I've long heralded the imminent end of intellectual property restrictions when it comes to consumed media and now it looks like Steve Jobs is on the same page.
Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, jolted the record industry on Tuesday by calling on its largest companies to allow online music sales unfettered by antipiracy software. ...Instead, he proposed that labels could shed digital rights management altogether. Mr. Jobs pointed out that only 10 percent of all music sold last year was through an online store and that music is already easily loaded onto digital players from CDs, with no antipiracy features. Attaching digital rights management to music bought online has only limited the number of online music stores, he wrote.
“This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat,†he wrote.
Mr. Jobs’s move comes as the music industry appears to be facing a crisis. Sales of its mainstay product — the album — continue to sink, and sales of digital music, including individual songs, have not increased fast enough to offset the decline.
I was skeptical of iTunes from the start, but it looks I was wrong and it has turned into a significant revenue stream for Apple. However, the music industry needs to learn from the pornography industry and quit living in the past, because online music sales aren't profiting them much.
Jobs may look radical in calling for an end to digital rights management software, but he's really just advocating the inevitable (which is a great position to be in).
