Blogging Ottinger (tim)DRM Cracks Widen
More executives come out against DRM. I think that the times are a-changing. I guess that when you realize that what you want is not what your customers want, you consider a change. I’m learning Java for the same reason. It’s what the customers want, not what I like. Frankly, I don’t see the interest but I have an interest in being relevant.
Ultimately, I see this as an attempt by an industry to create a paradigm shift that their customers didn’t buy. It’s so much that they failed to see that the world was moving to a portable, digital world. I think it was a bit of hubris in thinking that they could decide what that means for the customer and the industry. I don’t much blame them, but they’ve held on far too long to an idea that can’t work. I feel bad for them.
I saw the RIAA’s episode of The Proud Family. It was pretty crummy, focused primarily on convincing people that health of the music industry as we know it is a critical component of the world and local economy and that anything bad for the music industry will collapse the economy. The dad’s snack factory was losing big money because people weren’t buying snacks for the CD release parties. CD release party? I’ve never seen one. I don’t thing that Frito Lay will suffer from having fewer obscure events like that. The local stores closed in the cartoon, and I think that’s wrong too. The availability of music for download increases packaged music sales, provided the packaged music is DRM-free. Of course, you have to provide product that consumers want. Sadly, the labels are hurting and laying off workers. Maybe they should lay off strippers masquerading as pop divas, too. Maybe we’re more interested in the Nora Jones’ of the world than the Brittneys.
100% of my listening experience these days is .ogg and .mp3 files on either an iPod or other portable music device. My favorite portable music device (by relative hours of use) is my laptop. If I can’t carry my music on compact flash or secure digital or in flash memory on a player or on my hard disk — well, that music doesn’t exist. And more of my music is independent because I can get it DRM-free and it’s cool to know bands that your friends don’t.
So maybe the world is turning toward consumers like me. That’s kinda cool, too.
