Is Digital Rights Management (DRM) a good thing for emerging artists?. John Mayer made me wonder if DRM is sometimes okay. He could have his own website, and he could make his music available there. But if he just put the MP3 there for download then people would just download it and very few would pay him. He could charge for the download, but then the song would just wind up on KaZaa and he wouldn't make as much money as he deserved to make from his song.
Then it hit me: why couldn't he just have a download that required the user to enter a code that would be unique for each computer? Sort of like these 30 day free trial programs use. But then I thought well, isn't that DRM? And isn't DRM bad?
That's when I thought maybe DRM isn't always bad. Sure, it's bad if Microsoft or Hollywood want to make computers automatically do things that prevent people from doing legitimate things (i.e. make backup copies of files they paid for and other things that are fair use). But maybe it's not bad for artists who are trying to emerge and trying to make money without having to rely on the Entertainment Industry.
So that's what I was thinking, and maybe I've got it all wrong. But I wonder sometimes if we, who are so reflexive about condemning DRM, have fully considered how it might benefit people who operate outside the power-circles of the entertainment industry. [Ernie the Attorney] [cinema minima]
10:17:20 PM 
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