First came the "I've been thinking..." memo from Steve Jobs which showed his desire to pursue a DRM-free future for iTunes music. Now he's signed a deal with record label EMI to feature music at higher quality (256Kbps compared to 128), for US30c more per track and WITH NO DRM. That means, when it comes to EMI at least, iTunes finally gives those willing to stump up extra, good quality listening and the flexibility for them to shuffle music between devices as they wish.
It's a significant development given the dominance of iTunes. But what's behind it? Like Microsoft which got caught up in seriously expensive legal action in the European Community over its anti-competitive behaviour, Steve Jobs is also attracting the ire of the Europeans over the closed nature of its iTunes-iPod ecosystem. This and the memo preceding it seem to be exercises in appeasement. How significant the shedding of DRM will end up being, will be determined by how many other labels follow the same course as EMI. It could also turn out to be a clever revenue spinning move for Apple. Faced with the choice of buying 128 kilobit music laced with DRM or paying an extra 30c per track for DRM free, better quality songs, I think most people will choose the latter. Apple has also decided to maintain the exisitng price for albums which should act to encourage people to stump up US$10 for an entire album of DRM-free music, rather than individual tracks. The most progressive thing Apple has done since it launched iTunes...
Showing posts with label DRM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DRM. Show all posts
3 Apr 2007
30 Mar 2007
A SLIP OF A FINGER, A MASSIVE PR GAFF
You must read the Microsoft memo on Wired writer Fred Vogelstein that the Redmond giant's PR company accidentally emailed to Fred Vogelstein. Man, as a reporter, you just dream of documents like that falling into your hands. I've been CCed in on emails I shouldn't have been and got some juicy tidbits in the process, but never the motherlode that landed in Vogelstein's inbox.
The reporter is, as you'd expect, beaming. Not only is it a great story, the memo also shows him up as a thorough reporter that Microsoft are scared of. That's because Vogelstein is a very good tech reporter, he did a great piece on how Yahoo blew it, in the January issue of Wired.
The memo shows a couple of interesting things - the fastidiousness with which Microsoft and its PR team planned for the interviews with Vogelstein - they really wanted to cover every base as a good PR team should, but their level of analysis of Vogelstein's reporting methods is a little creepy.
It also shows the thoroughness required in putting together a Wired article, a level of research we simply aren't able to complete writing here in New Zealand on 40 cents a word. I'm not sure what Vogelstein's word rate is, but he's probably on a special deal, earning more than a US$1 a word. For a $5000 word article, that lets him work on it solely, for a month or more.
Vogelstein blogs on the incident himself here.
Also, a couple of interesting stories in the Herald. According to AC Nielsen, we're bigger online shoppers than the Australians. That will be down to Trademe and the airlines which I suspect would account for 90 per cent of ecommerce traffic in New Zealand. Still, good to see we're getting comfortable with the medium.
Another story about the music industry complaining about music piracy. Aparently Bic Runga's last album only sold 50,000 copies because people are downloading it for free. I'm sure piracy has had some impact, but it doesn't change the fact that our outdated copyright law has to change.
The currently proposed two year sunset clause on the much-needed format shifting provision has to go and attempts to criminalise methods of circumventing anti-piracy measures is a potential minefield the Government should not be enshrining in legislation. The new legislation won't change the rate of piracy which may not be at the high level the industry claims (1 legal song to 42 illegal), but is neverthless very high. The music industry's busniess model has to change to keep up with this runaway train.
The reporter is, as you'd expect, beaming. Not only is it a great story, the memo also shows him up as a thorough reporter that Microsoft are scared of. That's because Vogelstein is a very good tech reporter, he did a great piece on how Yahoo blew it, in the January issue of Wired.
The memo shows a couple of interesting things - the fastidiousness with which Microsoft and its PR team planned for the interviews with Vogelstein - they really wanted to cover every base as a good PR team should, but their level of analysis of Vogelstein's reporting methods is a little creepy.
It also shows the thoroughness required in putting together a Wired article, a level of research we simply aren't able to complete writing here in New Zealand on 40 cents a word. I'm not sure what Vogelstein's word rate is, but he's probably on a special deal, earning more than a US$1 a word. For a $5000 word article, that lets him work on it solely, for a month or more.
Vogelstein blogs on the incident himself here.
Also, a couple of interesting stories in the Herald. According to AC Nielsen, we're bigger online shoppers than the Australians. That will be down to Trademe and the airlines which I suspect would account for 90 per cent of ecommerce traffic in New Zealand. Still, good to see we're getting comfortable with the medium.
Another story about the music industry complaining about music piracy. Aparently Bic Runga's last album only sold 50,000 copies because people are downloading it for free. I'm sure piracy has had some impact, but it doesn't change the fact that our outdated copyright law has to change.
The currently proposed two year sunset clause on the much-needed format shifting provision has to go and attempts to criminalise methods of circumventing anti-piracy measures is a potential minefield the Government should not be enshrining in legislation. The new legislation won't change the rate of piracy which may not be at the high level the industry claims (1 legal song to 42 illegal), but is neverthless very high. The music industry's busniess model has to change to keep up with this runaway train.
7 Feb 2007
MERLIN'S MAGIC, JOBS WANTS TO SHED DRM
Here's a link to an article I wrote a couple of weeks ago, but only ran in the Herald today. It's about the formation of Merlin, a worldwide organise that bands together independent music trade groups to give them better bargaining power when it comes to negotiating online music and mobile phone download deals with media and technology companies. It's a great development for independent labels and their musicians.
From a New Zealand point of view, it should mean that our many independent artists have an easier route to the world market. But in researching the story, I learnt a lot more about the great work Wellington-based Loop Recordings have done on their own, in developing a direct relationship with the iTunes.com music store. This is a great model all local artists can take advantage off directly through Loop - they can pass on any artist's music to iTunes. Once you have your music on iTunes, Myspace's MyStore online music service, are promoting your band through your own website and MySpace listings and backing it up with solid gigging and media work, the need for a band to have a label at all does indeed start to look marginal.
Meanwhile, Steve Jobs has written a very interesting letter on the Apple website, outlining his views on the future of DRM.
He outlines three ways forward: maintain the status quo with each major music player maker (Apple, Microsoft and Sony) all selling music that only plays on their own devices and is encoded with their own flavour of DRM. Secondly, create a universal DRM system that everyone applies to their software adn devices. Sounds like a great idea as it would mean music bought through the Zune Marketplace could play on my iPod. But Jobs thinks the DRM would be cracked quickly once everyone subscribes to it. Thirdly, scrap DRM entirely. An even better idea.
Jobs writes:
Wow, what a great scenario. As Jobs points out, while Apple sold 2 billion DRM-protected tracks in 2006, the music industry sold around 20 billion tracks completely DRM-free on CD. So the online music market is unfairly penalised where CDs are sold, ripped and the contents can be placed on the internet for millions of others to download. This shows the inherent flaws in DRM and why it needs to be scrapped entirely. I'm glad Jobs wrote this letter. It's come after Apple has received a lot of flack, especially in Europe, over its closed iTunes-iPod model.
That's something that still annoys me. As an interim measure, Jobs could at least seek to go with a limited version of scenario 2 where he licences Apple's DRM so iTunes music will work on, say, the Creative Zen, the iRiver and the SanDisk Sansa. Screw the Zune, they can learn the hard way that when you're last to the party you can't create yet another closed system.
Ultimately however, DRM has to go, and Jobs has pointed the way forward. I hope other tech luminaries back his stance and enough pressure is able to be applied to the music industry to make it come to pass.
From a New Zealand point of view, it should mean that our many independent artists have an easier route to the world market. But in researching the story, I learnt a lot more about the great work Wellington-based Loop Recordings have done on their own, in developing a direct relationship with the iTunes.com music store. This is a great model all local artists can take advantage off directly through Loop - they can pass on any artist's music to iTunes. Once you have your music on iTunes, Myspace's MyStore online music service, are promoting your band through your own website and MySpace listings and backing it up with solid gigging and media work, the need for a band to have a label at all does indeed start to look marginal.
Meanwhile, Steve Jobs has written a very interesting letter on the Apple website, outlining his views on the future of DRM.
He outlines three ways forward: maintain the status quo with each major music player maker (Apple, Microsoft and Sony) all selling music that only plays on their own devices and is encoded with their own flavour of DRM. Secondly, create a universal DRM system that everyone applies to their software adn devices. Sounds like a great idea as it would mean music bought through the Zune Marketplace could play on my iPod. But Jobs thinks the DRM would be cracked quickly once everyone subscribes to it. Thirdly, scrap DRM entirely. An even better idea.
Jobs writes:
"The third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat.
"If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music."
Wow, what a great scenario. As Jobs points out, while Apple sold 2 billion DRM-protected tracks in 2006, the music industry sold around 20 billion tracks completely DRM-free on CD. So the online music market is unfairly penalised where CDs are sold, ripped and the contents can be placed on the internet for millions of others to download. This shows the inherent flaws in DRM and why it needs to be scrapped entirely. I'm glad Jobs wrote this letter. It's come after Apple has received a lot of flack, especially in Europe, over its closed iTunes-iPod model.
That's something that still annoys me. As an interim measure, Jobs could at least seek to go with a limited version of scenario 2 where he licences Apple's DRM so iTunes music will work on, say, the Creative Zen, the iRiver and the SanDisk Sansa. Screw the Zune, they can learn the hard way that when you're last to the party you can't create yet another closed system.
Ultimately however, DRM has to go, and Jobs has pointed the way forward. I hope other tech luminaries back his stance and enough pressure is able to be applied to the music industry to make it come to pass.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
