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End of Music DRM in Sight

By Howard Knopf

Warner has now dumped DRM and made its entire catalog available DRM free on Amazon. Smart move, Edgar. See the very cutting edge Red Herring report:

"Give it four more days and we can finally say that 'DRM is so 2007,'" said Michael Goodman, an analyst with Yankee Group. "Music history will document the transformation from DRMed music to DRM-free music as occurring in 2007. I can't imagine anybody doing a DRM deal in 2008."

The article goes on to state:

The deal further marks the death knell for digital rights management, or DRM, a controversial technology that restricts the usage of music purchased online. New York City-based WMG and Sony BMG were the last two of the Big Four labels to hold out on DRM-free downloads.

So - that leaves only SONY BMG (who brought us the "rootkit" DRM disaster) as the last of the big four holdouts so doggedly represented by the RIAA and the CRIA.

And it suggests yet again the necessity of asking why any government would now consider providing protection for DRM, rather than from it. Maybe the best thing now would be strike a Canadian balance and just forget it. DRM's time as a legislative issue appears to have already come and gone.

HK

Full post as published by Excess Copyright on December 27, 2007 (boomark / email).