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Saturday, Jul 4, 2009
Record companies should stop worrying about security and start giving people what they really want: Music, anywhere, anytime.
Nov 13, 2000 | It's been a busy couple of weeks for the digital music marketplace. The Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) declared that at least some portions of its proposed security system actually will work. Napster partnered with Bertelsmann, owners of the BMG record label, and announced plans to build and charge for a subscription service. And music portal Listen.com surprised almost everyone by suddenly deciding to buy the beleaguered and bankrupt Scour Exchange music swapping software.
Some observers have been quick to assume from the news that the days of free-for-all music exchange are over. Not only are corporate interests taking over, but SDMI is going to implement security systems that will at the very least make music piracy a heck of a lot harder for your typical consumer. Should music fans head back to their dorm rooms to mourn?
Not yet. The current music industry bickering about security and the corporate embrace of Napster and Scour is irrelevant. What's really at stake is not whether music will be expensively secure or freely exchangeable -- but simply how soon the recording industry will assemble the music delivery system that is inevitable. And if record industry executives had any real foresight, it would be sooner rather than later.
Digital music evangelists talk a lot about a gadget they like to call the "celestial jukebox." In layman terms, this is a networked device that will allow you to download any song your heart desires, anytime. Imagine a Walkman that had broadband wireless connectivity to the Net, could access the entire world's catalog of recorded music and played back that music with impeccable sound quality. You would be able to plug this into your stereo or speakers, or listen to it in your car.
Let's say you paid $150 for this device, and maybe $10-$20 a month as a flat subscription fee for access to the music -- cheap at the price, considering that the average consumer now spends somewhere around $70 a year on music. With a subscription, you could personalize your preferences so that you are automatically informed -- either on your PDA-like digital device itself or via your in box -- about your favorite band's tours, news, upcoming albums.
Such a device at such a price is probably still five to 10 years away (particularly the wireless broadband part, which may be even further out). But when it arrives, you can bet that the vast majority of the music-loving population will be thrilled to buy it. You'd never have to buy a CD; the ease-of-use would make the price painless. Much like the cable fee you don't even think about anymore, your music subscription will become one of those costs that becomes a part of the background noise of your bills. Already, some polls have shown that 58.5 percent of all Napster users would be willing to pay for that spotty, unreliable and wholly unportable service; a high-quality, seamless and pervasive service would probably prove even more popular.
The service may very well include a security system, perhaps spawned from SDMI's research. There may even be some kind of digital rights management system monitoring what song is listened to when. But if the record industry is wise, it will realize that security isn't necessary to make this work. If the celestial jukebox is easy to use and reasonably priced, it's likely that few music fans will feel the need to go to the effort of trying to pirate the celestial jukebox's music.
