Music Execs Say Apple's DRM Hurting Industry

EMB Numbers writes "C-Net says last year saw a 131 percent jump in digital sales, but overall the industry still saw about a 4 percent decline in revenue. Some executives at this week's Digital Music Forum East conference lashed out at Jobs, blaming Apple and its CEO for their troubles. The impression at the conference was that Jobs' call three weeks ago for DRM-free music was anything but sincere. As the article puts it, 'Apple has maintained a stranglehold on the digital music industry by locking up iTunes music with DRM ... and "it's causing everybody else who is participating in the marketplace — the other service providers, the labels, the users — a lot of pain. If they could simply open it up, everybody would love them.""

It's like a Far Side Cartoon

[thrillseeker]

No matter what the customers say, all the music execs understand is one word ... "blah blah blah blah DRM blah blah"

Correction

[Overzeetop]

You spelled "MONEY" incorrectly

Re:It's like an episode of 24

[Tackhead]

> "We're running out of time," Ted Cohen, managing director of music consulting firm TAG Strategic, told the roughly 200 attendees. "We need to get money flowing from consumers and get them used to paying for music again."

Cohen then proceeded to shackle his brother to a chair and ordered a subordinate to inject 8 units of pain serum, all the while screaming "WE DON'T WANT TO DO THIS. JUST TELL US WHERE THE MONEY IS."

Open DRM is good for consumers...

[192939495969798999]

Then you need just one hack, and you can have all your music be DRM-free everywhere! No more multiple-different-hacks for different DRM's.

Re:Code is Law

[Beyond_GoodandEvil]

RMS figured it out in 1883,...

RMS is a highlander? Crazy!

Re:If I ran store B, C, or D...

[jevvim]

I'd take Sony's offer of exclusive access (and make sure there's a really long duration on it) and then sell as little as possible

Doesn't Sony already have the Connect store for that?

Makes sense

[ghjm]

That explains the beard - it's to hide the neck scars from when Sean Connery almost cut his head off.