[Ecommerce] Steve Jobs Urges Music Labels To Drop Antipiracy Software

[Jeff Williams]

Malini and all,

  From where I sit, and from what I have seen, Jobs is essentialy
right, even though Apple will greatly financially benifit if DRM is
eliminated.

Malini Aisola wrote:

> Steve Jobs Urges Music Labels To Drop Antipiracy Software
> By Nick Wingfield and Ethan Smith
> February 6, 2007
>
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117079215903499929.html?mod=3Dgooglenews_=
wsj
>
> Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs called on major music companies to stop
> requiring Apple and other companies to sell songs over the Internet with
> antipiracy software, calling the technology ineffective at deterring
> illicit copying of music.
>
> Such a move, if embraced by music companies, could eliminate one of the
> biggest criticisms of Apple's current hold on the digital music market
> -- that music sold over the Internet by most of Apple's rival doesn't
> play on iPods, while songs from Apple's iTunes Store don't play on rival
> hardware devices.
>
> The message by Mr. Jobs, delivered Tuesday afternoon in an unusual
> 1,800-word essay posted on Apple's Web site titled "Thoughts on Music,"
> said major music companies should abolish digital rights management, or
> DRM, software that is designed to deter copying of music.
>
> It's unclear whether the major music companies =96 EMI Group PLC, Sony
> BMG, Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group Corp. --
> will agree to drop DRM, a sentiment that has been gaining traction in
> recent months among executives in the technology industry.
>
> "Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others
> distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it?" Mr.
> Jobs asked in the essay. "The simplest answer is because DRMs haven't
> worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy."
>
> One reason DRM software doesn't work, Mr. Jobs said, is that the vast
> majority of music sold by recording companies is on compact discs, which
> generally contain no copy-protection software. "In 2006, under two
> billion DRM-protected songs were sold world-wide by online stores, while
> over 20 billion songs were sold completely DRM-free and unprotected on
> CDs by the music companies themselves," Mr. Jobs wrote.
>
> He estimated that less than 3% of the music on the average iPod is
> purchase from the iTunes Store and protected by DRM. Mr. Jobs said Apple
> would embrace "in a heartbeat" a scenario in which songs purchased
> without DRM software from any online music store would play on the iPod.
>
> --
>
> Malini Aisola
>
> malini.aisola@keionline.org
>
> www.keionline.org
>
> Knowledge Ecology International
>
> 1621 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA
>
> Tel.: +1.202.332.2670 Fax: +1.202.332.2673
>
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Regards,
--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 134k members/stakeholders strong!)
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