Steve Jobs is getting lots of link-love with his initial “Thoughts on” column, which almost—but not really—calls for the abandonment of digital rights management (DRM) schemes on music distributed over the internet. There will surely be more.
This would represent a complete reversal of Apple’s position on DRM; Apple has previously stated publicly that it would continue to embed DRM schemes in the digital music files it distributes through its iTunes Store even if the record labels didn’t want it. Too bad it’s not true.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), predictably, took the bait and spun the Jobs essay as an offer to license Apple’s DRM technology, Fairplay. The Los Angeles Times hilariously calls it a “novel interpretation:”
“Apple’s offer to license Fairplay to other technology companies is a welcome breakthrough and would be a real victory for fans, artists, and labels. There have been many services seeking a license to the Apple DRM. This would enable the interoperability that we have been urging for a very long time.”
If Jobs were serious in his call to abandon DRM, he’d be removing the DRM scheme on the Disney films instead of just trying to either bait (worst case) or get in front of (best case) the major music labels’ abandonment of DRM. As the largest Disney share holder, don’t believe for one minute he couldn’t do it.
What this is likely really about is the pressure Apple is starting to feel in Europe to open the iTunes Store to competing digital music players. In Norway, for example, Apple has until October 1 to open the iTunes Store or face legal action and fines. Torgeir Waterhouse, Norway’s senior advisor to the Consumer Council told the Associated Press that Apple was hiding behind the record companies.
Nonetheless, if Apple follows through and offers DRM-free digital music from artists who will allow it, this is the beginning of the end of DRM altogether.
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