p2pnet - rss feed: If Jobs really didn’t wanted DRM …
p2pnet.net news:- “If Steve Jobs really wanted to sell music on iTunes DRM free, he could start offering more than a million unprotected tracks tomorrow.”
So says Hypebot, going on, “There is growing chatter in the press about Steve Jobs working hard to force the major labels to follow EMI’s lead and go DRM free. Many also point to his recent manifesto calling on the industry to end the use of copy protection.”
“It’s absolutely brilliant!” - p2pnet posted on Monday. “Steve Jobs, undisputed King of DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) consumer control, is slowly but surely turning it around, painting himself as the King of anti-DRM with Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG as the bad guys.
“Ah! The Power of the expertly wielded PR Spin ;P”
Thousands of independent labels representing as much as 30% of the retail market are already selling unprotected downloads via eMusic, InSound, 7Digital and others, says Hypebot, adding:
“Those that I’ve talked to would love to have a competitive advantage over the majors on iTunes by selling DRM free.”
Comments Jennifer:
I think he just wants to get out of legal trouble with the EU. Also, Apple makes most of its money off the iPod, not the iTunes store. They don’t care where you get your music (steal it, whatever) — as long as you buy an iPod.
I think he’ll get the music industry to go along, but DRM-free won’t really help them make a lot more money. They something new, such as what Shelly Palmer suggests in “DRM-Free iTunes - Did We Miss the Memo?”
Still, I want DRM to go away.
In Did We Miss the Memo? - among many other things, Palmer states:
Will EMI’s DRM-free tracks impact iPod sales? Not unless every other major recorded music company follows suit. And then, only in so far as it will add a little competition to Apple’s stranglehold on the personal music player business. There will be some other players introduced and Apple will have to add features and benefits to their products to maintain their lead. I’m not worried. Steve Jobs is the world leader in making me personally buy stuff I don’t need with money I don’t want to spend. If you could look in the box in my closet marked “iPod graveyard,” you would understand.
He adds:
Kudos to EMI for trying something new. I would love to care about this issue and I would love for EMI’s sales data to prove that this mattered at all. Not for a short-term bump, but as an important change in the value chain of the music business. I don’t have high hopes.
What the industry really needs is legal ways for consumers to use (and pay for) music that is owned by others in their UGC and uploaded videos. We need a fully automated version of the Harry Fox Agency (for mechanical rights), check boxes on iTunes and other online music stores that let us pay for other rights (like sync rights, source licenses for public performance, parody and master rights) that most people don’t even know to ask about. We need education for music consumers about the value chain and we need it simplified. There are dozens of rights associated with each piece of music and there can be dozens of rights holders to negotiate with. Most people can’t articulate these rights, how can we blame them for not paying. There’s no easy way.
DRM free does not mean free to use. It means free of copy protection and usage tracking. The biggest result of this announcement may be that people believe that for another 30 cents they actually own the music. Talk about the law of unintended consequences!
Also See:
Hypebot - Does Steve Jobs Really Want DRM Free Music?, April 24, 2007
p2pnet - Steve Jobs versus the Big 4, April 23, 2007
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April 25th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
I would love DRM-free music on iTunes, from all labels. The labels may start thinking this will give them a revenue boost, as EMI seems to assume. The sad thing is, they are very mistaken. DRM-free has been available for quite some time now, so it is nothing “new.”
The music industry desperately needs something new — and I think I know what. I was just reading Shelly Palmer’s essay on music licensing, and he thinks the industry needs an easy, iTunes-like way to sell licenses for use in user-generated content.
It’s a pretty fascinating idea:
http://advancedmediacommittee.typepad.com/emmyadvancedmedia/2007/02/the_other_digit.html
Alexandra