Blame the barcode

The music industry has a new scapegoat for its revenue problems: album cover art.

A big barcode splashed on the cover of an '80s compilation CD was mistakenly scanned by retailers instead of the real barcode, giving Tears for Fears and Duran Duran fans a fat discount.

Consumers buying Sony BMG's 46-song, three-disk 'Electric 80s' compilation at Tesco supermarkets, for example, were only being charged 9.77 British pounds (Bt720) instead of the listed price of 14.97 British pounds, a spokeswoman for the retailer said on Friday. Some stores pulled the CD, and a new version with a different cover was rushed out.

At the same time, singer Jack Johnson is said to be showing dreamlike phantom gains in record sales, as the cover art barcode rings up a higher price.

'We became aware of the issue and, like other retailers, withdrew the album on Tuesday morning,' the Tesco spokeswoman said. 'Albums with a newly designed cover were delivered on Wednesday and are now on sale,' she said, adding that Tesco would work with suppliers on the issue of money lost as a result of the mistaken discount.

Music retailer HMV Group was aware of the quirky barcode-covered album. 'Someone would have to be pretty stupid not to recognise that,' HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo says. 'The proper barcodes are always done on the reverse of the CD,' he added. 'All our staff are aware it's the cover artwork. We've not had any issues.'

Among the songs on the compilation are Harold Faltermeyer's 'Axel F,' Duran Duran's 'Planet Earth,' Men Without Hats' 'Safety Dance' and Tears for Fears' 'Mad World.'

Sony BMG, the world's second-largest record company, is co-owned by Japan's Sony Corp. and Germany's Bertelsmann AG.