Panelists at the Streaming Media East show acknowledge public resistance but say publishers should learn to walk the line between pleasing the audience and protecting content owners.While digital rights management technologies are still developing, industry analysts and vendors at Tuesday's Streaming Media East panel "Content Protection Strategies" discussed the need for corporate and entertainment content developers to balance their own needs with those of their audience.
"Content protection is a negotiated entity," said Antonette Goroch, a senior analyst for Digital Tech Consulting Inc., in San Francisco. "We will have it, but it must be acceptable to the consumer and provider."
Christopher Levy, the panel moderator and CEO of BuyDRM in Austin, Texas, said that "DRM is in its early stages of growth," noting numerous and varied Microsoft Corp. and RealNetworks Inc. partners offering DRM solutions for Windows Media Player and RealPlayer, as well as a host of solutions arising to meet the standards of the Open Mobile Alliance.
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Nevertheless, in this market free-for-all panelists described several types of protection strategies of varying degrees that companies should consider.
Simple e-mail or sign-up authentication adds a minor barrier to protect content and enables companies to track downloads and demographics. Many companies also employ URL hashing and switching, described as a cost-effective method that changes the server location of content to minimize duplication and misuse. DRM, while much more expensive, encrypts content to lock down high-value assets.
Panelists agreed that despite consumer backlash to previous CD and DVD content protection strategies, and to lawsuits by the recording industry, digital and streaming content can be both protected and accepted.
"If it's reasonably priced, you make it easy to pay for, and guarantee good content and performance, people are more than willing to deal with the protection," said Jeff Cohn, vice president of technical operations for Playboy in Chicago. He said that Playboy.com's various "cyber-clubs" offer enough differentiation, features and simple payment options that its audience isn't turned off by DRM.
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"If it's implemented properly, content protection is acceptable, and it's useful for your business," said BuyDRM's Levy.
But most corporations don't have the straightforward content or rabid fan base of the Playboys of the world, and can't easily decide how to implement DRM.
For instance, panelist Enzo Villani, managing director of NASDAQ, said that his company is in the business of producing and distributing content for thousands of NASDAQ-listed enterprises. With increasingly tight securities laws, those companies must now make their content available to all, without even the modest password protection in place. But Villani said that opens content up to misuse, which can negatively affect a stock price.
"You have to get it out there, but at the same time protect it," he said. "It's a challenge for us."
Add to the mix mobile devices, which are increasingly able to stream video and audio, and panelists said a whole new raft of difficulties arises.
"Content producers will have to consider these new, multiple locations," said Digital Tech's Goroch. "There won't be successful content, or a successful business, without accounting for this."
At the same time, she said mobile entities might ultimately be the ones to drive DRM standardization and bring some order to the industry, with groups like OMA beginning to create a consensus for content protection.
Streaming Media East is being held May 17 and 18 at the New York Hilton Hotel. Panel, and keynote sessions are broadcast live and archived by TV Worldwide, an Internet streaming company based in Chantilly, Va., and a sponsor of the show.
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