Chris Krasowski

Universal Music Group Readies DRM-Free Music, Sans iTunes

I had another quick point to add briefly but I didn't want to make the above comment too too long.
I don't think companies should be forced to license anything. You've made a great successful product, and consumers have embraced it. That's the end of that.
Would you also deman that Microsoft for example licensed the Halo games so they can play on PS2 or PS3. No! Because that would completely cannibalize sales of XBox so why would the company do that.

The simple fact of licensing is that it only makes sense to do it if it makes strategic sense for the company.
The way iTunes and iPod work so seemlessly together is one of the main selling points for a lot of consumers so why would Apple want to knock the fence down?

Universal Music Group Readies DRM-Free Music, Sans iTunes

While you have valid points about Apple licensing their DRM software, I don't think it'll ever happen. The simple solution of DRM free is best, so why would licensing DRM be better?
I don't think it's a fair guess that most of the music on iPods is pirated. First off, the biggest capacity iPods also store a lot of video for a lot of people and secondly, I think a majotiry of iPod users used iTunes to digitize their entire CD collections. Another point of contention in the entertainment business model is making consumers pay several times for the same entertainment. It happens in music, movies, tv, almost every form of entertainment. Vinyl, tapes, then cds, now mp3s. In films, theatres, pay per view, and you had VHS, then DVD and now blu-ray or HD-DVD.

When people throw around numbers like 100 million ipods sold and 3 billion songs so only about 30 songs per iPod so the rest of the space must be pirated, they always fail to mention how many people have vast CD libraries that they've burned to MP3 format to put on their iPods. So I feel like that point of piracy is not a strong one without and concrete study facts. Yes there is piracy in the digital world, you have to face that, but at the same time, making a consumer buy the same song or album from the same artists just cause its in a different format is an entirely different form of piracy.

I think this Universal DRM-free test will not fare well simply because those other stores do very little business, so to expect a massive uptick when most digital music consumers are already familiar with iTunes is very optimistic. I think if Universal were to embrace iTunes Plus they would see a much much higher increase in interest in their online music offerings.

Each side has had their faults in negotiations but it seems like Apple fights for the consumer (and of course their bottom line) and Universal fights simply for the bottom line. The way the music industry treats not only consumers but also artists I can't help but feel that them being well behind the curve in digital music is for the better in the long run. The trend of indie labels and bigger bands moving to indie labels has slowly started with this digital revolution and I think you'll see more of it as digital music becomes more and more of a social experience over the internet. Bands won't need massive major label marketing budgets, because word of mouth is your biggest selling point. Now if only the Payola would stop so some of these truly great musical acts can get their songs played on the radio once in a while we'd be living in a beautiful world, musically.

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Chris Krasowski
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