DRM, Digital Content, and the Consumer Experience: Lessons Learned from the Music Industry

As the market for e-books and mobile content grows, publishers are faced with the all important question of how to protect their content in the digital marketplace. Many publishers are turning to DRM as the solution without fully contemplating or realizing the impact these DRM decisions have on their customers.

Over the past decade, the music industry has relied almost exclusively on DRM technologies to protect digital content. Not only has DRM failed to protect content and prevent piracy, it has had the undesirable effect of alienating consumers.

This session will examine the mistakes made by the music industry and lessons that publishers can learn from those mistakes.

Topics will include:

• The reality of DRM as a deterrent to piracy.
• The effect withholding digital content has on preventing and encouraging piracy.
• Consumer pricing expectations for digital content, including the fact that consumers consider DRM-protected content to be less valuable than unrestricted content.
• Consumer frustration with incompatible devices, file formats, and DRM schemes.
• The emergence of de-facto DRM standards (Apple’s FairPlay) and the impact that proprietary vendor standards can have on the marketplace.
• The true cost of implementing DRM.
• Piracy as an indicator of market demand.
• Alternatives to traditional DRM.