Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has called on the major record companies to allow music to be sold online without digital rights management. He argues that while they continue to make the majority of their profits from compact discs that have no such copy protection there is no real benefit in encumbering online music with digital rights management systems.
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has called on the major record companies to allow music to be sold online without digital rights management. He argues that while they continue to make the majority of their profits from compact discs that have no such copy protection there is no real benefit in encumbering online music with digital rights management systems.
His comments, posted on the Apple web site, follow calls for the company to open up its own FairPlay digital rights management system to allow it to be used by third parties. Apple says that this would compromise its security. The four major record companies insist on a secure form of digital rights management as a condition of releasing their music online.
While Apple has sold two billion tracks through its iTunes store, this only amounts to an average of 22 for each of the 90 million iPods it has ever sold. The implication is that the majority of music people play on iPods is unprotected. Last year over 20 billion tracks were sold by record companies on compact discs which are completely unprotected and easily copied to other devices without the benefit of digital rights management.
“DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy,” said Steve Jobs. Rather than maintaining its current position, or licensing its digital rights management system to others, he suggests the alternative for Apple is to abolish digital rights management entirely.
“Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats,” he said. “In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat.”
“Much of the concern over DRM systems has arisen in European countries,” he wrote, pointing out that two of the four major music companies are owned by companies based in Britain and France while a third is half owned by a German company. “Perhaps those unhappy with the current situation should redirect their energies towards persuading the music companies to sell their music DRM-free.”
“Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace,” suggested Steve Jobs, deflecting the debate to the rights owners. “Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly.”
While Steve Jobs may be changing his tune, the record industry seems unlikely to rush to accept such proposals, leaving Apple on the moral high ground.
Let it be
The remarks come as Apple Inc has finally resolved its long-running trade mark dispute with The Beatles’ company Apple Corps. Under a new agreement, Apple Inc will own all the trade marks related to ‘Apple’ and will licence some of them back to Apple Corps. This will allow Apple to continue using its name and logos in connection with iTunes. A previous agreement had restricted their use in connection with music.
The Beatles’ music could also be made legitimately available online for the first time. The inclusion of downloads could put them straight into the charts, especially if tracks are provided in an unrestricted format.