How The Recording Industry's Obsession On DRM Made Apple So Powerful
from the unintended-consequences... dept
Oh how we all love those unintended consequences that come back to bite those who only think one level deep. It's no secret that, lately, the recording industry is pissed off at Apple for not raising prices on iTunes songs (something we still think the recording industry has no say over -- if they want to raise wholesale prices, then they should go ahead). They've even gone so far as to threaten to pull their songs from iTunes, something it's unlikely many of them will do. However, Copyfight points to a piece by Tim Lee which notes that it's the recording industry's own obsession with copy protection technology that made Apple so powerful. Apple has tremendous lock-in with iTunes, in large part because they gave in to recording industry demands to use copy protection technology. That means that customers are unlikely to go elsewhere and the only ones who really suffer if a label pulls out of iTunes is that label. So, instead, Lee suggests the recording industry should negotiate a new deal that demands that Apple removes all copy protection as it would free people up to leave Apple and buy elsewhere -- taking away much of Apple's power position. Of course, the established recording industry will never go for it (nor would Apple) as they've come to believe the mantra that copy protection is necessary that they're blind to any possible business model that doesn't use it, or to the ways in which copy protection does more harm than good to their business. It's amazing that it's becoming clear to just about everyone outside of the entertainment industry how damaging copy protection is from a business model standpoint -- but the industry continues to insist it's the only way to go.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
DRM, while momentarily inconvenient for those of us with DRM-laden mp3 files, is not exclusively about mp3's, DVD's, or anything that the "entertainment business" on its own cares about. Additionally, the fact that the discussion over copyability and access control is continually framed in a "OMFG I CAN"T PLAY MAH MP3 ON MY CELL! TEH SUX()RS!!" completely misses the point of DRM.
Ask yourself this question: Should your medical records have access control?
The answer, of course, is "Yes."
*THAT'S* DRM!! The same concept that keeps your online banking (relatively) secure, your credit report (relatively) secure, your medical records, criminal history, etc, is DRM.
Yes, a huge generational/technological gap in the management echelons of the entertainment conglomerates has resulted in a clumsy interpretation and application of DRM. Yes, it's inconvenient. Yes, it's angering when files/devices you've paid for don't work as advertised.
Distilled to its essence, DRM is just about ones and zeros. Nothing more, nothing less. To be understood and discussed intelligently, however, the conversation must move out of the myopic realm of personal mp3 collections, and must accomodate the larger realities of DRM in a digital world- that DRM touches and influences processes and data types of ALL kinds.
-jeremiah
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Re: DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
These are two totally separate issues. Not sure why we deserve scorn for pointing out the issues as it relates to the entertainment industry without discussing every other industry at the same time.
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Re: DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
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Re: DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
These are not separate issues. DRM is about managing access to one's and zero's. That's all. Medical records, mp3's, DVD's, porn, Biblical verse....it's just one's and zero's to DRM.
I'm sorry if my cricitism came across as harsh, but I stand by what I said: Your analysis is myopic.
But I still got love for the T'Dirt.
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Re: DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
If you want us to talk about copy protection as it applies to the medical industry, that's a totally different issue -- and not particularly relevant to this post.
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Re: DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
"It's pretty obvious that we're talking about copy protection as applied to the entertainment industry."
...which is the crux of my criticism. Techdirt has beat the "entertainment industry just doesn't get it" meme into the ground. We get it already. Tell us something we don't know.
"If you want us to talk about copy protection as it applies to the medical industry, that's a totally different issue -- and not particularly relevant to this post."
I couldn't disagree more, Mike. You can't have a conversation about DRM without discussing its impact on other aspects of our lives. To confine the discussion (yet again) as it applies to only the entertainment industry is, well, myopic.
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Re: DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
DRM means different things to different industries. For the medical industry it means keeping your personal medical files private and not tamperable. To the entertainment industry (music and movies, that is) it is about locking down content so you can't move it. If you have a story about the entertainment industry and DRM, why in the world would you mention what DRM means the the medical industry or another industry. Who cares, the article is strictly in the context of the entertainment industry.
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Re: DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
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big deal
iTunes is just a nice slick convience, you buy from their store you play by their rules. I can live with that. And yes iPod is simply the best/easiest player out there, nothing beats the Nano...well except for my 60gb iPod w/ my 9,000 songs on it and 200 pictures of friends and family.
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Re: DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
I encourage people listening to music I bought, or watching videos I bought. I don't want somebody knowing that I am fatally allergic to a common food, or any vital information.
Music is made for all of us to enjoy, as it has been for millenia. All of a sudden there's a notion of "illegal music"? Those words don't even go together. DRM is just a pain in the ass. It's people trying to use a new medium in ancient ways. New medium, new ideologies. That is progress. Together.
Try to keep in mind that we are not sheep to be herded.
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Re: DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
And yes, literally, it's that black and white.
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Re: DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
Besides that, they aren't discussing that aspect of DRM, they are discussing the implication of DRM on audio and visual media. Not all Role based access or rights management is bad, however if you purchased a song or a CD for that matter shouldn't you have the right to use it on the play back that music on the medium of your choice, I mean how is the fact that you want to listen to something on your computer hurting the artisits or for that matter the record companies. I am just suggesting that when we spend money on something, we should get the right to make a back-up copy so we don't have to buy it again, or we should have the right to view or listen to at our leisure?
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Re: DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
It is, however, the digital analog to Role Based Access. Role Based Access is enforced with DRM.
"Besides that, they aren't discussing that aspect of DRM, they are discussing the implication of DRM on audio and visual media."
..and it is this very focus that I have criticised as being myopic. DRM has larger consequences than our convenient access to music, and the constant framing of the debate in this context is old and busted. The new hotness involves a more wholistic debate. IMHO.
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Re: DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
Back to the DRM thing... find it, crack it, dump it and nuke any server that tries to cram it down your throat.
EOF
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Re: DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
Getting very sick of one sided arguements about drm. This place is becoming less of a discsussion forum and more like a bunch of people whining about having to pay for music. I have two points on the subject:
1. The record industry is afraid to take a leap and explore a new drm-less business model which would probably work out better for everyone, including them. Independant artists will probably force the revolution eventually, and the corporations will evolve or go bust.
2. That doesnt give you the right to steal the music, so follow your own conscience on whether you want to steal - but don't keep whining that record companies dont have the right ot make you pay for music they published at great expense.
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Re: DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
Your rebuttal is an entirely different matter -- the protection of personal information is a privacy issue. And you don't need DRM to manage that.
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Re: DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
You claim to think that DRM is the same thing as access control. It isn't. For example my own Website runs in a locked computer room with security staff who check photo id, logon uses account+password, and backups are in offsite safes. No DRM is involved.
Access Control 101,
Digital Rights Management (Wikipedia).
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Re: DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
That's mine. I should control it. It's specific to me as an individual. It effects my day to day life.
Music and movies are public by nature. The goal is to 'get it out there'. That's why these music and movie companies exist, right? Distribution of content.
I understand the desire to control the money flow (which is really what DRM is about: money), but some of these guys should look at the technical worlds approach to some of these things. Microsoft vs. Linux, for example.
What you say? Well, Linux is created by it's users for it's users (and those interested in using it).
What if all the musicians and movie makers decided to just 'go direct'. That's what's happening. Podcasting, (Video and Audio) for instance, will change the equation big time.
What if a musician sells, directly to his/her fans, a 'subscription' to the bands weekly podcast? Inside stories, interviews, live recordings done that weekend at the local venue they played at and, once every 6 or 12 months.. a set og 10 or 20 songs INSTEAD OF DOING A CD.
Charge $30 a year per fan, build a fan base, and you're making a damn good living as a musican, and you've never even talked to a record company rep.
That's gotta scare the hell out of the old school guys. Don't get me wrong.. they aren't going away (just like TV didn't kill radio, as many back then feared it would). But you'll get more choice.
And the people that matter: the CREATORS (musicians, commentators, reviews, movie makers) control the distribution channel for their work. That's what Web 2.0 and things like creative commons (www.creativecommons.org) is all about.
It effectively kills DRM.
EB
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Re: DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
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Re: DRM is not just about your damn mp3's...
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Just mentioning
Apple has this power partly because many people are ignorant of the issues with DRM, apathetic about the issues, or both.
My music player is a Palm Tungsten T5 with PocketTunes and a 1G SD card. Also, I try to only use Ogg as much as possible. I rip my own music from CD into that format.
PS I would have written that headline: "Obsession With DRM"
PPS On a related note, we built a MythTV. Works great. TiVo is getting creepier all the time. I refuse to be involved with them.
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Re: Just mentioning
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Re: Just mentioning
There will be nothing wrong with them when they can be modded like the Neuros or a true handheld computer like a Palm.
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I do use iTunes but consider it money down the dra
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There is
Try it. It works.
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The Threadjacker
For context, I'm not making any kind of general condemnation of Techdirt. I just feel strongly that you guys are continually missing the larger conversation by focusing so much on how stupid the entertainment business is.
I also realized, after reading the comments here, that I've inadvertently made a Dorpus-sized threadjack, and for that, I feel like ass.
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Apple DRM
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DRM is an exploitation of the business relationship between the seller and customer. THAT is the problem, and Techdirt brings it up every day because other media outlets say it once and forget it. So, the public might be interested at first, but eventually the attention dies out. Music is a great cause to fight for, because sooner or later EVERY corporation will deal with content in some form, and it is vital for the public to know that the DRM and the law are not interchangable. Everyone can relate to iTunes and what is going on.
I think that's what the original poster was getting at.
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