0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
The digital music landscape is evolving continuously. Just two years ago RIAA chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol defended the use of DRM on digital music because customers would benefit from it.“DRM serves all sorts of pro-consumer purposes,” he said at the time, without going into detail about the alleged benefits.However, in the year that followed the numbers of consumers calling for DRM-free music increased and more labels and music services started to offer music without digital restrictions. Still, the RIAA was not convinced that there could be a future without it, and predicted a comeback for DRM last year.Quite the opposite happened. Although DRM is still present in the majority of the legal music stores, most of the big players have decided to ditch it. Most importantly Apple announced in early 2009 that all music sold via the iTunes store would be free of DRM. This time even the RIAA doesn’t believe that it can be resurrected.Jonathan Lamy, chief spokesperson for the RIAA declared DRM dead, when he was asked about the RIAA’s view on DRM for an upcoming SCMagazine article. “DRM is dead, isn’t it?” Lamy said, referring to the DRM-less iTunes store and other online outfits that now offer music without restrictions.When the most vocal forefighters of DRM say so, it must be for real. Although this is the first time that the RIAA have actually said on record that DRM is dead, other players in the music industry have seen the light before them. Most notable IFPI, who said earlier this year that stripping DRM would “significantly boost download sales.”In this we have to agree with them. All DRM has ever done is annoy consumers who actually paid for their music. No single piece of DRM has ever stopped anyone from pirating music, it’s quite the opposite as the music industry now realizes.
I dont see how digital protection on games is an issue.
A Recording Industry Association of America spokesman who drew a huge amount of attention on the Web when he was quoted as saying "DRM is dead" denied Monday ever making the widely publicized statement.The alleged quote from Jonathan Lamy drew lots of attention because of the RIAA's previously strong support for the technology used to prevent illegal copying of music and movies. While Hollywood studios still use digital rights management technology in movie and TV show downloads, record companies now offer DRM-free music on Applie iTunes, Amazon.com, RealNetworks and other major online music stores.Nevertheless, the RIAA, which has aggressively defended copyright holders by suing illegal downloaders and file-sharing sites, is not ready to declare that DRM is ready for the grave. Lamy was originally quoted on TorrentFreak as saying, "DRM is dead, isn't it?" The alleged comment was made in reference to the number of online music stores offering DRM-free tunes that can play in any device.The TorrentFreak writer Ernesto apparently drew the quote from a discussion with SC Magazine reporter Deb Radcliffe, who asked for the retraction after the quote was published without her permission.Lamy's full, original comment, made in an e-mail sent to Radcliffe in response to a query for a story she was working on, read: "There is virtually no DRM on music anymore, at least on download services, including iTunes."After Radcliffe asked for the retraction, claiming the quote was incorrect and published without her permission, TorrentFreak ran a correction, which read, in part: "We just learned the the RIAA never used the word dead in its reply to the reporter."
