DRM not dead – just resting

By Ashok Argent-Katwala

The RIAA's head of technology deployed some twisty logic at a recent trade event:

(Recently) I made a list of the 22 ways to sell music, and 20 of them still require DRM.

… Any form of subscription service or limited play-per-view or advertising offer still requires DRM. So DRM is not dead.

So, because he cannot think of very many ways to do without, it must be workable as a technology. In the sense that they'll keep pushing it, I'm sure it isn't dead yet. For customers who just want their media to just work, however, DRM isn't really going to cut it.

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Ed Felten offers some sanity and insight, arguing that there must be better methods than using DRM.

I know I bang on about the perils and annoyances of DRM, of all the ways that when you make it work for the content owner you typically make it work against the end-user. I'm sure I'll remain pretty downbeat over here, but that gets a little wearying after a while.

So, I also have a plan. I'm rounding up a few people who can write cogently about the world after drm. We'll publish articles, stories or anything else people think of which have a positive tale to tell of what people can do, would do, will do or are doing in a DRM-free world.

By making the positive case for no-DRM, we can hopefully enlighten more of the industry to the benefits of a future that embraces copying, or at least trusts its users. We've seen sizeable steps forward for DRM-free digital music sales in the last few months. I hope that afterDRM.com helps push us over a tipping point so we can all get back to making cool things, which excite and thrill users.

If you want to get involved, please get in touch.