First eMusic, then Yahoo!, then Apple, and now Amazon have joined the anti-DRM camp. This adds momentum to the general perception that DRM-based business models are outdated and on their way out, at least in the music market. It’s only a matter of time before the labels cave.
It’s striking that this announcement is occurring less than a year after the unveiling of Amazon’s Unbox. As I said then, the use of DRM was a major reason the service sucked so much. Thanks to the much larger file sizes, the online movie market is a few years behind the online music market in its evolution. But I think recent developments in the music market presage similar developments in the movie market a few years from now. Ultimately, DRM is a bad business strategy because it doesn’t stop piracy but it does punish your own paying customers. The labels and online music vendors are realizing that now. Hollywood is still in denial, but they’ll figure it out eventually.
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
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