Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
The debate as to whether DRM helps or hinders, in general, cannot really be well answered by an individual experience on one side or the other, especially not on a forum such as this one (and those participating in these debates) where there is a skew to those more aware of the technology than is more generally the case. If you want an answer to such questions ... follow the money.
|
I agree. My question to frahse was rhetorical, towards illustrating that.
What is the evidence that the lost sales prevented by thwarting some portion of casual sharing is greater than the sales lost by not serving the anti-DRM crowd, plus sales gained by goodwill of both noth hampering space and format shifing, and possibly even that word of mouth, tacit approval of casual sharing that some folks find important?
(For the record, while I think it's wrong of readers to assume they are doing authors a favor by sharing without permission, I also think authors would indeed be doing themselves a favor to GIVE that permission.)
Unless you can publish pairs similar and popular books, with similar marketing strategies and audiences, at the same time, one with DRM and one without, I don't know a sure way to prove this. I question studies that depend on asking people to volunteer to admit that they break copyright law.
Quote:
|
If you want an answer to such questions ... follow the money. As I noted in a previous post, the fact that the big publishers are still using DRM seems reasonable evidence that DRM does help revenue in the general case.
|
If the publishers decide tomorrow to stop using DRM (like the music biz did) does that mean they have been right to use DRM all this time, and they astutely and swiftly decided that now was the exact best time to change to maximize profit? Or were they wrong for a long while, and they were too stodgy and stubborn to see it until it got so bad and obvious they finally had to do something?
I'll tell that joke after all, with no offense meant:
How are publishers like Mother Teresa?
For years, they have been decaying in an old habit.
ApK