UPDATE: Oh, pigs don’t fly after all. The RIAA exec now says he didn’t use the word “dead” in the interview. We hope the RIAA hasn’t gone and put its head back in the sand though, even if it’s not willing to admit this much officially.
Toshiba’s not the only one making a quiet u-turn today: the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the long time defender of DRM software on music downloads, has finally admitted that the practice of adding restrictions to tracks you download is “dead”. Well, that didn’t take long. Only a good ten years, but what’s a decade between friends, right?
The RIAA has long defended DRM (digital rights management) software in its fight against music piracy, insisting that limiting the devices you could play a song you’ve paid for on was a help, not a hindrance. Now though, the RIAA’s chief spokesperson has finally gone on record to admit that it no longer has a future.
While speaking to SCMagazine, Jonathan Lamy was quizzed on the group’s views on DRM, which he batted off with a blithe “DRM is dead, isn’t it?” Yes, yes it is. While we’re glad that the RIAA has finally come to its senses, we still have to lament the delay.
To put things in perspective, this is six months after iTunes went completely DRM free, two and a half years after Apple first called for DRM free tunes, and a full ten years after Napster should have alerted industry execs to the fact that downloading DRM free music would prove to be quite popular. So er, big pat on the back RIAA. Let’s hope the innovation can flourish now we’ve got the all clear at long last.
Out TBC | £TBC | RIAA (Via Torrent Freak)
