Quote:
Originally Posted by stonetools
Look you said that the success of Itunes proves that offering non DRM content doesn't depress digital sales. I said that the revenue of the recording industry halved during that period, proving that offering Non DRM content didn't really do anything for the financial health of industry. You said that was irrelevant. I guess the treatment is successful, even if the patient dies. What more is there to say?
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The problem is that you didn't prove the connection between offering DRM-free content and the drop in revenue for the recording industry.
What the iTunes numbers show is that while revenue for the industry as a whole fell, revenue from digital purchases rose when DRM was removed from iTunes.
This indicates that the drop in revenue was primarily due to a decrease in sales of physical media, rather than digital downloads - and does not prove any connection between the total industry revenue shortfall and the removal of DRM.
This does not address the following:
1) Digital media made it possible for people to return to buying music by the song, rather than by the album - which would naturally lead to a drop in overall revenue.
2) People have largely stopped re-buying music they already own. The industry has benefited significantly over the last few decades from people replacing records and cassettes with CDs - but now that people can rip CDs they already own, there's less impetus to buy the same album for the third or fourth time.
If you want to argue that the shift to digital had a negative impact on the recording industry's bottom line, I'll be happy to agree with you. What I don't see is the connection between removing DRM on music and the drop in sales.