1ste Gimnechiske Compagnie

Last month Steve Jobs told the world that the thought DRM is Dumb and Pointless, and that he would ditch it all together from his iTunes Music Store if the big record labels would let him do it.

But is DRM really helping music? There are many bands that are hailing DRM-free distribution of music, because it let bands who are not accepted by the large labels to spread their music. Roughly Drafted Magazine have posted an article explaining why Apple and Steve Jobs continue to use FairPlay, the iTunes DRM tool. On the other hand Gregory Heller have written an Open Letter to Steve Jobs where he is asked to put actions to his words, and put preasure on the record industry.

As it is today, the only thing hurting the music is DRM, and its advocates, the five great record labels. The five great are also the masterminds behind RIAA, who are running loads of court cases against what they call “music pirates”. But Piracy Kills No Music, it gives small bands opertuneties. The members of RIAA only thinks of profite for themselves, they dosen’t give a flying shit about the bands or the artists, and they sure doesn’t care about the new and unknown names out there.

The most important tools for unknown bands to get a name is MySpace and distribution of their own music through internet and concerts.

Another thing that makes DRM totally pointless is CDs. The very thing RIAA is trying to protect. If we have to pay for our digital music, one time for each copy, why is CDs sold without this form of control? I can buy one CD of a band I like, and let all my friends copy it without any fancy Three Letter Abreviation making trouble for me, but I cannot do the same if I bought the track from an online music store.

There is not likely to be introduced DRM on CDs, as that would make all existing CD players obsolete, aswell as the amount of music allready sold on CDs would make it such that new players must handle both DRM protected CDs and non-protected CDs. And than we have the possibility to record sound and music via other channels, such as radio and TV. Digital streaming can make some obstacles there, but as long as it is possible to produce the sound of the music on output devices such as speakers, there will be possible to make copies of it. And copies of popular music will be made, no mather what the record industry does to stop it. When I was a kid most people had cassett tape recorders, and these where used to copy large amounts of music, both from vinyl records, and from radio, the CD and the perconal computer have made the cassetts absolete, but the need for spreading music is still the same.

Remember, Piracy Kills No Music.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 8th, 2007 at 22:14 and is filed under Computer, Mac, Music, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.