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p2pnet.net news special:- While much of the northern hemisphere has been experiencing heretofore unseen spring-like weather conditions in January, disrupting the hibernation and mating habits of many of the world's animals, a group of snakes and other cold blooded, skin-shedding reptiles and amphibians have gathered in the warm sunshine of southern France for the 41st annual MIDEM conference of, "nearly 10,000 international music (labels, publishers, artist managers and many more), digital and mobile professionals gather to do business".
Besides the usual back-slapping,
self-congratulatory butt kissing on how well the industry is doing -
and they are doing well despite a reported decline in CD sales (Digital music sales soar 80 percent in 2006
) - there's an unexpected and welcome turn of events, that of the major
players finally starting to see the light on DRM and file-sharing: DRM
is bad, very bad. Files-sharing is good, very good. DRM
inhibits sales, industry growth and artistic endeavours, while
file-sharing promotes artists for free, jump-starts careers, and
increases sales of CDs. The market dictates what works, not the
marketers.
At least one of the four major labels is expected to begin sales of unrestricted MP3s
this year, something the major players had previously vowed they'd
never do, capitulating to the demands of the customer "which has
destroyed their monopoly over the worldwide distribution of music in
the past decade and allowed file-sharing to take its place".
Independent labels and artists are way ahead of the majors in this
respect, having listened to consumers and been offering their works in
this way for years, often for free, and have reaped the benefits the
majors have denied existed.
"Free is the new paid," said Kenneth Parks, chief operating officer of Brilliant Technologies,
a company based in New York and Melbourne that is developing a service
called Qtrax, which will provide free music - legally - to Internet
users.
"We could release our products
without digital-rights management restrictions on them in the way that
consumers want and still make a lot of money," Gary Shapiro, president
of the Consumer Electronics Association, said at Midem. "And I think
we'll be hearing more and more about that."
But
Mitch Bainwol, chairman of the Recording Industry Association of
America, says, "We're for interoperability, and there's nothing
intrinsic to DRM that prevents interoperability."
Tell
that to Apple, which has dominated online music purchases for years,
incorporating their own brand of DRM into every download, which can
then only be played on an iPod. Apple, which sells works by RIAA
artists, doesn't seem to share Bainwol's 'enthusiasm' for
interoperability.
That could change sooner
than Steve Jobs might like, especially if French lawmakers have their
way. In recent years, France has been in the forefront of protecting
consumers' rights, including forming a commission to oversee measures
to force interoperability, stifling DRM, and protecting file-sharers
from illegal prying eyes.
Italy
has also declared that file-sharing is not illegal, stating downloading
computer files containing films, music or software isn't a crime
if not done for profit. The top criminal court's ruling throws out
convictions of two former students who had set up a p2p network in
1994, and undoubtedly will pave the way for more quashed convictions
and the refusal of courts to hear file-sharing cases brought by the
cartels.
Economists such as Jacques Attali, a French author and music aficionado, understand that the market decides what restrictions it will accept, and what it won't. Attali predicts the current business models employed by the cartels will be discarded and all recorded music will be free in the next several decades, reflecting the old radio model: free online music supported by advertising.
"A lot of people will still make money out of it," he said during an interview at Midem.
Ad-supported, DRM-free file-sharing and download services are now being seriously considered by the major cartel members.
With
companies such as EMI offering free streaming music on Baidu.com in
China; VirginMega and FNAC selling DRM-free tracks from indie labels;
Yahoo! continuing their 'experiments' in offering DRM-free tracks from
selected artists; and, Amazon.com planning a DRM-free download service,
the industry has finally smelled the coffee and opened their eyes and
ears to what file-sharers and consumers have been saying and demanding
for years.
"It will happen between next year and five years from now, but it is more likely to be in one to two years," said Rob Glaser, chief executive of RealNetworks. "DRM-free purchases is an idea in ascendance and whose time has come."
And, DRM is a "pain in the neck" for consumers, says Julian Ulrich, general manager of VirginMega.
As
the winter of 2006-2007 has been a mild one, in most of the world the
mildest in recorded history, it would seem the music industry has got
the jump on famed groundhog Punxsutawney Phil, coming out of
hibernation several weeks early and declaring an end to the icy chill
of DRM Winters and the start of free, unrestricted entertainment and
information Springs and Summers.
Free file-sharing networks will never go away, but perhaps the cartels are finally admitting that you can't sue their customers into buying 'product', and that DRM was a bad idea, poorly conceived and implemented, largely despised by consumers and retailers, and that the physical and virtual marketplace can support all types of content distribution, and still earn them a pretty penny.
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