Yahoo takes a stand against DRM
It looks like some larger companies are starting to see the light and realizing that DRM is more of a burden than it has benefit to both consumers and content providers. In a symbolic move, Yahoo are now offering a DRM-free personalized MP3 download – you may think about the artist and the song what you want, but at least it’s a step in the right direction and the reasons that Yahoo gives for this initiative show that they are in fact serious about this.
“The only people it adds value to are the technology companies who are interested in locking consumers to a particular technology platform.” – that’s a strong statement, especially coming from a technology company that could easily jump on the DRM bandwagon and do the exact same thing. But it looks like Yahoo have realized that DRM comes at a cost that is much higher than the potential benefit and so this recent move is a warning shot in the direction of the record labels that still seem to think of DRM as the best thing since sliced bread. Instead, Yahoo suggests that offering better features, personalization etc. and the option to play the music on whatever platform they want to their customers is what they would like to do to add value to music downloads. I couldn’t agree more. As Yahoo put it so nicely, “Un-DRM’d content is implicitly more valuable to a consumer”.
Of course the success of Indie-music sites like Emusic, which have been selling un-DRM’d MP3s with increasing success, is also starting to threaten a DRM based business model, so it only makes sense for Yahoo to put some pressure on the labels to be allowed to start doing the same thing. But regardless of their motives, the move for more DRM-free downloads is a step in the right direction and should ultimately provide consumers with more freedom of choice. And maybe our cultural heritage will in the end be a bit less threatened than it seems to be at the moment. And that’s good news indeed.
Add comment July 21st, 2006