips of the music, or by using any compression technology like mp3. If you thought that was not enough for security, well there's more...Sometimes the artists name on the actual CD is changed to prevent theft. For example in 2007 the infamous count down to midnight for Linkin Park's 3rd studio album Minutes To Midnight contained the lead single "What I've Done." The band name on the CD was changed to "Lion Pride." As you can see the acronym of the bands initials is kept (LP), but without the instructions the CD recipient is given, it is anyone's guess who the artist is before release. Of course the song title is the same, but these CD's are given out before that information is public. Another example of a Linkin Park name change is "Larry Potter" for the 2nd remix album Recharged (2013). The last known example is for the sixth studio album The Hunting Party (2014), where the name was changed to "Little Ponies." I am sure recipients keep these CD's in a safe place before they are released publicly for obvious reasons.

When it comes to collecting music media, having a unique item is precious, and nothing is more unique than a watermarked CD. They all come with a different recipient name and personal catalog number printed on the disc. Of course each also comes with a personal watermark within the music as mentioned above. It has been said that dozens and sometimes hundreds of these are printed depending on the popularity of the band/artist. Like many promotional items, most get tossed in the garbage, or recycling container depending on the country. There has been discussions about how cataloging should work with these CD's. Presently, we have every scan that comes in as a separate, unique item. However, after recent discussions among our staff, we will be re-organizing them by country. So for example, the two versions of Larry Potter (W12477-11 and W12477-13) are presently separate items because of different recipients and cat numbers. They are both recipients for the United Kingdom, so they will be considered one item for that country and the notes section will be changed. The two "Lion Pride" watermarked CD's for What I've Done in our catalog will stay separate because one recipient is for Mexico, and the other is for the U.S.A.

To conclude, I would like to mention some general information about a lot of these CD's in our database. Some are not mixed or mastered, and will say on the CD itself. Typos occur often (not intended) like most of the other common radio promo CDs. Brief examples include the Live in Texas watermarked CD's with Papercut accidentally being "Paper Cut", and P5HNG ME A*WY typed as Pushing Me Away (totally different song). The Reanimation album watermarked CD contains many differences in the track names as oppose to the final released CD (2002). If you made it this far, thanks for reading, and more articles like this should and will come more often. Late!

This is Part 1 of our Watermarked CDr's article! Part 2 will contain some info about each item we have in our database!

-Percy and Mike

List of the Watermarked Security Promo CD's in our database;

Reanimation, U.S.A, Watermarked 3tr CD-R
Reanimation, U.S.A, Watermarked CD-R

Live In Texas, U.K, Watermarked CD-R
Live In Texas, U.S.A, Watermarked CD-R