Apple's Jobs calls for DRM-free world

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I can share a cd with one click

---However, I don't think you can compare a CD to a music download. Not quite. You can't share a CD with 30 friends with a few clicks of your mouse.---

I can share with millions of people with one click. Insert cd into my computer, iTunes opens immediately. Click the one button to rip the cd into iTunes. If my iTunes music folder is my "shared" folder for whatever p2p client I use, then I am now sharing that music with the world. One click. Which is why it's insane to sell unprotected cd's yet refuse to sell unprotected downloads.

---It would be interesting to see what the cream of the crop does if DRM goes away and the alternative cuts their paycheck by 3/4 per song. Seems like it could have a negative impact.---

Are the two necessarily related, no DRM and a drop in profits? For example, eMusic sells DRM-free downloads for much less than iTunes sells crippled files. Yet the artists make more money per eMusic download than they do per iTunes download. To me, the people who are getting hurt here are the middlemen. Artists, at best, make a few pennies per cd sold, which get pirated and shared anyway. Cut out the remoras in the middle, and they could sell cd's for much less and make far more money for themselves. Ditto for downloads. Also, every study out there shows that people who heavily use p2p networks buy more CD's, so perhaps there's not a direct correlation.

---At least it should and I think people will always be willing to pay for good entertainment.---

Excellent point. I think as we reach a point of information overload these days, there's more and more value to be had from editing and curation, oversight of material. It's worth paying someone to weed out the signal from all the noise out there. The question then is, who should that person be? Should it be a record company executive? Should it be a DJ like the late great John Peel? Should it be a music blogger? A music magazine? That brings up the question, how much should those curators be paid? Should they receive 95% of the profits from music sales as the record company execs currently do?

Hey, thanks for the straight answer by the way, nice to actually talk without the taunts.

Posted by: tic swayback   Posted on: 02/07/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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