Music bosses agree DRM should go

The majority of music executives working in the European music industry believe getting rid of digital rights management (DRM) would boost online music sales.

A survey from Jupiter Research into attitudes towards DRM found almost two-thirds of those surveyed said current DRM systems were not fit for their purpose, hindering what consumers want to do with their music.

Interestingly, the survey was carried out before Apple CEO Steve Jobs wrote his anti-DRM essay a few weeks ago. More recently, Warner’s CEO has hit back against Jobs’ call to ditch DRM, saying Warner has no plans to get rid of copyright protection.

The European Music Executive Survey 2007 found that 62 per cent thought dropping DRM would drive online music sales while 54 per cent claimed that DRM was too restrictive. Only 11 per cent felt DRM-free music would hurt revenues.

Among all respondents, 70 per cent felt that making tracks play on as many different players as possible will be key to the success of downloadable music in the future.

The survey questioned people in large and small record labels, digital music stores, industry and rights groups and services and technology providers.