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A Working Economy Without DRM?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the what-would-alfred-marshall-do dept.

Tilted Equilibrium asks: "In a few weeks, our school will be hosting a panel on DRM with several respected individuals. In advance of the panel, I have been doing some research on the topic and thinking about it in my free time. In economics, we learn that the price of a product is determined essentially by supply and demand. Without a DRM in place, we are capable of making as many copies of a piece of content as we want and seeding it onto the net. How do you create a market for a product, and make money of a product that has a huge initial creative investment, but then no manufacturing cost, and is in infinite supply?"

5 of 686 comments (clear)

  1. How? Ask Apple by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How do you create a market for a product, and make money of a product that has a huge initial creative investment, but then no manufacturing cost, and is in infinite supply?"

    Ask Apple, they are doing so today. Sure they use DRM but the way they work sales would not really be hampered much by them not doing so - after all, I can download any song for free today but I choose to buy through ITMS.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  2. Folks still buy Hamlet by Spazmania · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why do folks still buy copies of Shakespeare's plays or Beethoven's symphonies? They aren't even protected by copyright let alone by DRM.

    There is always a business to be made out of selling value, even if the content itself is free.

    Besides, given a reasonable choice most people will be mostly honest most of the time. If they're able to buy music or a movie they want at a price they consider fair in the format they want most will choose to do so. Take the money where you can get it; don't worry about the rest. As for the rest of the folks, most of them wouldn't buy your music or movie if they couldn't copy it. Its not important to them; that's why they were willing to make do with a mere copy.

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    Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
  3. the carrot rather than the stick by macadamia_harold · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How do you create a market for a product, and make money of a product that has a huge initial creative investment, but then no manufacturing cost, and is in infinite supply?

    Simple: in addition to selling the music, you give people something else that requires no manufacturing cost, but is in finite supply, such as special "pre-sale" access to concert tickets. Fans are a lot more willing to give you their money when you offer a carrot, rather than threaten the stick.

    --
    Push Button, Receive Bacon
  4. Four ways to make money. by thedletterman · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Given the presented variables, there are serveral ways to still make money.


    1. Distribute the product yourself for free, request donations.
    2. Merchandise goods that do not meet the same criteria.
    3. Recreate the initial (creative creation) stage in live venues.
    4. Control physical access to content.

    Given the current "stage" with no shortage of supply of talented musicians, cheap manufacturing, and distribution mechanisms available, I'd personally like to see a revolution of internet radio where artists upload their tracks for free, stations stream their tracks to users, users rate their favorite tracks, and the station's advertising revenue distributes royalities to the artists and station manager. It creates like a democratic system of which artists get paid the most on which stations, and creates a very populist system for music completely destroying the 'mainstream' or even 'indy' model where station managers pick and choose their playlist and present that as the only options. As someone in the executive side of the music industry there's just way too much good talent and cheap processes for the ivory tower industries to remain standing. The business model is going to have to shift and adapt, or the people will throw everyone out of the ivory towers. No amount of intellectual property laws and drm is going to stop that.

    --
    Any fool can criticise, condemn, and complain, and most fools do. - Benjamin Franklin
  5. Why DRM is counter-productive by pen · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Let's say I just heard a song I really liked. I liked it so much that I want a copy of it to listen to again. Maybe even the whole album. Ok, what are my options?

    I can buy a CD from a store or order it from Amazon. This means I have to either put on some pants or wait for days. And my computer doesn't have a CD-ROM drive. And this is really inconvenient.

    I can sign on to iTunes or similar and buy the song. Except it's DRMed so I can't get an MP3. And that album was released by a label that doesn't participate in iTunes.

    I can buy the MP3s from a grey market place online such as allofmp3.com. This is pretty much illegal, I have to pay for it, and the artist still doesn't get jack. Oh, and their selection is better than most stores but still sucks.

    Finally, I can log on to my P2P network of choice and more than likely download whatever I want, in decent quality, pretty much instantly.

    Now, should I support a corrupt, backwards, outdated industry that is working overtime to make my life a pain in the ass by lobbying for all kinds of crazy laws and filing lawsuits left and right, even if this is less convenient to me?