Apple and Amazon Strong-Arming Record Companies To Drop DRM
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The leading music retailers are finally catching on that consumers are sick of DRM. The good news about this, is they’re letting the record companies know that this model isn’t working and with any luck will be able to force them into dropping DRM from the music.
Following its landmark deal with EMI this month to banish digital rights management from the label’s iTunes tracks, Apple is said to be flush with confidence and is pushing the other three major labels into an unenviable negotiating position, according to clandestine sources within the organizations.
Though Sony-BMG, Universal, and Warner have all to date successfully resisted calls to end the use of DRM — with Warner CEO Edgar Bronfman infamously questioning the mind of Apple’s Steve Jobs for even hinting at the change — the companies now find themselves on the defensive. The iTunes operator is allegedly using the clout gained from the EMI contract to push for DRM-free music when royalties and variable pricing had been the focal points until April.
Apple has a lot of clout based on their sales alone. The EMI contract only adds a little gravy to their position. With Amazon on the same tack though it strengthens each other’s position, even if they’re not working together. But, if Apple and Amazon could some how get together and agree to both drop any labels that refuse to remove the DRM from their music, the labels would have little choice.
Come on Jobs, pick up the phone and call Bezos, or vice versa. You two have the ability to end DRM.
[Apple, Amazon set to squeeze music labels over DRM]
Tags: drm, music, apple, amazon, itunes, apple itunes, emi, sony-bmg, bmg, sony
One Comment
marc klink
May 1st, 2007
at 3:17am
As someone who buys CDs, hates MP3s [because they sound crappy, even at the highest sampling rates], and likes to make copies of disks for play in portable players and car players, I certainly hope this happens. When I buy a CD, the first thing I do is make 2 copies, 1 for my car, and one for my portable player…because CDs in a 120 degree car interior don’t last too long, and I like to know I can burn another 2 copies anytime I want.
I refuse to buy music with DRM, and so I miss out on some, but there is so much available in my collection already it is not so bad.
I refused to buy CDs with cardboard jackets [where some idiot thought they would save 3 cents per unit], and I still have never purchased one without a jewel case. If I have done his for over 15 years, I somehow think I can do without DRM’ed CDs for the next 15. Perhaps someone who works for a recording company will read this and start to get the picture. Go Apple!