Norse Wisdom on Digital Music
posted by Frank Pasquale
Even if antitrust in the U.S. slowly fades into a subfield of legal history, international pressure can lead to fairer business practices. Consider Norway’s recent pressure on Apple to open up its iTunes/iPod music platform to rival players: “Norway’s consumer regulator declared the lack of interoperability illegal, and gave Apple until Oct. 1 to change it or face legal action and possible fines.”
When emissions standards were introduced in the 1970’s, it’s said that Toyota hired a thousand engineers, and Ford hired a thousand lawyers. We can see where each company is now. Apple’s response to the Norwegian directive appears to show that, after Fordishly fighting France tooth and nail on interoperability, they are finally interested in a constructive approach. Consider these extraordinary words on Apple’s website:
[A final] alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music.
Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy. Though the big four music companies require that all their music sold online be protected with DRMs, these same music companies continue to sell billions of CDs a year which contain completely unprotected music. That’s right! No DRM system was ever developed for the CD, so all the music distributed on CDs can be easily uploaded to the Internet, then (illegally) downloaded and played on any computer or player.
Precisely. Rather than trying to sweep the sand from the shore, and massively annoying everyone in the process, why not follow this plan? True interoperability would likely lead to a boom in the sale of both digital music players and music. For way too long, the industry has focused on minimizing losses, rather than maximizing gains.
Fortunately, the scorched earth litigation strategy against infringers is getting less viable as a few defendants fight back. In Capitol Record v. Debbie Foster, the defendant successfully introduced a “‘prove it was me using the computer’ defense.” The strategy may gain traction: “Although the judge in Elektra v. Santangelo declined to dismiss the labels’ infringement claims against Patti Santangelo, he doubted that ‘an Internet-illiterate parent who does not know Kazaa from a kazoo’ could be found liable for file sharing done in her house without her knowledge or consent.” Foster actually won attorney’s fees against the RIAA–throwing a wrench into the works of an infringement litigation machine.
February 8, 2007 at 9:35 am
Posted in: Intellectual Property
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Responses (5)
Matt - February 8, 2007 at 10:09 am
I must say that I’m at least a little bit skeptical of Apple’s claim here, in part because, even with music from companies that do not require DMRs and don’t especially care for them, Apple still makes the music such that it can only be played on an ipod. It seems pretty likely to me that really Apple is at least as much in favor of restricting the format as are the music companies, and that if they really cared they could use their weight to push change much more than they have.
William - February 8, 2007 at 11:17 am
We have been involved with digital music distribution for three years; and most of the indepedent lables that we speak with in Europe just want to sell music and promote their artist. Many of them allow free downloads of mp3 files and most would would not mind selling their files in this format.
We have launched a socially responsible music
social network at http://www.adelph.us
Labels can create “Label” profiles that allow adelph.us members to find their artist and thier music.
Lables that have uploaded their tracks and created stores on darmik.com can easily add their stores to their http://www.adelph.us label profile page. This will allow members of the ww.adelph.us to purchase tracks from your profile page.
The store that you create on http://www.darmik.com can also be used on myspace and can also be easily integrated into any website.
Darmik also gives labels the ability to sell cd’s in their stores as well as
tracks.
With your permission fans can sell and redistribute your music form their
adelph.us profile pages as well as their blogs.
You keep 90% of the revenue from the sell of any tracks or products
Artist and Labels that are part of the http://www.adelph.us network and http://www.Darmik.com can donate a portion of their sales revenue
to Darmik.com registerd non profits.
The adelph.us service also includes an online green computing open office
productivity suite (Lightapp) that is fully compatible with currently
desktop
applications.
adelph.us and Darmik.com always donate a portion of their revenue to charity.
Maryland Conservatarian - February 8, 2007 at 2:56 pm
“…international pressure can lead to fairer business practices.”
Don’t exactly see what a government telling a private company how it has to conduct business has to do with “fairer” practices - I know which side I trust to better treat this consumer….but is there anything most of the left doesn’t believe it can do better than those who are actually doing it?
Bruce Boyden - February 8, 2007 at 7:21 pm
It’s hard to know if Jobs’s proposal is serious or not. But it’s easy for him to make such offers with someone else’s music. My own proposal: Apple should leave its iPods lying around unprotected and unmonitored in the street in front of my house. That’s the best solution for consumers; well, at least one consumer, anyway.
tim mcgraw - March 9, 2009 at 10:27 am
i like the mp3 communism
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