News

Yahoo! Agrees with Apple: Drop DRM

Tuesday, February 13th, 2007 at 7:45 AM - by

The boss at Yahoo! Music, Dave Goldberg, thinks Apple CEO Steve Jobs got it right when he suggested that record labels should drop digital rights management in downloaded songs. When Yahoo! experimented with DRM-free songs, music sales went up, according to Silicon Valley Watcher.

Mr. Goldberg commented "I've long advocated removing DRM on music because there is already a lot of music available without DRM, and it just makes things complicated for the user."

Another issue is that Yahoo! Music relies on Microsoft's DRM technology, which he says "doesn't work half the time."

Mr. Goldberg's comments follow an open letter Mr. Jobs wrote condemning the recording labels for forcing digital music retailers, including the iTunes Store, into using DRM copy protection. The Recording Industry Association of America, however, disagrees, and is pushing for Apple to open its FairPlay copy protection to competitors.

The idea of offering DRM-free songs is growing, and even big name label EMI is tossing the idea around. If more music download companies climb on board with Apple, and labels start to seriously consider selling copy protection-free songs, the RIAA may not be able to prevent the move to a more open music selling system.

8 comments from the community.

You can post your own below.

+ show options

Your current settings, click to change: Sort Oldest First, Show Guest Posts, Hide Community Stats

Tiger said:

member since 17 Jun 2003 with 970 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:32 am

So, in effect, Yahoo CEO to Europe, bite the big one?

Quote this post ↓

jimothy said:

member since 04 Jun 2004 with 594 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Feb 13, 2007 10:12 am

If EMI decides to go whole-hog will DRM-free downloads, and allows Apple to sell these files on iTunes, it'll be interesting to see if Apple sells a mixture of music with and without DRM. How and if they market the difference will be particularly interesting, and will likely have an effect on how the other majors respond. That is, if iTunes customers know they can buy some music without DRM, and if they begin to show a preference for music without DRM over that with, the other labels will be forced to listen.

I'm not entirely convinced this will happen, though. For starters, Apple values providing a consistent experience to its customers, so they may not beginning selling DRM-free music until all the majors are on board. And customers think of the artists they like, not the labels. If they could buy the same album from two stores—one selling the files with DRM, one without—that may sway the purchasing decision. But it is less likely they'd choose to buy an album from one artist over another, based on which artist's label requires DRM, at the same store.

Quote this post ↓

geoduck said:

member since 30 Dec 2003 with 1797 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Feb 13, 2007 10:19 am

So consumers, retailers and some labels are realizing that DRM is a bad idea. Once again the RIAA isn't serving anyone but themselves.

Quote this post ↓

Tiger said:

member since 17 Jun 2003 with 970 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Feb 13, 2007 10:34 am

No, everybody just realized that in a digital world, the thieves win hands down. It's a testament to the lack of character that is pretty much evident every day.

Quote this post ↓

A guest said: (hide)

Tue Feb 13, 2007 12:40 pm

Tiger, copying isn't theft. Never has been, never will be.

And the only lack of character evident here is with the RIAA members.

Quote this post ↓

Engine Joe said:

member since 29 Jun 2004 with 413 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Feb 13, 2007 3:03 pm

Tiger, copying isn't theft. Never has been, never will be.

I'm pretty sure plagiarism is a form of copying.

Quote this post ↓

A guest said: (hide)

Tue Feb 13, 2007 3:04 pm

Tiger wrote:
No, everybody just realized that in a digital world, the thieves win hands down. It's a testament to the lack of character that is pretty much evident every day.

This does not agree with Yahoo's statement that as they experimented with DRM-free music their sales went up. As DRM increases... everyone loses.

Quote this post ↓

A guest said: (hide)

Tue Feb 13, 2007 3:36 pm

Copying is theft. Not all copying, perhaps (depending on who is debating what and when), but when you've had something you've created taken and even used in another product without being rightfully compensated, come back here and say no one stole anything from you.

I'm interested to see statistics after DRM is left off of music. I suspect sales will drop as the generally honest people join the professional thieves and just take what they want for free. If I had a dime for every time someone told me, "I got all this off LImewire. There's no way I could pay for all the music I have." -- well, I'd be rich and able to buy all the music they have.

Quote this post ↓

Post Your Comments

  Remember Me

Not a member? Register now. You can post comments without logging in, but they'll show up as a "guest" post.


Please enter the word exactly as you see it in the image above. Registered users aren't prompted for this. Having trouble reading the image get a new one.