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Why DRM Cannot Open Up New Business Models
An anonymous reader writes "Techdirt has a cool post up that doesn't just explain why DRM is bad, but gives a really interesting economic explanation for why DRM cannot create successful new business models. Since the RIAA and MPAA keep insisting that DRM will create new business models, it's useful to see an argument for why that's basically impossible." As the article says, anyone can create a "new" business model. Creating a successful "new" business model is what is so elusive here.
Or the terrorists will listen to our music for free!
Do you want your children to listen to the same music as terrorists?
I thought so...
I believe the argument is that iTunes has succeeded in spite of DRM, not because of DRM.
markets always favor efficiency. pre-internet, the cd makers, tape makers, lp makers, etc., they could successfully stand between the artist and the consumer and collect tolls for a valuable service they performed: distribution of media
however, the internet renders such a model inefficient in comparison. now, the artist and consumer can interact directly. the internet has replaced the distribution model the riaa's constituent companies are attempting to defend. there defenses are unsuccessful so far, and will continue to be
the consumer is served, the artist is served. the only person left out in the new internet distribution model is the old guard distribution model. i could say "adapt or die" but that doesn't even apply here. there is only one valid economic choice for the riaa's backers: die
obviously they aren't dying gracefully, but no one ever did. forgive the dinosaur its death throes i suppose. but the riaa is history. it's simply a matter of time and the inevitable march of progress
the artist becomes the distributor. seems like a better world to me. the distributor's money in the old distribution model warped true artistic expression i think. so it's progress all around: we get better artists. the unfettered democratic interaction of artist and consumer on the internet will let the cream rise to the top, instead of whomever is backed with the most cash and radio plugs, a la the old model
go ahead riaa, try to stop progress. good luck to you
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Its success will be predicated on how much pain/reward the model brings to the customers when accepted versus the collective pain/reward of civil disobedience when it meets force.