Artists revolting against DRM
This is under the security tab because DRM software protection has proven to be a computer security issue… Spyware Confidential is reporting on artists revolting against the Sony DRM. According to the story…
My Morning Jacket, the artists who recorded the copy protected CD “Z” I mentioned here, are doing more than protesting Sony BMG’s use of DRM spyware. They are revolting. Yesterday I read that My Morning Jacket was doing their own recall of the affected CDs. Now I see they are burning unrestricted copies of their CD and mailing them to users. Hmm… I wonder if they are breaking the law under the DMCA.
It would be interesting to find out if they’re outside current IP protection laws by doing this with their own work. Vitalsecurity.org found the original article over at pcpro.co.uk. I wonder that they’re not the only ones.
I don’t know, everyone’s different, but most of the musicians I’ve known would seem to be quite anti-DRM in many ways. Of course, some would say most musicians are poor business-people, but then again I wonder what kind of cut most musicians get from cd sales vs. what size of the pie the record company gets. Indie or online distribution has the potential to REALLY threaten the established industry model.
Could the Sony DRM fiasco be the point that seals the fate of the big record companies as we know them? I really think the last few years has seen decline in big label record sales, not because of piracy but because of a greater fragmenting listening base… (what genre currently plugged REALLY has broad apeal?) combined with (relatively) uninspiring choices. Little of the “mainstream” music I hear lately really interests me that much. It seems the big labels tend to spend lot’s of money promoting what they think will appeal to the most people (which is harder to do as the listening base fragments.) The indie labels tend to specialize or promote particular styles better. Think of the indies as cable/satellite channels and the big labels as the big three broadcasters….
Of course I could be wrong, but the analogy seems to fit well.