“Almost two-thirds of music industry executives think removing digital locks from downloadable music would make more people buy the tracks, finds a survey,” BBC News reports. “The Jupiter Research study looked at attitudes to Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems in Europe music firms.”
“Analyst Mark Mulligan, one of the authors of the report, said the survey was carried out between December and January. This was before Apple boss Steve Jobs published his thoughts on music DRM and galvanised the debate about these protection systems,” The Beeb reports.
“The study revealed that about 54% of those executives questioned thought that current DRM systems were too restrictive,” The Beeb reports. “Also, 62% believed that dropping DRM and releasing music files that can be enjoyed on any MP3 player would boost the take-up of digital music generally.”
“Among all record labels 48% of all executives thought ending DRM would boost download sales – though this was 58% at the larger labels. Outside the record labels 73% of those questioned thought dropping DRM would be a boost for the whole market,” The Beeb reports. “Among all those questioned, 70% believed that the future of downloadable music lay in making tracks play on as many different players as possible. But 40% believed it would take concerted government or consumer action to bring this about.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Stoo” for the heads up.]
“Lead, follow, or get out of the way.” – Thomas Paine
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Warner’s Middlebronfman: Jobs’ DRM-free music call ‘without logic and merit, we’ll not abandon DRM’ – February 08, 2007
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Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ posts rare open letter: ‘Thoughts on Music’ – calls for DRM-free music – February 06, 2007
Apple Inc. and The Beatles’ Apple Corps Ltd. enter into new agreement – February 05, 2007
Norwegian Ombudsman: Apple’s FairPlay DRM is illegal in Norway – January 24, 2007
Major music labels ponder DRM-free future – January 23, 2007
Clash, Pink Floyd manager: ‘DRM is dead’ – November 06, 2006
Study reports the obvious: most music on iPods not from iTunes Store – September 17, 2006
Warner’s Middlebronfman: ‘We sell our songs through iPods, but we don’t have share of iPod revenue’ – October 05, 2005
Warner music exec discusses decapitation strategy for Apple iTunes Music Store – September 28, 2005
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Wonder if Steve had access to this, or if he sees the future?
Lie, obfuscate, get a mani-peti. — S
Great Thomas Paine quote, MDN.
Gettin’ classy!
DRM is going to be HISTORY
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I’ve got about a 20 percent of my music (6000 songs) bought at iTunes and the rest just loaded from my own CD’s and a few single tracks catche’d from Limewire.
Wish: Better quality – AAC-160 kBit/s
Well at least some seem open to the idea. It could be that they are thinking the future will go sour on them unless they start playing ball.
if apple drops DRM, they probably won’t adopt MP3
That’ll tick off some folks even more because their PlaysForMaybe players STILL won’t play the songs.
iPod users won’t notice the difference.
– gws
So Microsuck infuses Vi$ta with DRM and lots of cumbersome security to appease Hollywood and music companies. Once Vi$ta comes out, Steve Jobs writes a single letter and we are on the path to remove it all. Ha. This shit gets better every day. Windblows users can say what they want about Steve Jobs, but when DRM is gone and iTunes and OS X are free of DRM, will that finally be the nail in Windblows coffin? Will we see millions switch immediately? I can’t wait for Leopard because you know it will be DRM free when it ships.
So MDN has now dropped its anti-Apple propaganda against the BBC?
Yes, eliminate the DRM…
AND up the sampling rate to…
Ideally, Apple Lossless Encoder
or 320 bit, variable bit rate, high quality.
Anything less? I’ll stick with CDs.
My feeling is that Apple’s iTS sells 128 bit music as some kind of a compromise to the music industry.
We are on the right track!
78% of my problems can be attributed to 32% of the 62% of music execs. Of course, I’m just estimating…
Here’s what needs to happen:
1. Eliminate DRM
2. Offer music in a lossless format (preferably FLAC rather than Apple’s lossless since FLAC is open and can be used by anyone
3. Provide cover art and liner notes in pdf
4. Price below existing CD’s.
DRM is going to be HISTORY )))
I’ve got about a 20 percent of my music (6000 songs) bought at iTunes and the rest just loaded from my own CD’s and a few single tracks catche’d from Limewire.
Wish: Better quality – AAC-160 kBit/s
—
128 is fine. And you sir have no interest in any of this, cuz almost all your music is legal. So why do you care?
how convenient to leave out the percent of music execs questioned who thought dropping DRM would be a boost for the whole market. seems like the most relevant data.
The only way I will download music is if there is a full, non lossy music file….i have said this many times….lossy, mp3/aac files basically suck….
Are you ready to pay the extra money for all the extra bandwidth it will take to transmit these considerably larger lossless files?
You want to pay less and get more. No surprise there. But it’s going to cost 2 to 3 times more to store and transmit these files. No one is going to sell them to you at a loss. The Labels are not going to take a smaller cut.
Are you going to pay $1.50 per tune or is 128 kbps good enough?
Maybe DRM free CD’s are still the answer.
> lossy, mp3/aac files basically suck….
I personally do not have good enough audio equipment (or maybe good enough ears) to notice any difference. I appreciate the fact that AAC files take up so little space compared to the “lossless” versions. Buying CD’s is a pain, now that I’ve experienced buying songs from the iTunes Store. So I like the current “compromise.” I think Apple may want to up the bit rate to 160 AAC, then, regarding AAC versus MP3, Apple can simply make that an option in the iTunes preferences. The buyer can have either 160 kBit/s in AAC or MP3 format.
I’ll tell you what’ll make ‘more people buy the tracks’ – decent bloody tunes!
With the crepe on offer masquerading as both ‘new’ and ‘music’ these days, DRM is a convenient screen to hide talentless morons (check last night’s BRIT Awards winners) behind.
*puts iPod on*
*plays Yes*
Peterson:
“78% of my problems can be attributed to 32% of the 62% of music execs. Of course, I’m just estimating…”
..you forgot the =/- 3% margin of error.
Well if most want it gone, let’s get rid of it.
If you get rid of DRMs, then the record labels will be selling the same file formats as independent artists. That begs the question: What purpose do record labels serve? Sure, they promote their artists, but where does that money come from? Why, the artists of course!
DRM isn’t there to protect artists. It’s there to delay the day that the record labels become irrelevant, and artists sell directly online through the iTunes store and others. That’s why the labels fight so hard to keep it.
Minimum of 196kbs before I even consider buying music online. DRM is the least of my concerns (too easy to bypass).
Even then it is unlikely. I like having a physical disc and its packaging. It is worth the extra money.
The 128kbs shit currently sold by Apple and others isn’t worth $.05/song. And I may be overestimating.
There’s something cool about having a physical CD (or tape or record) in your hands. The look. The feel. The texture. The scent. The moment you put the thing into your player. The relaxing in the chair. The quiet around you. Then the music hits. Now that’s audio bliss. I have lots of MP3s that I listen to at my computer and in the car, but it’s just not the same, you know?
I’m not saying you’re mis-Informed but a 128kbs AAC file sounds better than an MP3 128kbs file. It’s a better encoder and sounds closer to a 160kbs file. Compare any AAC 128kbs encoded song with an MP3 version encoded at 128kbs and you’ll hear quite a difference.
I no longer have the golden ears that I can the big difference between a 160kbs song and higher, but I’m not saying you can’t, all I’m saying is AAC 128 is much better than MP3 128 if that’s what you’re complaining about.
As for liking the physical disc and packaging…I do agree with you. I need the pics and the liner notes and info on songwriters. I love all that stuff but lately the newer iTunes release have pdf booklets so that’s helping.
But the extra money sometimes to get the disc is just way too much. I can’t see paying $17.99 instead of $9.99 for disc just for the booklet, and with stuff that’s a little harder to find it’s not out of control to have the difference be between $23.99 for a hard to find disc or $9.99 for iTunes version. That’s a bit of a no-brainer.
AAC at the same bit rate seems to sound better than MP3 due to its advanced perceptual manipulations. That’s all fine.
And beside the point. I am buying a product and I intend to own it. Long ago I decided that I would buy the best products I can afford (i.e. Honda cars, hardwood floors, quality plumbing hardware, Macintosh computers, etc.).
128kbs is less than half the bitrate of a Dolby digital DVD track and utterly feeble compared to a DTS track. If I’m going to buy and own something, I want better, not worse.
CDs, Audio DVDs, and the like are worth the money because they will still sound good when I rip them for other uses. An audio file that starts out as compromised and lossy as a 128kbs file won’t. Comparing the relative ‘level of crappines’ between MP3 and AAC is irrelevant to the decision.
And I can’t remember the last time I paid full retail for a CD. Shop around, my friend.