SoundTempest

At a recent industry panel during the Digital Hollywood Conference in Los Angeles, the head of the RIAA’s technology unit, David Hughes, definitively stated that DRM is still going strong and is poised for a comeback.

Hughes stated that of the “22 ways to sell music… 20 of them still require DRM. Any form of subscription service or limited play-per-view or advertising offer still requires DRM. So DRM is not dead.” He added that “I think there is going to be a shift… I think there will be a movement towards subscription services and they will eventually mean the return of DRM.”

Also at the panel was Fritz Attaway, executive vice president of the Motion Picture Association of America, who agreed with Hughes’ opinion: “We need DRM to show our customers the limits of the license they have entered into with us.”

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This is a stark reality check concerning the views of the people who are generally representing two of the major entertainment industries in America. It is fairly clear at this point, as we have seen with the recent Microsoft DRM server issue, that while things are changing fast in the music industry, some major players are simply refusing to drop the idea of DRM, even if they’ve taken some small steps away from it.

But what was up with that statement by Fritz Attaway? That was one of the least subtle ways I’ve ever heard an entertainment industry executive say “we don’t trust the consumer.” Not exactly how you rally support to your side. A better argument, just throwing this out there, might be that piracy can hurt profits which leads to decreased investment into new releases, and thus piracy eventually hurts the consumer as well.

ps. Sorry for the decreased rate of posting. I’m working on a lot of projects, setting up a music software/sample business, duties at ocremix.org, and moving into a new apartment. If you’re interested in helping write for SoundTempest please shoot me an email!