DRM free song downloads: do you care?

And you should too!

DRM is a terrible practice because it infringes upon your rights as a consumer and cripples use of material YOU purchased on other computers and portable players you own far moreso than traditional media formats like CD's!

Essentially, you're renting tracks for .99 at iTunes. You do NOT own them as long as DRM is in place. This is idiotic and I'm always surprised when consumers don't care!

Just because the record companies are getting hurt on profits doesn't mean consumers should allow DRM on their music! The record companies are mostly being hurt for being greedy and refusing to change with the times. It's the fact that artists really don't need record companies to distribute music anymore that's killing them, not DRM.

I urge you to keep the pressure on to remove DRM - it's working! Don't stop now! Soon, good artists will rise and prosper accordingly on their own merits, and not because some media mogul thinks they will make it and screws the artist for a huge chunk of the profits by locking them into some horrible contract when they're still small.

If we allow DRM to continue, everything you purchase will eventually be owned by someone else - not the consumer.

ROI was one challenge we faced - most often with the labels who had smaller budgets. They were willing to listen and very interested in the possibilities of using technology to improve their business processes. But they were also reluctant to spend on it - instead, they wanted IT to foot the bill (or piggyback onto a bigger label's initiative).

On the flip side, with the bigger labels, we faced the problem of inertia. It's a freewheeling business - few top-down driven initiatives. And even when you've got the CFO in your corner, if the individual departments aren't interested - you're out of luck.

Ironically enough, in one of our biggest meetings to discuss a pilot program for a secure file transfer service - web-based, designed specifically with the music industry in mind - we were interrupted by the news that another single had leaked prior to release. The program we were advocating would have gone a long way toward eliminating such leaks. Sadly, the pilot was as far as this initiative went.

Pam makes a good point about the money though - the labels don't profit from the tours, just the artists and their management. The labels profit from the sale of music.

Piracy becomes a big issue for the labels when music is leaked prior to release (most often a problem for big artists). Those leaks often happen during the production, mixing, and mastering process, when actual CDs are burned in the studio and given to the artists and their entourages. Plus, label execs and A&R managers need to have that pre-release music - usually on CD, but now they put it on their iPods too (which can be lost and the music extracted).

In short, I think of DRM as shutting the barn door after the cows have gotten out. Keeping a tighter leash on music before it's released is a better idea.

mothergoosemouse

I think that's a good point, Virginia. The stuff I do has to do with what you can do with music - podcasting, mixing, sharing... but the music industry is all about selling me a different version of the track for each use. Bah, humbug, I say. Though there's another player in this conversation - the artists. Robbie Williams created a huge flap a little while back when he said he didn't care if people copied his music - he makes all his bucks on tour. But Madonna, if I'm remembering correctly, came down pretty hard on pirating.

Nerd's Eye View ( http://www.nerdseyeview.com )

Imagine my surprise to learn that what I thought was a mere explanation of what DRM is turned out to be a issue of such importance and in-depth knowledge to some of you.

Do you think that the music business (like many other businesses) is focused on the money to be made rather than the things to do with the music, while the technology people are focused on the things to do with the music rather than the money to be made? The two groups don't seem to be talking to each other.

http://www.webteacher.ws/
http://first50.wordpress.com/

I worked in the music industry for five years, on the IT side. As frustrating as it is for consumers, it's even more frustrating for those of us who have tried to help the record labels change the way they do business, only to fail in the face of inertia. For all the ways in which the music industry claims to be so progressive, technology is at the bottom of the priority list. Even more infuriating to see was how much money was wasted on high visibility initiatives without a solid business plan behind them.

And frankly, I've bought much less music in the past ten years than ever before - not because of DRM or other technological hurdles, but because much of what's being produced is crap.

mothergoosemouse

I make my day job living doing work in the DRM affected space. One of the products I've worked on for a long time is a tool for DJs. Lemme tell you, when I can't mix stuff that I own, or hey, I thought I own, oooo, that really gets me angry. I'm not distributing, I'm not broadcasting, I'm just at home making a mix for my MP3 player to take running. WTF? I'm not sure what I think about Apple's two tier system - it strikes me as lame at first, and I suppose upon more thinking, I will continue to think it's lame. I would really like to see the music industry stop fighting with consumers and start working with us.

I still buy CDs and then, I rip them to MP3. That way I can, in most cases, do what I want with them. But I used to borrow CDs from a coworker who bought lots of overseas music and the DRM on the discs sometimes meant that I couldn't even play the damn things on my computer to hear if I wanted one of my own. Boo, hiss. Music industry, are you listening?

Nerd's Eye View ( http://www.nerdseyeview.com )

I don't care. I'm seriously puzzled why anybody wants to keep pumping noise into their environment. Everybody seems to be tagging their blogs with 'what I'm listening to now.' I just don't get it. Noise is noise whether it comes in the guise of music or whatever. I think I'd get a headache. Personally, I prefer silence, maybe a little birdsong. Is there something wrong with the Sounds of Silence?

I've hesitated for a long time about buying DRM'ed music because of the quality and the restrictions. My purchases have therefore been limited to CDs where I felt reasonably sure I would want most or all of the recording. As a result I've purchased far less music than I would have otherwise and not because I've been "stealing" it instead.

I've always been a fan of singles but I'm also old enough to have grown up with the concept of owning the music I purchased and being able to play it whenever and wherever I wanted. DRM simply makes it harder for legitimate music buyers to listen to music - it does absolutely nothing to combat piracy. Determined thieves will find ways around the restrictions.

DRM is just yet another in the music industry's short sighted attempts to stubbornly hold on to their way of doing business and fighting technological change instead of embracing it and figuring out how to use it to their advantage.

Good riddance and I look forward to finally using iTunes to buy music.