Anyone who knows me personally knows that I am STRONGLY against music theft (also known as peer-to-peer music file sharing). However, I am just as strongly opposed to digital rights managment (aka DRM) by the record companies. When I purchase a song thru iTunes, I immediately burn it to CD, then rip it back to the hard drive, adjust the gain...and only THEN am I ready to add it permanently to my music library (stored in iTunes). In other words, I refuse to allow DRM to be a part of my music collection.
The music labels still have their head in the clouds. They still believe that they are protecting their interest (and, purportedly, those of the artists) with DRM, when all they are REALLY doing is making people hot under the collar. No matter what the labels have fooled themselves into thinking, DRM will always be defeatable somehow. All their wasted time, MONEY and energy that goes into this failed strategy COULD be going to better product instead...better artist development, better songwriting, less political management of the whole process (much of the reason that songs suck is because gifted songwriters are constantly overlooked because songs are picked because of patronge, or as trade for perks of various kinds to industry execs, not because of the quality of the material). The plain fact is this: the labels are no longer the be-all and end-all of the music business. They are just one cog in the machine. And they should start to act like it. |