Amazon's DRM-Free Service Probably Too Late To Make A Difference
from the later-comer dept
Late last year, rumors emerged that Amazon was in talks to launch a DRM-free music site to compete with iTunes. There had been talk that the company would launch some sort of music site for a long time, but the idea that it would be a DRM-free service was interesting because it offered a possible way for the company to differentiate itself from iTunes. However, iTunes ended up taking the play away from Amazon by starting down DRM-free path itself. So today's announcement from Amazon that it's launching a new music service with unprotected tracks from EMI and other smaller labels comes a little late. If the company had offered it sooner, it'd have been a genuine alternative to iTunes, but as it is, the offering doesn't look to be particularly interesting. The question, now, is whether the company will apply the lesson to its unsuccessful movie download service, which has been hampered by onerous copy protection and the attendant lack of usability. If the company wants to avoid being an also-ran, it needs to get out in front of Apple and be the first to explain to Hollywood why it would be better off if it dropped its useless insistence on DRM.
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.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Congrats to Amazon. Keep up the good work! I'll keep spending craploads of money @ Amazon. :-P
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This paragraph from the Reuters article pretty well sums up mind set of the RIAA. Testing? Thousands of people are buying DRM-free music each and every day. Thousands more are sharing DRM-free music each and every day. Exactly what testing do Warner Music and Universal Music have to do?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
@GoblinJuice
I've heard all about iTunes going DRM-free for EMI--which has a huge catalog, BTW--but still don't see the $1.29 songs on iTunes. Surely it'll happen before the end of the month... won't it?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
These DRM-free songs are only from EMI, right? So basically EMI, in a fairly bold (for a label) move decides it's going to sell unencumbered tracks. iTunes, cuz it's the leader in this market generally, gets to bring that to market first. Amazon follows suit more-or-less immediately. So, you can fault Amazon for not beating iTunes to the punch, but realistically this probably wasn't possible, iTunes probably had a better relationship with EMI, EMI came to them first, they could leverage more attractive terms, etc.
So, yeah, this sucks for Amazon, it's a problem. But they're really more the victim than the cause. And blaming them about the movies just is just mean, cuz I'm sure they're begging and pleading with the studios about that already, as is iTunes.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
B= Percentage of linus users willing to pay, at all, for music = 5%
A*B= fucntionally zero.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Matt is right.
A = percent of time dedicated to music = 0.05%
B = percent of music I pay for = 0% (they're always gifts)
A * B = ACTUAL zero :)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Matt is right.
So, you're not somebody the labels or retailers care about one way or the other in that case. What's the point of your post? "I don't listen to music so I don't buy it?". Great, go and comment on a story that you do care about.
As a Linux user, I care a lot about this kind of stuff. I'm an eMusic subscriber and buy music occasionally on CD, but I've been avoiding major label content due to the DRM and lawsuit issues.
As a music fan, all I've wanted to do for years is buy music in a way that allows me to play it back in AmaroK. I have never bought any music from iTunes for this reason, but I'll be happy to support Amazon and EMI as long as the price is right.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
So what...
Its no big deal that Amazon wasn't the first in such a relatively new market. There aren't that many well known sites selling DRM-free tracks from major recording labels yet. Now if they were a late comer in a very saturated market (like selling CDs online at the standard price) then yes I would agree but selling DRM-free tracks from the major labels is still pretty new ground. In fact it may work to their advantage in that they are in position to see the weaknesses of the leader of the pack (iTunes) and figure a way to capitalize. Aren't iTunes' DRM-free tracks still limited to iPods only?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
More the better
Its the only way we'll finally see how the iPod truly competes when it doesn't have ppl locked into its little netherworld.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Its really about free music, not DRM free
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Its really about free music, not DRM free
[ link to this | view in chronology ]