Musicians often have the last say when it comes to putting DRM on their CDs.Sony BMG's rootkit debacle has turned out worse than a root canal. After security expert Mark Russinovich first discovered the intrusive malware on a Van Zandt CD, fans, copyright activists and industry experts were up in arms.
Spyware monitors classified the rootkit DRM as malicious. Sony then released a DRM uninstaller and issued a recall for 2 million XCP-protected music CDs from about 20 of their artists.
"Sony has capitulated almost entirely," says Russinovich in his blog.
But even though Sony admitted they were in the wrong, one underlying issue has not been solved: To what distance should a record label go—legally or otherwise—to protect its content? Do the bands themselves have any say?
Sony BMG chose an invasive approach. Other corporations, such as EMI Music, the largest independently owned music label, have so far not used any copy protection methods. Some independent labels, such as Barsuk Records based in Seattle, Wash., even view DRM as counter-productive and actually encourage file-sharing.
"I think it's going to be impossible to regulate the copying and trading of music," says John Roderick from the band The Long Winters, which is represented by Barsuk Records.
Typically, artists get the last say. One reason: Higher profile bands often refuse to comment on the issue, thinking any opinion on the matter will upset fans or the record label.
A representative of the band My Morning Jacket said the band "doesn't discuss the business of music in the press or anywhere else."
Several other bands, including the Dave Mathews Band and the Foo Fighters, both of which have CDs protected by DRM, refused to comment.
When bands do comment, it can cause tension between the band and its label.
"We were horrified when we first heard about the new copy-protection policy," wrote Switchfoot guitarist Tim Foreman on a Sony BMG message forum. "It is heartbreaking to see our blood, sweat and tears over the past two years blurred by the confusion and frustration surrounding new technology."
Click here to read more about Sony's DRM controversy.
Switchfoot is represented by Sony. The message was promptly removed. Switchfoot management refused to comment on the copy-protection issue for this article.
Often, the independent labels and commercially autonomous bands are the most outspoken DRM critics. For them, the regulations are nothing more than a bureaucratic annoyance. The vast majority of bands—the ones who are not Metallica—make most of their income from touring and selling merchandise, not from CD sales. It's possible that, over time, music listeners could adjust to DRM, but so far most copy protection measures end in frustration and even lawsuits.
The record industry has been "engaged in the business of exploiting musicians, robbing them of their copyrights, shortchanging their royalty payments, and nickel-and-diming them with line-item expenses out of almost all their money anyway," said Roderick, of The Long Winters. "Now the record industry wants musicians to be offended that people are stealing their music? It's laughable."
But there are some artists who favor tightly instituted digital rights management.
"Music piracy has changed the industry," says Lu Rubino, lead singer for rock group Story Side:B, which is represented by Off the Ground Entertainment. "The labels are just not signing as many bands. A big band like Metallica gets worked up about the debate, but it's the smaller bands that are not getting paid for what they are doing, and it makes for a rough start."
Overall, music DRM still presents a technical challenge. The Sony debacle has some labels looking for alternative DRM methods that protect music from thieves but are non-obtrusive and completely transparent to music fans.
According to Todd Chanko, a DRM expert at Jupiter Research, EMI has tested a copy protection scheme that can be seamlessly integrated into the music listening experience.
"EMI copy protection will limit the number of burns you can do and also launches a Web application that provides music videos, opportunities to buy ring tones, t-shirts, and interviews," he said. "DRM can still be elegant."
Ultimately, it's not the industry or the analysts who decide whether DRM succeeds. Music fans must decide how much they are willing to bear to support the intellectual property rights of artists. So far, it's not much.
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