Leader Speaks: "Thoughts on Music"

[laarree]

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/

Saw this thru macrumors.com -- Leader ruminates about DRM issues, etc.
Has he had articles like this with his byline on apple.com before?

[hal]

talk about a snake oil salesman....

"...secret software"

[ztirffritz]

In simplest terms "secret software" is essentially what DRM is. All cryptography depends upon two parties have information to encrypt and decrypt information. Without this "secret sauce" it is impossible to do either. The problem is that the RIAA and the "Big 4" don't want you know how the decryption process works. Apple is playing by their rules, but they obviously don't want to. The Leader just fired the first shot of what could become an ugly war.

Coincidentally, their agreement with Apple Corps. just freed them to become a record label...hmmm.

[Seacrest]

Things are about to get really interesting.

[Silencio]

Are these "thoughts" primarily targeted at the big four labels, or at France and Norway? Probably both in equal measure.

This is exactly what the anti-DRM-ites who blame Apple for all the wars, famine, and pestilence in the world need to read. And yes, I agree that it looks like an ugly war of words could crop up between Apple and RIAA + the big four labels. They may resent Apple's power, but they can't deny that Apple's innovations have done much to keep music sales from slipping even further.

Unfortunately, we all know the big four would prefer to go the other way and impose DRM on CDs. At least Sony's attempt at it was bungled so badly that I highly doubt any of them will try it again.

Now, if the big four would submit to allowing Apple and other companies sell unprotected music in a non-proprietary, lossless format, I might never buy a CD ever again. I guess that's my dream for the day!

[ztirffritz]

On a side note, wasn't Vivendi hurting for cash not long ago? Might they possibly sell Universal?

[The Grim Ninja]

[quote Silencio]Are these "thoughts" primarily targeted at the big four labels, or at France and Norway?

No, these words are trying to get France and Norway to target the big four.

If those countries were to try to force Apple to open their DRM in their countries, Apple would be forced to close down their music store to the countries in order to comply with the record labels.

If those countries were to force the record labels to drop the DRM entirely, everyone would win.

Apple seems to be trying to rally their current 'enemies' in an effort to ally against the biggest enemy of all. The ones that imposed the DRM in the first place.

[deckeda]

What a great article, and long overdue. I can only guess that the RIAA and record companies HATE CDs, even though they are nearly all the business. Stupid irony arising from greed and misunderstanding the customer.

One point Steve didn't make and perhaps could have if he didn't want to risk being "too obvious" about it is that anyone can buy an iTMS song and burn it to CD, rip it and upload it ... just like with CDs, someone somewhere has to BUY the song the first time. After that, all bets are off.

[ztirffritz]

The record labels have forgotten what their purpose in this world is. They became a business because the production and distribution of media was too expensive for individuals to undertake. The labels could pool their resources and provide the service of manufacturing and distribution much more efficiently. They've kept their heads buried in the sand for several years thinkin that this problem will go away. They refuse to notice that their business model is extinct. Now they're playing "whack-a-mole" with music pirates, a game they can not possibly hope to win.

[laarree]

"Today’s most popular iPod holds 1000 songs, and research tells us that the average
iPod is nearly full. This means that only 22 out of 1000 songs, or under 3% of the music
on the average iPod, is purchased from the iTunes store and protected with a DRM. The
remaining 97% of the music is unprotected and playable on any player that can play the
open formats. Its hard to believe that just 3% of the music on the average iPod is enough
to lock users into buying only iPods in the future. And since 97% of the music on the
average iPod was not purchased from the iTunes store, iPod users are clearly not locked
into the iTunes store to acquire their music."

That's certainly true with my music collection. I avoid DRM'd music like the plague.
I read the news about the legal squabbling in Europe and wonder WTF the fuss is
about.