Editorial: Apple’s decision is music to downloader’s ears

‘ ‘ ‘ At the Macworld 2009 keynote yesterday, Phil Schiller, Apple’s vice president of… ‘ ‘ ‘ At the Macworld 2009 keynote yesterday, Phil Schiller, Apple’s vice president of worldwide product marketing, made an announcement that music aficionados had been waiting to hear for close to a decade. Apple’s iTunes service will offer customers the option to purchase high-quality songs free of Digital Rights Management software. Apple recently reached an agreement with Sony BMG, Warner Music, Universal Music and EMI, which allowed the move to take place. ‘ ‘ ‘ The transition isn’t fully complete ‘mdash; the full catalog of iTunes songs won’t be available for DRM-free download until April. But with an initial offering of more than 8 million songs, it should be enough to slake even the most ravenous music-buyer’s thirst for new songs. Additionally, the DRM-stripping service costs an extra 30 cents per song, bringing the total to $1.29 a song. ‘ ‘ ‘ Apple’s move will likely spell the end of single-song DRM. As the industry’s largest online retailer, the iTunes service is to music sales what the iPod is to the MP3 player market: a nearly untouchable and ubiquitous presence with a huge market advantage over the nearest competitors. ‘ ‘ ‘ For the most part, this looks like a move in the right direction. Offering DRM-free music is potentially the only way to combat the problem of illegal downloading and piracy. Apple’s solution offers a third option: DRM-free music at a slight price premium. ‘ ‘ ‘ Unfortunately, the problem is that most people don’t pirate music to avoid DRM, but to avoid paying for music in the first place. Few things are as attractive as genuinely free and open information, including music. ‘ ‘ ‘ Most pirated music being DRM-free is incidental, an added bonus to people willing to take the risk of dealing with a lawsuit from the record industries. Instead of acting as a method of digital security, DRM was in many ways just an annoyance to people who were already willing to obey the laws and buy their music legally. ‘ ‘ ‘ However, people will now have less restrictions on the music they buy online, which might be an attraction for people wary of tempting the law. Now that iTunes purchases will be compatible with music players other than’ the iPod and iPhone, like Microsoft’s Zune and Creative’s ZEN players, users of non-Apple hardware could turn to iTunes as their primary way to buy music. ‘ ‘ ‘ The other thing to consider is Apple’s 30-cent surcharge on the DRM-free music. Hopefully this isn’t just a method for the company to increase its own profits or those of the record companies. ‘ ‘ ‘ Given that concert attendance and CD sales have been slipping steadily for the past several years ‘mdash; overall concert attendance fell an estimated 19 percent in 2007, according to Billboard Magazine, and music CD sales fell 20 percent in the same period ‘mdash; digital music sales are the only profitable portion of the music industry. Those profits should be shared fairly with bands and musicians, rather than swept up by retailers and executives. ‘ ‘ ‘ Apple’s move looks like a good one and one that will benefit the customers and company’s business. Hopefully it will have a positive impact on the struggling music industry as well by exposing listeners to more music and allowing them to use that music any way they please.