So Steve, you came right out and said it: DRM is a bad thing. Nicely done, blogosphere in a tizzy (I highly recommend reading commentary at IP Democracy, Thomas Hawk, and ReadWriteWeb), good on ya. I liked a lot of what you said resonates well
Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy.
Like it.
So if the music companies are selling over 90 percent of their music DRM-free, what benefits do they get from selling the remaining small percentage of their music encumbered with a DRM system? There appear to be none.
Love it.
Not sure if you saw it, but Ryan Block at Engadget wrote:
But don’t just leave it to the consumer to pressure the record industry, you need to lead the way — that’s why we wrote Microsoft that open letter. You and Bill have more power over this ecosystem than any two people in the world, and the big four knows it. Perhaps The Mac and The PC need to rally the troops (i.e. us) and lead this charge together.
I have an idea for you to “step up” the battle a little further. You wrote “In 2006, under 2 billion DRM-protected songs were sold worldwide by online stores” and we know that a really good chunk of those 2 billion songs were sold by your iTunes store. You want to lead the way for the world? Try this:
Stop selling DRM-protected music on iTunes, period.
Want to change things? I guarantee that causes a reaction.
Mr. Jobs posting would have carried more weight if he had taken some of the same principals in his statement and applied them to the Apple iPhone product.
In its present form the iPhone is available from one cell phone service provider.
If the iPhone was made available to any and all cell phone service providers it would have actually moved one step closer to being a product to truly reinvent the telecommunications sector.
Instead it is just another phone with the same-old-same-old exclusive distribution.
Borrowing and changing some of his comments today…
“ Imagine a world where every cell phone provider sells iPhones. In such a world, any customer would be able to purchase the iPhone from any cell phone service provider, and any cell phone service provider can sell the customer their particular service plan. “
Sadly…. this is not the case….
Mr. Jobs may want the masses to buy into that aura of the rebel company leader to hip for the stale old ways of the business world, but based on some of the details of the iPhones licensing requirements Verizon would have had to abide by it’s clear that it’s all about the money and of course the control that matter…
Don’t be fooled…. The DMR free suggestion is a veiled attempt to deflect some of the growing criticism of Apple’s “ vertical monopoly “ arguments they are facing in Europe…
It’s all about the $… it’s all about the control…
Come on, you don’t think writing this note and putting it out there in public constitutes Steve Jobs stepping up? The labels are most certainly furious with Apple over this. If iTunes decided to suddenly only sell un-DRMd content they would have little or no major label stuff available for many months (best case) while the situation shook out. That’s not in the best interests of all the users who love the experience they get on iTunes – where would they get their music? Amazon is the only other reasonable choice I can imagine and you have to WAIT for shipping. Ick. There may be a time and a place for such a strong stance, but what Steve has done here today is far more than ANY other CEO I can think of would ever do in his position. Give the man his props. This is the first step toward what you suggest… I think Steve deserves a few months to let this play out before we expect him to close up the iTunes store over DRM.
If he had taken this stance from the beginning where would digital music be today? Far more lame than it is. He smartly waited until iTunes was the 4th largest music retailer in the United States before making his move. Any earlier and he wouldn’t have had the leverage to pull it off. Even now, he doesn’t have the leverage to pull it off without some negotiating and making nice. Music industry egos are too enormous.
Good idea. Steve should unilaterally break the agreements he’s made with the music companies. That’s the silliest, most irresponsible bit of bomb-throwing imaginable. Suggest you re-read “Thoughts on Music.”
I’m not necessarily stating “he has to do so this minute” but he could well state “contracts will not be renewed” or give a timeframe to enact a phase-out. With control of some 90% of the market for MP3 players, Apple has tremendous power over the industry. Obviously I am not advocating breaking contracts, but I don’t agree that the music industry is in nearly the position they once were. They’ve been playing catch-up (at best) for years now, and I believe they need a bit of a tangible push to get them over the edge, and words aren’t going to be that push.
It’s going to take either the government getting involved, or the one company that actually has the power to impact the music industry today.
When Apple launched the iTunes Music Store, we all knew that the only way to get major labels was to have DRM. The alternative was a store filled with new artists you’ve never heard of. Prior to that, every attempt the record companies made to sell music online was overpriced and critically limited. Steve made the deal so easy that everyone can remember and understand: 99 cents a track, 5 computers, as many iPods as you want. You can burn a playlist 7 times. I have never run into any of these restrictions in 4 years of use.
Compare to the MS Zune, which should have the benefit of watching iPods and iTMS for all these years: Subscription model. You can buy some, you can burn some. You can “squirt” some songs, but not others, and there’s no way to know before you buy. And Universal gets a dollar a Zune, because we’re all pirates anyway.
The difference in the way Apple deals with the record companies and the way MS deals with record companies is obvious. Steve insists on getting the deal he knows will work. The record companies hate the fact that he is right, and are scared of the success of the iTMS. Bill Gates bends over backwards to put any restriction the record companies want into the Zune.
Here’s a link to my view of Steve is up to with this article on his thoughts on music…
http://www.geekfoolery.com/2007/02/07/you-say-you-want-a-revolution/