Drop the DRM – UK Music retailers beg recording industry
Consumers aren’t the only ones carrying “Death to DRM” placards. UK music retailers are telling the recording industry enough is enough – that the industry’s obsession with copy protection is hurting, not helping profit.
Kim Bayley, director-general of the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) told Financial Times that the anti-piracy technologies are not protecting industry revenue but instead “stifling growth and working against the consumer interest”.
Current research purports the average Briton has spent his quid on less than three digital tracks in the last three years. Who’s to blame him? DRM makes it difficult to do what consumers have easily done with cassette tapes – copy tracks, share them with friends and play songs on any player with a tape deck.
ERA is hoping that DRM will go away in time for Christmas – the time when people usually refill their shiny new iPods with tunes. Wishful thinking, perhaps.
The recording industry as a whole has yet to come to a full consensus on how to approach falling sales and the proliferation of MP3s. Many execs are quick to blame falling record sales on piracy and the Internet but unless they totally kill the digital medium (and the MP3 format), they can’t force consumers to make choices they want to. Unless they make legal music as easy to procure as illegal tracks, they will face a losing battle,
Why should a computer maker (Apple) be the one making inroads where digital music is concerned? Shouldn’t the recording industry get with the times and attempt to innovate, find a way to embrace the digital age and keep the money wheels working? Honestly, if they’re so worried about money, they could harness broadband internet as a means of reaching a global market faster and cheaper than traditional means. A live internet album launch showcase, instead of a promotional tour, would save a lot of money logistic-wise.
As an industry that champions the livelihood of creative forces, it is high time the recording industry ‘gets with the times’ and find new ways to appeal to those who love music.
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