Music executives lament state of industry

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Consumers have spoken, DRM is dead as a business model.

You tried to put DRM on CDs, they flopped, and in one case cost a company 10,000X more than it ever made on sales of the infected CDs. The Apple blossom is aging. Like the convertion from tape to CD, the convertion from CDs to Apple and the inherent hoopla is long since past. The market has spoken multiple times, higher fidelity than CD is dead in the water when you infect it with DRM.

MaybePlays, PrayForSure, whatever you want to call it, was a total flop. Non Apple DRM infected music stores just aren't cutting it. I haven't heard boo about Zune, but I doubt that marketplace is buying your expensive suits. Everyone who wants an MP3 player has one so how will you force resale of 500M players containing your magic DRM that plays all stores content. Heck, which stores are these, and coming within the next few years? See, you only have a year or two of ruling the roost left. As word spreads that artists can make more money with independants, it is a snowball affect. Now, you do, in general, own the radio stations, but that costs a LOT of money, you can't sustain exlusive lock on your content forever on the radio.

You have no choice. Now, as for "getting customers accustomed to buying music again", you are one arrogant POS. Millions of people like me, REFUSE to purchase DRM infected content but ALSO do not download. To assume that EVERY SINGLE ONE of your customers is a thief because your revenue is down shows how much contempt you have for us. We are, literally, $s to you and nothing more.

Piracy exists, it has always existed, and you need to simply build it into your cost of doing business, like ALL STORES do with shoplifters. Stop wasting your money on DRM, you are only costing yourselves more and lining the pockets of the DRM providers.

Make decent music, stop with the top 40 for goodness sake, and the formula pretty person music hype, sell DRM free (watermarked is fine, they don't tell me what to do) and try to remain relevant in this world. Otherwise, just stay the course and when you meet in 2008, you can lament that CD sales are down 34% since 2000, online music sales are not growing, and brainstorm the next magic DRM that will, finally, work. Then when you disband in 2010 or are shocked to see independants own 80% of the market (and music is again about passion and talent), you can pretend to wonder where it all went wrong.

TripleII

P.S. I bought over 1100 CDs in the 90s, and 3 in the last 3 years (greatest hits compilations). 90% of what you offer is truly not worth the gas to buy the CD. Let me put a positive spin on it. 10% of what you sell is worth buying.

P.P.S. Offer infected free downloads for Linux, I would be an active customer again, buying the one good song from the CD you push now with 10 fillers.

Posted by: TripleII   Posted on: 02/27/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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