Warner Music Group Head defends DRM

Speaking of the Warner Music Group (aka "Bronfman DRM'ed Music Holdings"):

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070208/FREE/70208001

Probably about time - no pun intended - that TimeWarner jumped back into their former division with a lowball offer to buy out Bronfman's stake. Stick the once-and-future division directly under the AOL Music moniker and then commit themselves to making available the entire back-catalog for the digital music stores and ditch the CD format altogether.

That's probably a better plan than trying to rely upon that $1 per Zune sold* sin-tax revenue stream.


*I realize that that (in)famous deal was with Universal Music Group, but who says Microsoft isn't doing the same for the other labels too? Well, not SonyBMG, of course...

Just ignore Bronfman. He's still trying to earn enough drachmas to make up for the losses he caused his family from selling off their large (and reliable) stake in DuPont stock so he could be a player in Hollywood. He could have been a darling at Enron, I tell ya.

I want to see Apple, Google, and Yahoo buy up the rest of the music labels, fire these corporate bozos dating back to the corporate jurassic era, and close down the RIAA. Music sales would probably quadruple after that all transpired. Either that, or Ragnarock (sic) might begin...

You think you're smart?

I addressed Mr. Bronfman's comments here on Monday:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/web2explorer/?p=326

Just opening up Apple's DRM doesn't give us some type of magical interoperability in pixie land. This goes to the root of what's actually wrong with having Apple and MS control the DRM game...we are better off with no DRM than no innovation.

The big labels are just trying to remain relevant...after building up a huge layer cake of administrative costs and overhead...no wonder they are drowning in debt at the moment. When artists no longer need the large labels and instead sell direct through iTunes and other online stores...the big companies will only have their legacy catalogs to fall back on...and will have to get leaner and re-invent themselves in order to survive.

Stick a fork in em...they are done.

DRM is pointless.

As long as content can be played it can be copied. Further, it is an insult that I as a paying customer have fewer capacity to use my media than that of the pirate who steals it.