Apple und die Osterüberraschung

Während die EU-Kommission nun festgestellt hat, dass Apple nicht allein für die Ländersegmentierung im europäischen iTUnes Music Store verantwortlich ist, freuen sich auch die bekannteren Blogger und Dienste der Szene über die Revolution im digitalen Musikgeschäft: Der Fall von DRM begonnen durch EMI.

David Pogue ist begeistert:

But this is an absolutely huge, industry-shaking development that Ⅰ never in a million years would have imagined. Whatever happened to the head-in-the-sand recording executives who are terrified of the Internet and at war with their own customers?

Somebody over at EMI, no doubt helped along with some persuasive mojo from Steve Jobs, recognized that copy-protecting your legitimately sold songs doesn–t inconvenience the music pirates in the least. The only people it bothers are the law-abiding customers who pay for their music.

Congratulations all around on this triumph of common sense.

Apple Matters freut sich für die Endverbraucher, zeigt aber auch Gefahren der zukünftigen (Preis‑)Entwicklung des neuen Konzeptes auf:

Freedom–How this is a boon for users

Looking at this from the consumer standpoint, this is almost a deal with no downsides (notice Ⅰ said almost, but I–ll get to that in a sec). The biggest draw, of course, is the lack of DRM. Now you can play your music on any device and share it with anyone you want. And, if that wasn–t enough, this deal is retroactive, meaning you can upgrade all of your old songs if you just pay the difference in price. How sweet is that? Now, the second most important thing in this announcement is the higher quality of these DRM free songs. Now, personally Ⅰ felt that the current quality was just fine (but I–m no audiophile); however, Ⅰ am thrilled that we now have this higher standard. And the third most important aspect of this deal is that it puts pressure on rival studios to release their own DRM free music, which of course will be another win for consumers.

The only downside to this little freedom-fest is that these new songs cost more. Not substantially more (it–s only a 30 % increase in price) but enough for you to notice the difference. Here is a fact for you: the only reason that these songs come with a higher bit-rate was so that Apple could justify the price increase. Because this deal would have been a lot harder to swallow if people were asked to pay 30 cents more just for the privilege of accessing their own music. But add in the higher quality and suddenly it feels like much more of a deal. Personally, Ⅰ would be happy with keeping the price and the quality the same, but that–s me. Ⅰ realize Apple can–t give consumers a choice in the matter because that would make using iTunes harder and not easier. In fact, the moment the last studio signs up, Apple will kill its DRM songs, returning once again to a single price point.

Jeremiah Foster kritisiert die länderspezifische Verkaufstrategie des iTMS, die auch die EU-Kommission schon angemahnt hat:

His Steveness spun his usual magic yesterday supplying substance where there only was talk. Along with EMI, as everyone by now knows, Apple will be selling DRM-free music. Yay! Well done Apple. But we still have some problems, namely that ridiculous artificial anachronism known as a –country– or in modern wonk speak –alleged territorial restrictions.–

This is a particular bone of contention amongst those of us who live in the tiny principality of Sweden in –old Europe.– It works like this;

1. Buy music from iTunes

2. Move away from home and lose your music

This is because Apple somehow just lay down and played dead when the record companies forced them to create artificial territories for payment and copyright. The record companies said you have to sell only Spanish music to Spaniards, Greek music to Greeks, etc. So when Ⅰ bought some of the finest American music around and then moved to Sweden, my music was no longer authorized and cannot be played. That–s right, they took my music back after Ⅰ paid for it.

[…]

What a bizarre Kafkaesque layer of needless bureaucracy! Why are they hobbling sales of their own product? Do they think that Europeans won–t like American music? Have they heard of this thing called the Internet? It allows you to sell anything to anyone (see eBay). Is it any wonder that the EU commission is sending a letter of objection on behalf of its citizens saying that Apple and the record companies currently –violate the EC Treaty–s rules prohibiting restrictive business practices.–

Giles Turnbull sieht durch EMI den Anfang des Endes des DRM-Regimes gemacht:

It–s the beginning of the end of DRM. Apple will soon start selling DRM-free music from the EMI back catalogue – but you–ll have to pay a little more for it.

According to the BBC:

The higher price will apply only to single tracks that customers download. On iTunes EMI tracks free of digital rights management (DRM) software will cost $1.29 (99p). Itunes users will be able to upgrade previously purchased EMI songs and albums for 30 cents (15p) a track. Fans will be able to buy –premium– tracks in a variety of bit rates will be of better quality than existing downloads varying qualities up to CD-twice the sound quality of currently available EMI tracks.

Quick prediction: the rest of the music industry will be falling into line faster than you can say –Abbey Road was better than Let It Be.–

More comment and analysis on this coming later–

In der deutschen Blogosphäre freut sich nun auch der Schockwellenreiter und das 37sechs-Blog ist „besorgt“ um die eigene Zunft, anlässlich des schon erwähnten law blog-Beitrages.

futureZone​.at spricht gar von „Schockwellen in der Musikindustrie“:

Warten auf Universal & Co.

Mulligan rechnet damit, dass auch die EMI-Konkurrenten Universal, Warner Music und Sony BMG schon bald Musik ohne Kopierschutz im Online-Musikhandel anbieten werden.

Auch für andere Branchenbeobachter ist es nur eine Frage der Zeit, bis auch Universal & Co. auf den DRM-frei-Zug aufpsringen werden.

James McQuivey vom Marktforschungsinstitut Forrester Research rechnet eher mit einem zögerlichen Vorgehen der Majors. Diese werden erst einmal abwarten, ob die Nachfrage tatsächlich steigt, sagt er gegenüber dem Technologieportal CNet.

May the Force of Music be with us!

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