Comments on: DRM-free iTunes Store to haunt Apple?

Songs the company sells are no longer wrapped in copyright protection software. It's good for consumers and record labels, but will it also be good for Apple in the long term?

[CiannaT]

Interesting article and comments. I would argue that iTunes and the music industry as it stands today has little to do with the actual music or whether or not it is DRM-free. Music distribution today is about creating a process for selling, buying, and consuming music that causes the least amount of friction for the consumer. iTunes is successful because it controls the complete process because they both distribute the music through their own program that is a package deal with the iPod music player. They control the user experience from start to finish. No other competitive music distribution program creates the seamless process like Apple does. So it's more than just a quality product, it is a quality process and to get that quality process people will continue to buy iPods even if given the choice of using other MP3 players. This means that Apple controls a majority of music distribution (legal distribution, that is) much to the dismay of the music industry. We just wrote a blog about why it's unlikely there will be a competitive alternative to iTunes in the future. Apple has a major advantage in negotiations with the music industry and this is why they could negotiate DRM-free which seems like a music company?s worst nightmare.

Link: http://www.mauronewmedia.com/blog/2009/02/why-the-music-industry-doesnt-have-a-prayer-against-itunes/#more-274