What began as a regulatory headache for Apple - multiple European nations urging Apple to make their iTunes system interoperable with others - has become a full-blown debate about how the digital music world should function.
As has been widely reported, Steve Jobs recently posted an open letter on the Apple website calling for the four major labels to sell their music without DRM restrictions.
Open Letter from Apple’s Steve Jobs: Thoughts on Music
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/
The RIAA and a number of major record labels responded:
Music Industry Group Fires Back at Apple
Alex Viega, Associated Press, February 8, 2007
PC World, February 10, 2007
EMI May Sell Recordings Online With No Anti-Copying Software
Jeff Leeds, New York Times, February 9, 2007
Here’s an excellent analysis of Steve Jobs’ meta-strategy in calling for an end to DRM:
Jobs Plays Pragmatic Politics
Digital Music News, February 7, 2007 (free registration required)
A recent report that captures music industry opinions on DRM:
Music execs criticise DRM systems
Jupiter Report finds that almost two-thirds of music industry executives think removing digital locks from downloadable music would make more people buy the tracks.
BBC News, February 15, 2007
Interestingly, the Jobs letter is just one of the elements in an ongoing debate about DRM.
On January 7, Senator Dianne Feinstein reintroduced the PERFORM Act. On its face, this bill attempts to address concerns voiced by the recording industry about new devices being marketed by satellite radio companies - Sirius and XM - that permit subscribers to record their digital radio programming. The recording industry is worried that consumers would use these devices to automatically search for, record, and store individual songs, all neatly tagged with metadata, thus reducing the likelihood that they would buy an artist’s album.
The PERFORM Act would require satellite and Internet radio providers to restrict the ability of listeners to record and play back individual artists or songs. If passed, all audio services—webcasters included—would be obligated to implement "reasonably available and economically reasonable" copy-protection technology aimed at preventing "music theft" in order to use the blanket compulsory license. This means webcast stations that make use of the statutory license would not be able to stream in the streaming MP3 format, which is today’s standard.
There are two problems with this. First, imposing a DRM regime on webcasters and satellite radio providers ignores the remarkable growth of digital radio on an open platform, and the new licensing revenue streams they have created for recording artists, songwriters and labels. To date, SoundExchange has paid out over $53 million to thousands of artists and record labels. How many internet radio stations would cease webcasting if they were required to implement a copy-protection technology, and what would this mean for future digital performance royalties?
Second, it negates artist choice. If some artists want to release their songs with copy protection, they should be allowed to do so. If other artists do not like DRM, they are free to distribute it without restrictions. But the PERFORM Act would remove this choice by requiring a DRM standard be applied to an entire mode of digital performances.
FMC believes artists and labels are better served when we choose licenses over locks. At a moment when the recording industry is debating the efficacy of any DRM system, we think artists, the recording industry, and the consumer technology groups would be better served by working together towards a licensing solution that ensures the compensation of creators and the continued growth of innovative technologies, not one that would stifle an emerging marketplace and curtail new licensing revenues for creators.
Sen Feinstein’s press release on PERFORM Act
http://feinstein.senate.gov/07releases/r-perform0111.htm
Senators aim to restrict Net, satellite radio recording
Music industry backs the effort, but digital rights groups say it would erode users’ music-listening freedoms.
Anne Broache, CNET, January 12, 2007
Will the Perform Act Kill Online Radio?
WFMU’s Beware of the Blog, January 22, 2007