Comments on: Apple, Amazon may hold future of DRM-free music

Sales of unprotected music at retailers could help determine whether record industry adopts open MP3s.

[menty666]

Could go either way

I think acceptance is going to depend on their metrics. Say I'm the only one in the world that likes Fiona Apple. Apple/Amazon starts selling DRM free Fiona Apple songs, I lap them up like a toddler in the M&M factory and because I'm the only one, they declare it a failure.

The music industry complains that CD sales are in a free fall and I have to say, they have no one to blame but themselves. First off, and maybe I'm just hitting my "you kids get off my lawn" stage, but a lot of the music being released is terrible. Most of it is just rehashing (or 'sampling' as you kids call it) old music anyway. Many of the kids releasing music these days can't even sing during a performance because so much of it depends on them dancing instead of actually singing. Second, the prices are way out of whack. I've been eyeing the new Feist disc at Starbucks. They want 15.00 for it but I can get the same music from iTunes for 9.99 and I just burn it on my own disc. Granted I have slightly more portability and freedom with the disc, but is that worth an extra 5.00 when I'm near a digital player 85% of my day anyway? Finally, the music industry has sabotaged itself with their own paranoia. Take Sony's root kit fiasco and the latest incident with the Blue Ray discs where they've made their own product incompatible with their own players. They put so many wacky DRM schemes on the discs that I can't play the things in the one player I use most, my computer.

I hope it works, but who knows.

[skipperpma]

Get the facts straight!

"Amazon and Apple could end up frustrating consumers, many of whom have long resented having to figure out what music formats and DRM schemes are compatible with the many music players available, said Susan Kevorkian an analyst with IDC."
To even insinuate any blame on retailers for the DRM-restrictions that are imposed by record companies is foolishness, and coming from an "analyst" is a good display of lacking integrity. As for confusing the public, I don't think having a separate section of the site where "DRM-FREE Music" that would be open to any music players would be that hard for the public to understand.

[cybnetic]

wahooo for the industry!!

finally we may have what we want! dont give in to big music monopolies!!!!!dont buy their music . give your money to the artists instead of the man..

[paulsecic]

45

I haven't bought music since 45s were popular.. I record songs off
of FM.

[Thrudheim]

Buy non-DRM music

Foes of DRM should put their money where their mouth is and
buy DRM-free music, and not from dubious sources like
allofmp3.com. Consumers should want all the labels to drop
DRM, and the other three major labels are going to need
convincing.

So stop buying music from three big ones that insist on DRM.
Buy only from EMI and indies that sell without DRM. If we vote
with dollars, the industry will have to respond.

[GOVEmployee]

Nothing will change

As much as I loath DRM schemes, the problem lies with the complete and utter garbage that is being produced these days. Record(and movie) companies have gone to a quantity over quality model of doing business and it's killing them.

[jbuberel]

Renting your media is where the world is headed

Eventually, any sales strategy based on the notion of bit ownership will fade. Why do I want to re-accumulate my favorite 5,000 songs on my own home PC or media player? Why would I want to collect my favorite 500 movies?

Instead, charge me a reasonable fee on a monthly or annual basis, and let me access any piece of media from any computer anywhere at any time and play it on any device I choose. I already do that for music (Rhapsody.com) and I find the experience much more useful.

This 'pay by the download' approach hopefully is only a passing fad.

-jason

[rcrusoe]

If renting music is the answer

then why are all the subscription sites doing so poorly? Only those backed by companies with deep pockets are managing to hang on.

So far, the success of iTunes shows that most people want to own their music.

Tomorrow may be another story.

[dansterpower]

Could Not Disagree More

I think you are wrong on this one. Subscription Models are simply
too much work, too inconvenient and lock me into monthly pricing
that I don't want.

[technewsjunkie]

I'd much rather own it, and collect it

Thanks.

[GGGlen]

Meanwhile, back in reality

Napster posts its biggest quarterly loss yet, while Apple's "passing
fad" increases market share.
I'd say that, oh, 80% of consumers strongly disagree with you..

[weegg]

Except sales and statistics prove you are wrong

Who has a vast majority of the market.

Not Zune (huvering at 2.5%). Even the non-ipod players mostly
contain purchased music instead of rented.

Stats just don't bear this out.

Also, if this is so great, why hasn't this worked with renting
furniture and so on. Why aren't we all leasing cars? eh

[thedreaming]

What they really want...

What the music industry really wants is for people to rent their music. The same thing for the movie industry. They don't want you do own it cause according to their copyright, you don't own it now. You only own a license that lets you listen to music or watch a dvd using the provided medium (cd or dvd).

[doctorsoos]

Why aren't CD prices down like they were supposed to drop already?

Due to an article I read awhile ago here....CD prices were supposed to drop by $2-3. there is absolutely NO reason other than greed that they haven't drop the prices due to media costs. And the prices being charged at places like Sam Goodies and others is ridiculous. $16-18+ for a disc? Gimme a break. I do a lot of purchasing online at underground stores because I absolutely HATE the crap that is called "today's music". I am into the underground metal scene and have been for a long time. New music sucks, rehashed crap from 10 yrs ago half the time. But that's a different rant altogether. At least the underground scene is still going strong. New music + prices being charged = garbage and greed.

[rcrusoe]

The music industry might as well ditch DRM

because they can't catch enough people to make their antiquated business plan work.

All they have accomplished so far is to push their customers to innovate new methods of getting DRM free music (and dust off some old methods).

Years ago it was common for people to copy their albums and tapes and share with their friends. Napster made it more convenient to use the net rather than cassette tapes.

But now, once again, it's quite common these days for groups of people with common musical tastes to buy a single CD, rip it, and distribute the music to everyone who chipped in for the disk. I've even heard of music buying "co-ops" among groups of people.

Does the RIAA plan to start patting down everyone on the planet and searching their USB drives?

Perhaps providing the product your customers want at a reasonable price might be the basis for a successful business.

[skeptik]

Blackmail?

"If sales are lackluster, then that might spur the labels to wrap songs in even tighter copy protection, say industry insiders."

In other words, if we don't chip in and bail them out, they'll punish us by making DRM even worse?


Where is the evidence that file swapping is the reason for slow sales? DRM solves little, even if you believe it works. This isn't the Napster/Kaaza heyday... I don't even know anybody downloading illegal files anymore.

Maybe they should look in the mirror and search for reasons there. Overpriced product? Crappy music? Lack of interest in the latest "dancing girl" musician? Competition for entertainment dollars based on expanded options? Dollars going to new hardware (iPods aren't cheap like CD walkmans were!)? The list goes on.

[shrynk]

The root of why CD sales are down!

The recording industry seems to be following the old paradigm of targeting youth for sales. Fact is, the largest segment of the population is still the baby-boomers.

With very few exceptions, the industry is not releasing product that appeal to this demographic.

For example, everyone I know age 45+ listens to talk radio now. We are sick of Oldie and Classic Rock stations... For me, there are only a handfull of new songs a year that I really like.

Find some fresh and creative artists, and get cloned radio stations to play there stuff. Then, MAYBE the largest segment of our population will start buying CD's again.

[doctorsoos]

Too much crap being put out

I'm in the 45 and older range and I listen to METAL (underground, doom/death/black) and I also play in a doom/death metal band. I also love old rock/metal (HUGE old Rush Fan, Robin Trower, Zeppelin, Sabbath, etc..). Was never into the *hair band* crap. I also like blues, dark ambient, martial, etc...but do we hear a portion of this on other than classic rock stations or the net? NO! Commercial CRAP force fed over the airwaves. But the answer to that is a) don't listen to radio or at least most mainstream stations, b) listen to music in car/work/mp3 players.

[bobby_brady]

Music has lost it's glamour, it's now a commodity

I have a feeling that DRM-less music is not take off as as some expect. I base this on my own reaction when I read some music will be sold without Digital Restrictions Management. I was like, "oh, okay, big deal". I haven't bought music in years. Part of the reason I think is because I would rather spend my entertainment money elsewhere such as video games and XM radio which suits me just fine.

I think music has lost a lot of it's glamour. It's now a commodity. Add to it the fact that most of the large music retailers have gone either belly-up or closed shop. Big box stores sell most of the music and are dedicating even less space for music sales, so it will be even harder to find a wide variety of music off line. In addition, the music industry has managed to pis5 off most of their customers.

[El_Mikee]

Did anyone noticed how Metallica got crappier since the napster thing?

Instead of focusing on how to protect their crappy music, they should invest that money in hiring better songwriters for all the little "plastic" artist they shove down our ears thru top 40 radio. Seriously; my tween nephew bought avril lavigne´s new CD. Only 1 song out of the bunch was good enough to load on both mine, and his iPods. that´s two iPods carrying one lousy track well forget in a matter of months, ripped an over-priced CD.

I don´t mean to say that yesterdays music was better... Hell, there´s a lot of crap form the ´70s and ´80s i´d like to forget about. But it´s like, nowadays, they´re going way out line with it. And DRM is not helping eiher.

Get better artist, offer their music at a fair price; and i´ll buy they CDs for the music, the artwork, the line notes, bios, pictures... like the good old days of vinyl and pre-iPod digital music (CDs)

[BrodieB]

Record labels need to ditch DRM sooner rather than later.

Regardless of how well Apple and Amazon do with the new DRM free stores. People want to OWN what they pay for not the other way around. I will not buy an MP3 with DRM protection because I cannot burn it to CD or give a copy to a friend without jumping through hoops or willfully breaking laws. CD sales are low because music has hit a point where most people own the old stuff they want on CD already and new music is lame at best and garbage at worst. When was the last time you bought a CD of new music with more than 2 or 3 decent songs on it? I know I have not for a LONG time. MP3's and downloads will help record labels if they quit treating honest consumers like theives right from the get go.

[weegg]

Agreed....and

Most of the music now days fits into 2 categories:

Rehash and Crap

Enough said.

[skipperpma]

What about the ipod causing a decline in cd sales...

Hear me out before you yell at me, it's just a thought. -
I've had an ipod sense they came out with the first generation,
and have 5th gen. now. Although I love my ipod just as much as
the next person, I have come to a rather disturbing realization.
The music selection on my ipod (although vast), has become
stagnant and stale. So, I started asking my friends and found
that we had all become accustom to hearing perfectly clear
music anytime we want, when and wherever we wanted. I also
found that we had all become completely intolerant of radio
commercials. Some even choosing to sit in silence in the car if
they forgot their ipods rather than listen to annoying radio
commercials trying to sell stuff.
I'd be one of the first people to slam good-old radio. However,
despite it's many downsides and annoyances, it did constantly
force new artists in-front of our faces. It kept our music libraries
alive and fresh. Although I don't have the numbers to prove it, I
would venture to guess that if we looked, we would undoubtedly
find a correlation between the ever decreasing radio audience
and the decrease in cd sales.
I don't really have an answer to this theorized problem yet, so I'll
leave that up to you to come up with. :)

[mssoot]

The genie is out and theres no way back

DRM or no DRM is non relevant now.
It's too late already and it wont make any difference which way they go
every drm scheme gets cracked and anyone who can use google can break it.
Give it up already

[iBuzz]

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem

People have given all kinds of reasons to justify stealing from their favorite artists. They don't want to be forced to pay for an entire CD when they only want a song or two; the record companies are keeping most of the money from CD sales anyway; they want to own music, not rent; they don't want to be restricted in listening options with DRM'd music... and on and on...

Well, with DRM-free music, the labels are finally giving you what you want: the opportunity to buy only the songs you want at a fair price.

If you find yourself still resistant to paying for the music you enjoy and to support the artists who create it, perhaps you need to re-examine your morals and ethics. There is no more rationale for stealing.

[chuchucuhi]

it's a personal choice

Depending on your music habits one may prefer to rent. If you're the kind of person who can easily blow $500 at the music store every month then you would probably like to just pay a monthly subscription. If you buy the equivalent of 6 cd's a year then you'll probably want to just buy yourt music. I think there is room for both services. It may even behoov some to have both services and give people their options.

[onlyauser]

Customers and Sales Numbers it can't get any simpler

I think that Recorded Music Sales will continue a free fall and they derserve it. The RIAA and the Major Lables are the biggest rips.

Digital Music Sites = DRM, subscription fees, No CD, No Art, lower than CD quality and the online Music Sites charge 99¢ for each DRM Track! No thanks I will buy a discounted CD online. Deals like 23 songs at $7 with a physical CD copy and artwork. LOL! Things just gotta change.

What people want are tunes at 50¢ or lower and DRM FREE! It really can't get any simpler but I guess greed blinds.

[onlyauser]

Indie Lables are Killing Big Corporate Lables

Indie Lables are Killing Big Corporate Lables.

Most of the NEW original music with any edge at all is from an independent lable anyway.

The corporations have killed radio and now they are killing the big lable recording industry in the name of greed. Be thankful for the awesome creativity and talent of the Independents.