Mediaholic

I have been discussing DRM a lot in this blog and I suspect many of the readers may feel saturated at this point. Yet, one can't make a meaningful argument without providing the supporting facts to back it up, this is the difference between a valuable opinion and a load of crap and so with this in mind I would like to point out an interesting article from the BBC, carrying the same title as this blog post.

The reason this article is important is that it is an opinion written by someone who is making a living by creating copyrighted content (see picture), these are the "poor and helpless" artists and creative people the labels and the studios claim they protect with DRM, and so it is enlightening to see what they think about DRM and about legitimate ways to protect copyrights. Here is a relevant quote:

My opposition to DRM is not an opposition to copyright, or a claim that copyright is dead. But current attempts to use technology to enforce restrictions on use, restrictions that often go beyond those copyright law would demand, are unacceptable.

Another interesting quote which is related to the implications of DRM on the business of new media, shows the irony behind DRM and how it decreases the chances of traditional media companies to re-invent themselves, which could essentially lead to them being displaced by others:

Just this week, Rupert Murdoch, speaking to the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, said: "A new generation of media consumers has risen demanding content delivered when they want it, how they want it and very much as they want it".
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This is not about enhancing the customer experience but locking down content. It is about ensuring that the "new generation of media consumers" Murdoch is referring to do not get the content they want, how they want it or when they want it.
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The music, movie and publishing industries do not deserve to survive if their only way to remain viable is to undermine copyright law and replace it with restrictive contracts backed by harsh penalties for breaking the inevitably flawed DRM they wrap around their products. Others will take their place, and I cannot see that this is a bad thing.

Ironically this has already started to happen, and new media moguls are bound to surface. Perhaps the best example is Mark Cuban, who said in more than occasion that he loves DRM since by not employing it he gains a competitive advantage against the traditional media companies. He even went to an extreme and suggested in his blog that consumers to do the following:

My advice ? Any and all digital content that you purchase and OWN, with any sort of copy protection, crack it, and make a backup copy for your own personal storage.