Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a key issue on the emerging web; how will the benefits of free flowing data be balanced by the commercial interests of content creators or the corporations that own their content? The past week has seen constant flow of important developments in DRM, some of them quite strange.
While I try to be understanding of the importance of rights protection (splogs scraping this site drive me nuts, for example) I lean towards disapproving of DRM as it’s been developed in most cases. The simplest argument is that when I buy a file, I should be able to play it on any device I own. How can I be kept from making copies and driving the price down to zero? I don’t know. More ephemeral arguments concern the need for the content industry to come up with a more compelling business model than false scarcity enforced through coercion and the importance of openness is fostering innovation and collaboration. The other side of the argument has its compelling points as well, however, and few people probably consider it an open and shut case.
The following are some of the top stories emerging in regards to DRM right now. Precedents are being set, new technologies are being launched and key partnerships are being announced. It’s an interesting time to watch DRM news with an eye to the future.
Yahoo! and Disney to sell an entire album MP3 free. After selling a Jessica Simpson single without DRM in July, Yahoo! announced that they will soon sell the entire album from Jesse McCartney titled “Right Where You Want Me” free of DRM restrictions. The album is from Hollywood Records, a Disney owned company. In an article in Variety today, Yahoo! acknowledges that “piracy” is a reality and they appear to be inching themselves into a very interesting experiment.
Zune gets wacky with DRM. The release of Microsoft’s iPod competitor was closely watched, but it wasn’t until the day after the unveiling that it was discussed that the portable entertainment system will not play files wrapped in Microsoft’s own Windows Media and Audio DRM technology. Users will have to buy files from the Zune Marketplace. Surely consumer patience is going to be tested by this; the huge market share of Windows Media might make an effective standard DRM acceptable for consumers willing to play by the rules as Microsoft defines them – but a fork in the company’s technology that makes legally purchased files unusable on the hot new device feels like betrayal, if not outright theft.
Zune to override Creative Commons licenses. (Update: ZuneInsider just made a post related to this that says he was wrong when he wrote that this was true.) Also discussed last week was the impact of Zune DRM on files licensed as Creative Commons by creators; the Zune will wrap those files in its own DRM contrary to the rights owners wishes and the explicit conditions of CC liscenses. Those licenses are machine readable, so maybe just maybe Microsoft will respect them. If not then we can say: so much for DRM protecting artists’ interests! For background on how Creative Commons works for artists, see an interview I did several months ago with Creative Commons CTO Mike Linksvayer.
If you can’t beat ‘em, C&D ‘em. In other Microsoft news, the company apparently sent out Cease and Desist letters last week to web sites hosting a technology that strips some versions of Microsoft’s Windows Media Audio DRM from files. Called FairUse4WM, the technology was something that Microsoft initially said it wasn’t concerned about because the WMA DRM could be refreshed to disable DRM strippers. Initial attempts to do just that were thwarted by the FairUse4WM team’s one upmanship, though, and so the company apparently had to resort to legal threats. It doesn’t appear to have worked so far as FairUse4WM is still widely available online.
YouTube says it’s got a tool to find copyrighted music in videos. YouTube announced a deal with Warner Music this week that will put Warner owned music videos on the site and allow YouTube users to legally use Warner owned music in their videos for free. One of the least discussed parts of the announcement, though, was a new technology YouTube says it’s developed that will automatically discover copyrighted music used in videos. No details are available yet on how the technology will work, but the company has said it will detect copyrighted music in use, keep track of royalties owed and allow rights holders to veto the use of their music if they so wish. This marks a radical shift away from the “don’t ask/don’t tell” model that YouTube is infamous for and could lead the way for a very different online media landscape.
Napster goes up for sale. The poster child of music downloading in the pre-DRM era, Napster, looks like it’s about to be acquired.
Other DRM stories that are also worth checking out from the past week include: Michael Geist’s 30 Days of DRM, a series of blog posts recommending exceptions and limitations that the government should include if a Canadian DMCA is introduced. Real Networks unveils yet another DRM model, called Rhapsody DNA.
Good coverage Marshall. Not too sure about Microsoft not covering Creative Commons? I definately think this is going to be a big thorn in the side of millions of zune users if Microsoft dont do something to protect the choice of users that select CC licences.
Removing DRM Rights all together seems like a practical experiment considering that just about everyone I know that has an IPOD, pretty much has the good old “Napster” or “Shareaza” songs anyway. Or uses the Russian allofmp3.com site to buy DRM free music.
Either way, I look at it that this site has made an absolute fortune and if Yahoo! has any sense they will follow suite.
taking about youtube, did you see the free video parade ?
It’s actually funny to see people surprised about the Zune situation, they should expect problems with a piece of hardware that comes from Microsoft.
DRM is a dead duck, there’s just too much music available online as it is. The solution is somewhere else, this results only in confusion.
The other big news today is that Apple just sold 125,000 films ($1 million in sales) online by Disney in less than a week since their launch of digital movie sales via iTunes. People (including myself) are arguing that you should have the ability to burn digital movie purchases to DVD, like songs from iTunes to CDs, but is this really necessary? I’ve posted about this and also why Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo, Wal-Mart, Real, all the digital music / video hardware manufacturers, studios, and record labels need to WAKE UP. Interoperability is their ONLY option.
Zuneinsider just corrected the bit about wrapping all tunes in DRM – http://www.zune...and_drm_or.html
If it helps we did an article for Broadcast Engineering on DRM trends here earlier this year……I don’t think a lot has changed at the strategic level.
Two new trends we didn’t cover then
(i) The worrying new development is the overwriting of creative commons licences by DRM, this is the thin edge of the potential for riding over the user self-production rights.
(ii) The fascinating new development of the rise in sales of analog products such as vinyl 7 singles among the teens………I wonder if its partly a reaction against paying for something thats not actually yours after all.
But our overall view stays much the same – most consumers are prepared to pay a fair price for what they regard as fair use, DRM or no DRM. Ease of use, flexibility and reliability are equally important factors in adoption of a system – if its much worse to use than free systems it will be bypassed..
Consumer/Media DRM is a mess right now… there are too many technologies that don’t work together.
Can’t someone develop a DRM standard?
Historically, the arts (MP3s) have been free to share to everyone. Unfortunately, today, everyone is concerned about getting a piece of the pie. Thus, those who can’t afford the arts are deprived.
Ok, Jessica Simpson is a terrible singer – her album didn’t do well and I’m sure giving it away helped. But what about with real money-making artists?
I get nervous with how YouTube is going.
People are creating videos to put on their site. Many of them are video blogs who may use snippets of music in their post. They are not making money through youtube. That is against youtube’s TOS as far as I understand it. Thus why does YouTube think its a good idea to restrict creative content?
Yeah, DRM’s a real pain in the ass. In Canada there are certain rights which exist, (for example as a choreographer am be allowed to give copies of a recording to my dancers so they can familiarize themselves with the music we are using and rehearse on their own if they choose to), and if my original source has DRM I’m screwed. I would also be screwed when it came to making a copy to be used in the actual performance, (also allowed under Canadian law). DRM really needs to address these issues.
Along the lines of Zune not playing Windows Media DRM files my sister had a similar experience recently. She bought a laptop, copied all of her ripped tracks, (which she OWNS the CDs of), onto it and moved accross the country to attend university. When she got there she discovered that she could not play the music she owns becasue Windows Media Player had attached a “Personal License” to her files making it so they will not play on any computer but the one that was used to rip them. She can update her license by connecting to a Microsoft server but that is an invasion of privacy and a hassle to do for every track. Also, it is true that personal licensing can be turned off when you rip your tracks but unless you have had an experience like this you’d never even know it was happening.
In short, DRM really needs to be worked over. I support the principle of making sure that artists are paid for their work but there has to be a better way.
Could YouTube be using the Shazam technology to “hear” and identify music? http://www.shazam.com
Interoperable DRM is happening in Asia and starting Internationally The Solutions partners with a range of DRM providers and similarly with device Manufacturers to create a 1:1 many effect . ie One device can then play many flavours of DRM and thus the paid for content market should get bigger. Compliant with OMA and MS DRM. Got to be the way forward for all .More details are below
http://www.globalnetsync.com/
Well, DRM is completely Defective by Design, but one of the big problems of it is exactly that DRM takes the “ease of use” and “flexibility” from it’s users…
There may not ever be ‘millions of zune users’. This sounds like a load of crap and a big invesment down the drain for MS.