Steve Jobs, DRM and $1.29 songs
Posted by Ken Lauher on Tue, Apr 03, 2007 @ 11:03 PM
Has the ‘walled garden’ of the music industry finally come down? Did Steve Jobs of Apple (Computer) get the industry to bend to his will and offer downloads with no digital rights management software attached? Does Steve Jobs wear turtlenecks?
Answers: kind of, yes and yes.
The “walled garden” lost a few “bricks” this week as EMI became the first music company to agree to a no DRM wrapper as announced by EMI Group CEO Eric Nicoli yesterday.
John Gruber of “Daring Fireball” notes:
“So much for accusations that Jobs was full of sh*t with his ‘Thoughts on Music’ essay. Clearly, Apple is willing to embrace DRM-free music sales, and they’re not going to wait for all of the major labels to agree before going forward with it.”
But, why does it cost 30 cents more for an EMI song, you ask, with no DRM?
On Marketing Vox and CNet the answer is suggested - “completely interoperable DRM-free music.” Now music lovers can take their favorites, layer it on an existing family video, show it to friends, share it with non-friends - the bottom line is that it gives the consumer legal “choice.” They can do whatever they want for $1.29. Or they can still pay $.99 on iTunes, for example, and get the existing DRM licensing deal. The new DRM-less
Mark Cuban chimed in presciently on Sunday saying over on his blog, The Blog Maverick, that “The CD is dead. Long live music.” Like Mr. Cuban, I do not recall the last time I bought a CD. Yet the music industry continues to manufacture and attempt to sell to people like me. It appears those times are changing.
As 43 Folders - with regulars Leo Laporte, Merlin Mann, Alex Lindsay, and John Gruber - covered in its Podcast yesterday, EMI Music’s launch of DRM-free downloads marks a new era in music and in copyright infringement - or lack thereof.
More Discussions: Profy.Com, The Browser, larry borsato and Freedom to Tinker
-- Ken Lauher
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