With the heightened awareness of piracy and copyright infringement on the web, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to track use and distribution of their licensed content through Digital Rights Management (DRM).
When online .mp3s and .movs started to replace CDs and DVDs, the public’s awareness of DRM increased. That awareness, combined with a few high-profile follies, like Sony’s “rootkit-DRM” a few years ago, caused consumers to rally against the DRM movement. Now, with high-profile announcements like “DRM-Free mp3s on iTunes,” DRM seems to be struggling once again in the digital music industry.
But what is the current state and future of DRM in the publishing industry? Surely, our content and the content of our customers’ is vital to our business and in some instances a critical revenue stream. It prevents assets from being used inappropriately or without permission. Is DRM within the publishing industry fundamentally different than within the music industry? What impact does DRM have on the usability of assets? What do you think of DRM in general, do you use it in your organization?
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November 7th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
For the last several years, DRM has been a problem without a solution. The survival of creative content requires two primary things - 1) an environment that provides rewards to those who create it and 2) an avenue for those who don’t to access and use it. So far, most DRM solutions have leaned heavily on one side or the other. Some focus on protecting the creators, but make it too difficult to use the content. Others focus on getting the content exposed, but fail to reward the creators justly. My belief is that at some point a new technology, process, or combination of the two, will arise and solve these issues gracefully; thus making DRM as straightforward as billing for a service or boxed product.