EFF's Cohn: Industry souring on DRM?

[unixronin]

"I think we're seeing a growing consensus that DRM isn't working," Cohn said. "I think DRM was a bad idea that had a heyday but that it will be fading away soon. The (entertainment companies) are learning that DRM is an anticompetitive tool that ultimately hurts their business."

Comments

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

Do ya think?!?

There must be something about calling ALL your customers thieves that hits the bottom line. Wonder what it is?
{/sarcasm}

The real problem is that it interferes with the end user using your product. Vista is supposed to fix that. Will that pull the stake out of the heart of DRM? Scary question.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I'm only surprised that hasn't bitten them in the ass harder and sooner. I guess it just goes to show how sheeplike the majority of people are.

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

The thing that worries me is that this report is coming from the EFF, not the industry groups themselves. Until I hear from the folks perpetrating this garbage that it is a bad idea, I don't really believe that they get it. All they see is lost profits from copyright violations, until they look for the bigger picture, DRM will be their mantra.

In short, it probably is biting them harder than they believe. Right now they are stuck in the blame pirates mode for the decline in profits. Most executives are unwilling to blame their decisions for a loss of revenue.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, sure, their loss-calculation method is pure pie-in-the-sky. "How many copies of this do we think we SHOULD have sold? How many did people actually buy? Any difference is obviously due to piracy!"

You'd think it would be something of a tip-off to them when the harder some new release sucks, the higher the apparent "piracy" rate on it. Except that I don't think they can tell a good release from bad.

(In fact, thinking of it, since many of the most wretched apologies for new releases come from "studio-manufactured" artists, I suppose it's frighteningly possible that they could take the "apparent piracy" of 95% of the projected sales from the latest CD from Hot Junior Kidz From Da Hood to mean that the studio must be doing something right. Leading to more of the same....)

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

That trend is amplified by the consolidation in radio station ownership. When I was a teen listening to music on the radio, the playlist of songs available was about 3000 - 4000 in any moderately large market. Today, the national playlist is 300 - 400, anywhere and everywhere. Less choice, less chance to find a good band or composer, less choice. All the major labels have are the studio manufactured types. Anyone with talent (or brains) is going indie to have a chance of being heard.

So the major studios have a stable full of duds, that they have to push harder. Sales are declining. Indications are that they still see the cause as piracy. As long as that equations holds true, DRM is their magic bullet.

OTOH, as soon as a major label comes up with a way to put songs in ears outside of the radio stations, they can up the artists presented and increase their shot at getting someone with talent. (Or at least finding more artists that appeal to more audience.) Technology should be the answer there too, but the piracy cry is drowning it out.

Remember that these decision makers are not stupid. They have been somewhat deluded and deceived by the DRM proponents. They have lots invested in DRM, including the DMCA. DRM was a "bet the company" type of commitment. Those decision do not get reversed lightly.

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

This seems relevant. It is about the costs imposed by Vista's content protection measures. It also shows why Micro$oft will own the content providers by the time this is all over.

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt (http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt)

Some attitude, but it seems to be straightforward enough.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Funny you should mention that ... you're the second person to do so (in two completely unrelated fora) today.

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

So, what did you think about it?

If true, it will functionally disable running Vista on a linux box and linux on a Vista box. Micro$oft will be back to "per processor" licensing, plus complete monopoly lock down.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I think it'll functionally disable a lot more than that....