The Death of Music DRM

Digital rights management, the technology restricts how music and videos are used by people who pay to download, is on it's way to becoming history (for downloaded music at least). At MacWorld Expo keynote Apple's Phil Schiller announced that all ten million songs available for download from the iTunes Music Store will no longer have DRM restrictions.

Steve Jobs lead the charge against Digital Rights Management about this time last year when he called on the recording industry to drop the requirement for DRM restrictions on all purchased downloaded music. Initially only EMI music played ball with Apple and offered DRM free songs on the iTunes Music store for an extra thirty cents per song.

Other online stores had more success in getting big music to drop DRM from paid downloads. WalMart.com went DRM free back in the summer of 2008. Amazon started their MP3 store with no DRM restrictions from the first day.

Now that Apple is going DRM free, it will be interesting to see if they stay with the AAC format or will they go to MP3. Going over to MP3 would mean that any digital music player could play songs downloaded from iTunes. Would Apple dare to be that open? Do the words too good to be true come to mind? but then Zunes play nonencrypted DRM free AAC files. Ain't that to strange to be true!

Clueless RIAA Executives Claim That DRM Isn't Dead Yet

As if anybody needs any proof that RIAA is still so very totally out of touch and out to lunch, David Hughes the head of the technology unit for the RIAA claimed that the death of DRM is greatly exaggerated and that DRM will re-emerge.

That's incredibily gutsy but incredibly shortsighted since Apple's iTunes, walmart.com and even the Zune Marketplace offers parts of their catalogs of songs without DRM. The entire catalog of songs available for download at amazon.com is completely free of DRM.

The movement towards the end of DRM isn't about enabling piracy, it's about consumer choice. Selling downloaded songs without DRM allows anybody to use any online music store with any portable music player. People can buy songs from amazon.com for use with their iPods.

Mr. Hughes claims that DRM is required for services that offer songs using a monthly subscription model. Selling music through a monthly subscription is an idea that has fallen flat on it's face. Customers of Napster, Rhapsody and the Zune Marketplace largely buy downloaded music outright with very few to pay a monthly subscription fee. This is most likely due to the DRM restrictions placed on subscription music.

Consumers are choosing to buy music without DRM and even the recording companies themselves are giving in to consumer demand. It's just the RIAA that is holding on to the draconian vision that they can tell consumers where and when and on what devices can play music. Copy protected CD's died a quick death it's time for DRM on downloaded music to follow suit. It's the consumer who are buying downloaded songs and yes even buying CD's which pay the salaries of anybody working for the RIAA. It's consumers who are in charge not the RIAA.