I think the general public, that gang of knavish sprites, is finally catching on to the hell that is digital rights management. The issue appears to be slowing creeping into the mainstream press. (Other than news about kids and single moms being sued by the RIAA, I mean.)
I could be wrong. Easily. Have sales of iPods really declined? No. And if jah people were really concerned about the creative commons (and DRM is the anti-cruise of creativity), they’d stop buying iPods. (I just bought a Sansa; it’s OK; at least as good as any generation of iPod I’ve tried.) In any case, I blame DRM Hell on the Beatles breaking up and the “Sue Me, Sue You Blues.” (Copyright is an old bane, by any measure. Victor Hugo, the modern inventor, was clear that ownership should only extend through the lifetime of the creator; screw the blood-sucking heirs.)
The big news in the last week or so was Radiohead’s unleashing of their new album, “In Rainbows,” as a download-only release. A band giving away its music on the Internet is news, in this case, because it’s Radiohead. (Is that my philosophy 101 professor wapping meupside the head, reminding me the fallacy of tautology? Nah…) So… I bought the new album first thing. You get to say how much you’ll pay (zero and up is fine). I read on Boing Boing that the pundits figure “In Rainbows” has brought in $6-10 million so far. Holy shit. I paid two pounds-fifty, or however the hell they write it in Britain, which I figure is somewhere around $7. I wonder what the most someone paid is?
But artists giving away their work is nothing new. No long boring historical essay (this time!), but even as we squeak I’m listening to cool free ambient music from the ansiform netlabel — it’s truly lovely stuff. And need I remind you, you need only follow the mp3 link here at Puck to get funkendub’s contributions to the commons.
Not so much in the U.S., but another big story in the last week or so is the closing of Virgin Music’s digital music store. With the store belly up, the rights are going to expire, and all who bought DRM-protected music from the store are screwed: they will lose their music and their subscription-based investment in it. Meanwhile, Amazon has opened a DRM-free store in the U.S. It makes you install a downloader, as I found out when I bought the new Karsh Kale
Last but my no means least is a belated mention (but not too late!) of Defective By Design‘s latest netroots campaign to make Netflix aware that we won’t be using their streaming video service (it truly sucks; way slow; I don’t know what bandwidth market they have in mind, but it is not going to work for most home users–and that’s not even talking about the DRM). Here’s the language:
I am unable to use your streaming video service.
The Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) you
impose would force me to give up control of my
computer, which is an unacceptable compromise
of my liberty. I have said no to DRM on music, and
now I’m saying no to DRM on video.
