Warner chief calls Jobs' DRM fight 'without logic'

Bronfman rejects the idea of dumping copy protection for digital tunes

By Gregg Keizer

February 9, 2007 12:00 PM ET

Comments

Computerworld - Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman yesterday rejected in no uncertain terms Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs' suggestion earlier this week that the major music label companies should abandon digital tunes copy protection.

Jobs' proposal, which the Apple executive floated on Tuesday in an open letter that called on the label companies to let users download tracks sans digital rights management (DRM) antipiracy protection, is "completely without merit," said Bronfman. His comments came in a Q&A portion of an earnings conference call yesterday.

"We advocate the continued use of DRM," said Bronfman. "The notion that music does not deserve the same protection as software, film, video games or other intellectual property, simply because there is an unprotected legacy product in the physical world, is completely without logic or merit."

Jobs said that Apple would drop its FairPlay DRM "in a heartbeat" if the major record labels would license their music without requiring copy protection schemes. In his letter, Jobs criticized the labels -- Warner, EMI, Sony and Universal -- for demanding DRM on music sold online at the same time that they sell billions of CDs containing unprotected tracks.

"So if the music companies are selling over 90% of their music DRM-free, what benefits do they get from selling the remaining small percentage of their music encumbered with a DRM system?" Jobs asked. "There appear to be none."

Bronfman was the first executive of a major recording company to publicly take on Jobs' idea. He urged Apple and the music industry to continue working together. "Frankly, manifestos in advance of those discussions is counter-productive," said Bronfman.

Related Discussion:

Shark Bait: My problem$ with the ipod
Ken Gagne: Steve Jobs, Slayer of DRM
David Haskin: Steve Jobs and the end of DRM
IT Blogwatch: Vista DRM Diatribe (and Cartman does Warcraft)

Read more about intellectual property and drm in Computerworld's Intellectual Property and DRM Knowledge Center.

Comment Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Jump to comments

Warner Music

Additional Resources

WHITE PAPER

EFD vs. HDD - What You Need to Know

Enterprise flash drives provide a new Tier 0 storage layer capable of delivering high I/O performance at a very low latency. Proper use of EFDs in an Oracle environment can deliver increased performance compared to fibre channel drives. Read the recommendations for identification of the best DB components for EFDs.

WHITE PAPER

Gartner Research Report: Magic Quadrant for Application Delivery Controllers, 2009

The market for products to improve the delivery of application software over networks remains dynamic and innovative. Vendors focused on solving enterprises' most-pressing application problems have become the top players.

WHITE PAPER

Eight Criteria for Server Load Balancing

Server load balancers are a simple yet highly effective means to scale an application environment while ensuring its availability. Today's solutions should also address application performance and security. Read about the top eight criteria you should consider when choosing a server load balancer and how Citrix NetScaler meets those requirements.