CD Copy-Protection: What Can You Say?

David Card | November 17, 2005, 09:33 AM

I've resisted posting on the Sony BMG copy-protected CD debacle, because there's not much to say. EMI, see case study, is experimenting with copy protection much more gracefully with Macrovision technology, but fundamentally it's a bad idea. DRM must unlock new revenue streams, not lock down 20th Century business models.

JupiterResearch has been recommending that labels support a flexible DRM technology for CDs—rather than prevent computer access or copying—since 1999. Unfortunately, decentralized P-to-P networks and the MP3-friendly, non-Windows Media–supporting iPod have happened since then.

According to a 2002 JupiterResearch consumer survey examining attitudes toward copy protection technologies, demand for CDs drops by up to 76 percent, depending on pricing, when copy restrictions are added.

I respect the labels' desire to make casual piracy more difficult, while maintaining user's rights, or, more important, their expectations of rights. (This isn't about curbing serious piracy. Prosecution, not technology, is the only solution for that.)

Note to Sony: You might want to let people know that your biggest star's November 29 release -- Shakira's English-language "Oral Fixation Vol. 2" -- doesn't use the XCP technology. So it's safe and it won't be delayed by the recall.