Music is Different

Solveig Singleton of the Progress and Freedom Foundation (PFF), recently composed a Progress on Point report entitled “Copy Protections and Games: Lessons for DRM Debates and Development.” In her report, she explains that in the gaming world; that of the game console and personal computer games, protected content is just as desirable as unprotected content as far as consumers are concerned.

Singleton offers up eight insights that she has witnessed working historically for the gaming industry, and urges policymakers in other media industries to adopt them.

1.Content producers do respond to consumer complaints resulting from copy protection.

2.Interoperability with general purpose media increases piracy risk, while hardware-linked protection proves to be the most durable.

3.Evolution in platform and distribution technology requires rapid adaptation of content protection.

4.Technical limitations of past media and platforms that made copying cumbersome meant less need for copy protection, meaning new solutions for copy protection must be found as media and platforms evolve.

5.Investment flows to business models with less perceived risk of piracy.

6.Effective copy protection enables content producers to supply a rental market.

7.Consumer demands often do not coincide with advocate demands, as consumers frequently choose content quality over lack of content protection measures.

8.Past expectations should not dictate policy or future business models for content.

There are some problems with applying these particular rules and standards to the music industry. It has been seen time and time again that DRM can cause consumers serious problems. Sony and its rootkit come to mind. Music content should not be hardware-linked. Consumers do not like that. Again, Sony tried this with its rootkit, and even iTunes can’t always get its users to commit to using only its hardware.

Singleton also explains that stronger DRM and protection from piracy allows content providers to tolerate a rental market. This does not translate to the music business either, as there are several companies set up for the rental of music. Subscription services cannot compete. People want to own their music, and they don’t want it to disappear if they choose to drop the subscription or there is an unexpected rate hike.

Finally, music consumers must differ from game users in that they quite often do choose lack of copy protection over fidelity. All you have to do is look at those pretty white iPod ear buds to see that quality is a nice, but not integral part of the consumer’s listening experience.

"The best policy going forward is for legislators to leave entrepreneurs' experiments with DRM alone, while continuing to support copyright with appropriate enforcement institutions and actions,” Singleton insists. Still, music listeners are a different breed. They must be. They want to buy a product, own it, and use it however they would like, and it seems only fair.

The reason for the difference in DRM toleration may be that gaming is not as personal; not as close to people’s hearts. Games also need not be as portable, and are certainly not linked as directly to people’s identities. Music is different.