p2pnet.net News:- Revolver Records’ Paul Birch is being widely quoted, today, as saying the major labels will abandon DRM (digital restrictions management).

“DRM as we know it is over,” New Music Strategies has him saying. But, “before you get all excited, the operative phrase is, ‘as we know it’,” we observed.

Meanwhile, “You’re quoted in New Music Strategies as saying DM is all over, bar the shouting,” - p2pnet emailed Birch. “Is this accurate?”

Here’s his response.

It’s accurate that I said it Jon, if it will come to pass is another matter. It’s purely a prediction and not something I have overheard said at a board table.

I am neither advocating its demise or its continuance, by the way. Just reporting on where I see things heading.

The reference to partnership is the future, by the way; what I was discussing there was partnership with each other. I don’t rule out a kind of partnership with the majors but that would depend upon the two sectors re-establishing trust.

The real challenge for Independents is abandoning the “don’t crush us we are small and we hurt” sentiment, and picking up real differentiation strategies established through mechanisms such as corporate social responsibility.

Independents have difficulty in working together in real strategic partnerships. Corporations have practiced this since the days of the East India Trading Company.

It would be naive to think that:

1/ The majors wont be at the centre of the new model what ever that might be; or,

2/ Rights will in some way go unprotected.

I would expect to see some augmentation of existing structures but not the abandonment of the core values that bind the industry together.

By the way. if we look at the history of the Music Industry, there was corporate shuffling in the 80’s and 90’s when BMG took over RCA, when Warner merged with Time and then acquired AOL, when Sony took over CBS, when EMI de-merged from Thorn and when MCA was taken over by Matsusitu only then to be merged into PolyGram to form the new Universal company. Why should we be surprised then that these companies should now consolidate?

Corporations do it all the time. If HP and Compaq can do it why not Universal and BMG music publishing?

In fact, if they didn’t consolidate the transition to the new model would fail. That would leave the Record Industry ripe to take-over by World sized corporation that dwarf the major labels.

Does the Industry seriously think that Apple, Microsoft or any Telco you care to mention would be better guardians of our fragile rights?

My money is on the majors acquisition of new media companies, placing them at the centre of a new world music entertainment industry.

The majors frankly have only the majors to worry about. They should neither be the way us Indie labels define ourselves, nor should they be our model for aspiration.

They are what they are.

The big question is what are we? What’s our strategy? How will we move to the new model?

Stay tuned.

Also See:
abandon DRM - DRM bites the dust, November 25, 2006

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This entry was posted on Saturday, November 25th, 2006 at 11:32 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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