In rec.audio.tech,comp.dsp, Richard Owlett <rowlett@atlascomm.net>
wrote:

>Ben Bradley wrote:
>[snip]
>>    The music industry 'standards' for making a CD have changed in the
>> past decade or so. A song that sounds 'louder' is, at first listen,
>> deemed more interesting and exciting, so it will sell more CD's than a
>> clean-but-not=as-loud song, so record labels are making songs sound
>> louder to increase sales. Yes, they're sacrificing sound quality to
>> make more money.
>> 
>
>Sounds as if OP should write a forceful, but polite, complaint letter 
>to the offending label. Don't bother with "customer relations" 
>[whatever they call it]. Send it to CEO or Chairman of Board of Directors.

   Not to discourage such actions, but it's not like it's one
offending label. They've all been doing it, more and more over the
years. Here's another page on the topic:

http://www.mindspring.com/~mrichter/dynamics/dynamics.htm
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http://mindspring.com/~benbradley