What do you call this decree from Steve Jobs? A manifesto? An essay? An edict? A judgement? I call it a long-overdue Apple papal bull.
In a minimalist presentation of 1,877 words, lacking his typical flare for graphics, Steve Jobs issues an essay on the topic of the cumbersome and easily hacked protection record labels require on music sold through Apple’s iTunes Store. Titled simply, “Thoughts on music,” the document is a big-pulpit, big-club swing at the big-four record labels calling on them to stop requiring DRM on music sold online when the same music sold on CDs carries no such protection.
Quote:
“Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy. Though the big four music companies require that all their music sold online be protected with DRMs, these same music companies continue to sell billions of CDs a year which contain completely unprotected music. That’s right! No DRM system was ever developed for the CD, so all the music distributed on CDs can be easily uploaded to the Internet, then (illegally) downloaded and played on any computer or player.”
Jobs then suggests that European governments and consumers are barking up the wrong Apple tree when they protest that Apple is the culprit in the music-protection debate. He invites everyone to point their protests at the record companies.
“Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace. Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly.
I think this is a great statement, but it would have impressed me if he had issued it in 2003 when the iTunes store launched. Any time is better than never, but Jobs loses some of the moral high-ground when doing this in reaction to governmental regulatory threats. While some on the blogosphere are ready to saint him, let’s pause: this is merely a logical business decision on Apple’s part. That aside, no DRM is a good thing.
Next suggestion: Drop DRM on those videos you sell on iTunes.
Observation: It’s odd Apple has no “blog-like” platform to issue such statements. Hey, but when you’re Steve Jobs, issuing some “thoughts” is enough, I guess.
Observation II: Mark Cuban is a better writer than Steve Jobs’ ghost on this.
February 7th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
[...] Beyond that, I’m going to take the liberty of running through a number of brief items that got me worked up today, any one of which could have been a full blown blog post, but the point is to explore what the seed of a good post looks like. So here goes. Steve Jobs And The Church Of DRM If there was a TechMeme for Catholic theology, the view after a major papal pronouncement would probably look the same as TechMeme did after Steve Jobs came out against digital rights management (DRM). Kudos to Rex Hammock for recognizing the theological undertones to the whole DRM debate. “Entering a conversation in order to influence it is almost always a corrupting influence on the conversation.” Thus spoke David Weinberger, Cluetrain founding father, in an interview with Jeff Jarvis for Beet TV — is it possible that corporate communications and transparent conversations will never mix? Is everything emanating from a corporate entity destined to be “artificial” rather than “authentic”? You might call this the Weinberger Uncertainty Principle. New Media Still Not Ready For Wall Street News Corp’s quarterly earnings press release contained not a single mention of Fox Interactive Media or MySpace (hat tip to Staci Kramer at PaidContent, who also noticed this). If one of the new media leaders among traditional media companies can’t demonstrate the impact of new media on the bottom line, what does this portend for everyone else? Barry Diller, honest media exec From his Media Summit keynote: Future of YouTube: I have no clue. They have a big audience…it is ridiculous [...]
February 7th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
the only thing better than his steveness putting it to the powers that be and saying what a lot of people think should happen with regards to drm (even though it will never happen), is seeing what the intellectual giants at the riaa have to say in response: http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/07/riaa-misreads-jobs-open-letter-on-drm-thinks-hes-offering-to/#comments
April 12th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
[...] as it now appears on Apple’s “Hot News,” it seems like a building is talking. permalink | categories: apple | Time posted: 3:15 pm on Thursday, April 12th,2007 [...]