RIAA Thinks Subscriptions Will Save Them & DRM
CNET reports here that a representative of the RIAA believes that DRM is alive and well. He also thinks that subscriptions are the savior of labels.
We all know the five steps of grieving: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. It can be stated without reservation that the record labels are stuck in the first three steps and have not accepted the demise of their business model. Make no mistake, the major labels are going to be leaving the marketplace – there is no room for the way they want to do business.
Denial
“I think there will be a movement towards subscription services, and (that) will eventually mean the return of RM.” said, David Hughes, who is in charge of the RIAA’s technology unit. Is the entire association delirious? No one needs a subscription service – no one wants a subscription service. Yahoo has shut down its subscription service, as reported here, because it wasn’t feasible. Rhapsody, who was named as the transition service for Yahoo customers is struggling. CNET reported, “It’s the company’s best strategy for staying afloat in a digital music landscape that’s not only dominated by Apple’s iTunes but also seems to be gravitating toward “free,” not subscription-based models.”
Please if subscription is going to compete with free – just put a fork in it. Of course this is not death for DRM, as the free models will have to somehow prevent the construction of a home library without viewing the ads. What do you expect for “free?” Besides, the analog hole will be the work around for that.
Anger
We all know how the RIAA expresses its anger. It has sued its customers and websites all over the nation and the world. Humorously, they don’t pursue Harvard students. I have a feeling a number of RIAA board members have children attending Harvard. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if the RIAA sued a child of a board member? After all, at least one music executive admitted his family pirates music.
Bargaining
The RIAA continue to lobby Congress in an attempt to somehow get the higher power to pass a proclamation that ends internet electronic sharing of music and returns the good ol’ days. This is best exemplified in the RIAA position that net neutrality must take the backseat to their privacy fight and ISP filtering. Don’t they know that prayers are always answered, just not the way you want it?
Depression and Acceptance
These steps won’t happen until the labels realize their back catalog is not near as valuable as it once was. In the past repeated purchases of the same music was necessary as the media used to wear out. In the digital world (without DRM) the media does not wear out. Of course, if DRM is used, then a repurchase is necessary when the license expires as users of Microsoft’s MSN music have discovered. All of the MSN customers are being burned by DRM right now. They will all tell their friends. DRM for money generating product will go away. Microsoft is using activation in its OS and Office programs – that is one reason (other than their products aren’t as good as they used to be) why open source is making such strides against them.
As sad as it sounds, some people will lose their jobs, but it will because the major labels declined to embrace the new music market and decided to fight it instead. The major labels are making horse carriages in an automobile world.
Life Support
Like a dying patient who demands all that medical technology can offer, the major labels insist on inflicting the pain of their demise on all around them. We will see more bad law, more failed businesses, and more rip-offs until finally the fade away.
What is in store for the music industry is likely an explosion of independent labels – all marketing to their niche selling DRM-free tracks at low prices. Electronic delivery of music means marketing to the long tail – not to the 20%.
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