News and Politics

It’s Your Music (Store)

by Adam Berenstain, SUNY Cortland, May 7, 2007

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Quick: what do Mims, billionaires, and international law all have in common? You. You’re making music download stores like iTunes the most important way music is bought today. Why are stores like iTunes, eMusic, and Napster important? One reason is money. You’re spending a lot of it on music downloads. iTunes alone has sold more than two billion songs, making it the fourth largest music retailer in America. The second reason is a little less obvious. All those copies of This Is Why I’m Hot that have been downloaded from iTunes – and all the other songs from just about every music download store – contain DRM. Digital Rights Management.

DRM is the computer code that makes sure the songs you buy will only play on your computer, or other computers you authorize. It’s the code that makes songs purchased from music download stores useless on file sharing networks. If other people can’t play the song, why share the file? As downloadable media stores like iTunes grow in popularity DRM will become more and more a part of your life, whether you know it or not. Today anyone who wants to sell music owned by the major music labels has to use DRM in their store. Some people don’t like DRM. They think it intrudes on the freedom to do what you like with something you’ve paid for. Some of these people are hackers that write new software that gets around the DRM and removes its restrictions. Some of these people are billionaires who own music download stores, but more on that later.

What DRM your music files have depends on which music store you used. The DRM that the iTunes store uses is different than that of Napster. Let’s look at the differences between the DRM schemes used by three popular music download stores: iTunes, Napster, and eMusic. This stuff gets a little dry, but hang in there. It’s your money.
iTunes calls its DRM Fairplay. Fairplay lets you play music purchased from iTunes on up to five computers, play music on any number of iPods, and burn to CDs playlists of music acquired from iTunes up to seven times before changing them. Fairplay applies to all music bought from iTunes. Every song from every label from every decade carries these restrictions.

Napster is a little different. Unlike iTunes, Napster is primarily a “rental” music service where users pay a fee each month to download music. Once you stop paying, your music – all of it – becomes unplayable. Napster offers three services: Napster Light, Napster Unlimited, and Napster to Go. Napster Light is the service that lets you buy individual tracks like iTunes, except you can only play your songs on up to three computers. Napster Unlimited doesn’t let you burn CDs or put your songs on a portable music player (and forget about using iPods). Napster to Go lets you play your music on up to two portable music players at a time (but forget the iPod, or even burning a CD). I told you this was dry stuff. eMusic is the second-largest music download store. They use a subscription service too, but you get to keep playing the music even if you stop paying a monthly fee. Here’s the big thing, though: eMusic uses no DRM at all.
Consumers download regular old MP3 files. The stores catalog is limited to smaller music labels (there’s no music by Mims or Rihanna), but you can do anything you like with the songs you buy from eMusic. No matter what software or what music player you use, eMusic songs will work with it.

If all of this seems like a bit of a headache, you’re not alone. European governments like France and Norway have taken an interest in clearing up the DRM situation for consumers. Last year the French government considered a law that would force music download services to provide music files that work on any music player a consumer might own. France removed these demands from the law that eventually passed, but Norway has since taken up the cause. Early this year the Norwegian government ruled that iTune’s Fairplay is illegal because songs from that store can only be played on an iPod.

This is where things get interesting. Something has to give, and a certain billionaire agrees. He’s Steve Jobs, the owner of Apple, Inc. and the iTunes Store. Early this month Jobs posted an article about his company’s stance on DRM titled “Thoughts On Music”. In his article Jobs responded to Norway and those who would like to see iTunes, the largest music download store by far, change its tune on DRM. Jobs says that iTunes doesn’t control the music any more than any other store does. He claims the demand for DRM comes from the record labels, not iTunes or any other music download store. Jobs also notes that Fairplay provides music lovers with the most lenient DRM outside of ripping CDs (or just downloading music illegally). For Jobs, the future of DRM lies in three possible choices. One, keep the DRM we have today. Two, Apple can sell Fairplay DRM to other music stores so they can use it. Three, abolish DRM entirely. Surprisingly, Jobs supports the third choice. He writes, “If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store.” Jobs notes that there’s no good reason for music download stores to continue selling music with DRM as the vast majority of music is already sold – on CD – without DRM. It’s a rare day indeed when the CEO of a company suggests publicly that what he sells could be better for the consumer.

Reaction to “Thoughts on Music” has been mixed. A senior advisor to the Norwegian Consumer council wrote that no matter if the record labels control licensing, Apple is “still the company that's selling music to the consumers and are responsible for offering the consumer a fair deal according to Norwegian law.” A French consumer organization approved of Jobs’ message, writing, “There are too many evidences proving that DRMs kills music, prevent innovations, increase risk of monopoly and proprietary protection systems […] it is now Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, who recently called for a complete removal of DRM on music tracks available from online stores.” Ultimately, even billionaires like Steve Jobs won’t decide the issue of DRM. It will be you, voting with your dollars whether you realize it or not, who decides what rights come with online media over the next several years. Each song you buy – and the store from which you buy it - is a choice that will help define the future of this growing market. Does DRM restrict a consumer’s rights? Or do anti-DRM laws like Norway’s punish companies for being too successful? You’re spending a lot of money on music downloads. The decision, and the music, is yours.

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