End of DRM?

[Bael]

Originally posted by Rosuav
But spending time, money, and effort on DRM is not financially viable unless it encourages sales.

iTunes and their store has their own DRM implimentation (stuff you buy can only be played on a certain number of regestered players, and numerous other things) and their sales don't show any sign of slowing down any time soon. I agree though that they might need to rethink some of the stuff, but it's not a problem that's going away. The real issue here is that the RIAA is behind the curve and trying to catch up. They didn't perceive that PCs would be a threat until it was much, much too late (and to be honest they weren't for a very long time... not until the mid-late 90's when a handful of things clicked into place... mass use of the internet, larger/cheaper hard drives/storage media, faster connection speeds, and the invention of P2P-style transfer protocols). Right now they're scrambling to figure something out, and it'll probably be several years until they have something figured out, and even then it'll be several more to get the majors on the same page (especially since Sony is notorious for being stupid about conforming to other people's standards). It's all up in the air right now, and to be terribly honest, Steve Jobs' voice doesn't have as much weight as his fanboys would like to believe. The big four are the big four for a reason, and without their catalogs, iTunes would be pretty fucked. And I can guarantee that the majors would be just fine without the iTunes store, so there isn't much they can do.

[Gesslar]

EMI in talks to sell unprotected MP3s

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070209/...rotected_music

[Aristotle]

Wow.

When did Bael throw off his Goth trappings and don an RIAA suit! I blame the haircut.

When songs cost 10 cents and have no DRM, then they will cost about what they are worth.

Piracy will end when, and only when, legitimate versions of songs have more value than pirated versions.

Right now, even $1 per song is too much for a lot of people. That is why, despite huge iTunes sales, pirating is still enormously popular.

The movie industry, if it is smart, has been using this time to solve the problem the RIAA cannot.

$20 for a movie is too much. That is why Netflix is absolutely devastating everyone. The movie studios have not found the appropriate sweet spot for the cost of movies, and so when it becomes feasible, people are going to pirate movies even worse than they pirated music.

[Leshrak]

I wrote up a big, long-winded reply to bael's defense of the RIAA, but then my browser crashed.

To sum up: Fuck the RIAA.

[Bael]

Originally posted by Leshrak
I wrote up a big, long-winded reply to bael's defense of the RIAA, but then my browser crashed.

To sum up: Fuck the RIAA.

See the problem here is that in saying "Fuck the RIAA" and through actually trying to go through with the application of "fucking the RIAA" you're fucking a *LOT* more than just the RIAA. You're fucking at least 4 other people (or groups of people) which make the recording even possible. You're fucking the song-writer (usually the band these days) who gets paid royalties per sale of the song/album... you're fucking the producer (who makes the band sound the way they sound, and in turn improves the band's sound and performance), who also gets paid royalties per sale of song/album... you're also fucking the engineer (the person who actually records the band, assures the best possible technical recording of the audio, and works with the producer to get the music to sound better and retool/improve the sound of the music), who... you guessed it, is paid royalties per sale of the song/album... and most importantly, you're fucking the band. And you're fucking the band on half a dozen different levels too. You're affecting the funding they're going to get for the tour to support said album (less sales = smaller tour), you're affecting the funding they're going to get to make their next album (more funding = better album), you're affecting their ability to recoup to the label (less sales = the band being more in the hole)... this is huge, it means the band is likely never going to make money from the sale of their music, meaning they're going to make their money from touring... but you've already fucked their ability to tour, so they can only hope to sell more t-shirts as a supporting act...

I agree that it's fucked up and stupid, and that they need to do something to fix it and help things, however there are generally a lot more things involved than most people realize. There's so much more going on than "I don't want to pay $1 for a song, music should be cheaper, fucking RIAA." (and in reality, it is cheaper, it's only $1 if you're paying for *ONE* song, almost every album I see on iTunes, it's cheaper to buy the whole album than it is to buy each track individually) Personally, I hate the RIAA for a number of reasons, most of which don't involve the price of music, but moreso with the way they handle artists (though, to be honest, I can't blame them on some levels since you have no idea if a band will actually make you money or not). So no, Ari, I have no intention of representing RIAA in any way, shape or form... however, I do plan on Engineering (and perhaps venturing on occasion into production), which means I'll be one of those people who ends up getting fucked by all this stuff. Fortunately, the majority of my income would end up being paid straight from the record company, but I'd end up with less royalty payments, which sucks, because there's a potential to make a good living there (all you need is 1 or 2 #1 albums and you're set).

So, while Jobs may have good intentions (or may just be trying to pass the blame for his Gates-like behavoirs as of late). Plus, in the end, remember a good-size chunk of that $1 is going to Apple, not the RIAA, and hell, Apple even helped establish the "standard" pricepoint of $1. There's always going to be some form or another of DRM, until they can figure out a way to curb stealing. If you made songs $0.10 a piece people are still going to steal them, because the whole mantra of stealing music is that it's "easier" and "cheaper" than dealing with someone like iTunes or Napster or whoever. So who knows.

[Leshrak]

Originally posted by Bael
bunch of long-winded bullshit that nobody cares about

seriously, you're not convincing me with your BS.

Fuck the RIAA, fuck the major record labels who screw artists anyway.

By not paying $1 for a song, we're not screwing the artist, we're only screwing the production company that has already fucked the artist out of their copyright and tons of money. I have no sympathy. I don't care.

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