I’ve said this before, DRM can’t work. Recently Steve’s head said something similar. Apple claims that they provide DRM as a necessary part of licensing and if it was up to them they would offer DRM-free music to their consumers.
Let’s assume this is true. Are their hands tied?
Apple doesn’t want to license FairPlay because it would provide a migration path away from the iPod.
They can’t convince the big four music studios to license their music DRM-free.
Guess what. Apple doesn’t have to license FairPlay. They don’t have to convince the big 4 music studios of anything. They just have to do one thing.
Follow through on their statement and allow ‘some’ tracks to be sold through the iTunes music store with no DRM. You don’t have to convince the big four to ditch DRM. Just convince a few hundred independent musicians to offer some of their music for sale without DRM.
Given the choice between two songs (both that sound good). I’ll choose the one without DRM, and I’ll be more willing to buy it knowing that I’ll be able to play that song on any device I own. If these DRM free songs do sell better then DRM ridden music, more and more artists will take the plunge. The big four are late adopters.
Apple can’t rely on big music labels to make the change for their future, they need to rely on the creative independent labels and individuals making great music to help them make the change.
Considering that Apple today sells tracks with DRM that other legal services sell without DRM could indicate Jobs’ statement is not genuine. But I think that is being cynical before looking for other, simpler explanations. For example, Apple probably runs all the music through some content processing process, so slapping DRM on it is akin to slapping a label on a package. This simpler explanation is more likely.
I would challenge his statement that the music studios would yank music off of iTunes in a few weeks if FairPlay was cracked. First of all, while I am unsure about FairPlay, the PlaysForSure DRM is and remains cracked. However, PlaysForSure providers are still in business, still offering all-you-can-eat music models. The big four are still doing business with MSFT via the Zune Marketplace. And I believe FairPlay is actually circumventable with homemade tools that are out there in the Internet’s wild.
All that said, it doesn’t detract from Jobs core message. DRM doesn’t work. DRM prevents interoperability (I don’t buy the locking argument because another blog concluded very reasonably that perhaps 3% of all music on people’s devices are DRM). DRM is generally an unwinnable strategy given enough time and effort. It is not logical to disbelieve the message or its conclusion simply because of the speaker (who you would only disbelieve in the throes of cynicism).
Apple has been spending years now building leverage. It’s leverage the studios would like to break (otherwise they wouldn’t be pushing so hard for a solid #2 to emerge). Do they have enough leverage to simply say, “Hey guys, when the contracts are up, we’re dropping DRM, take it or leave it.” Maybe. After all, they’d still sell iPods and people would still rip CDs or just steal the music as they do now. Really, there’d be little change in the business model, which is to sell devices, not music.
It doesn’t work that way. Given the choice between britney spears in DRM and “something-quite-similar-to-britney-but-not-exactly-britney” but in drm-free-format”, most people would choose britney+drm… unfortunately