MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Profit or Prevention: Which is more important?

Lemurion · 10-19-2008, 11:18 AM

In a previous thread I mentioned that the most important question (from a business standpoint) regarding whether it was a good idea to remove DRM from products was does removing DRM improve the bottom line? HarryT replied by asking if it would reduce piracy.

The truth is I didn't know then and don't know now if large-scale DRM removal would reduce piracy. However this does bring up a new question:

As a MobileRead member, which do you think is better for the industry? Is it more important to reduce piracy or increase sales.

In a physical environment, where there's a fixed cost associated with every copy each loss costs more than the profit from a single sale; but in a digital environment the loss per copy is lower because you don't have the same cost of goods to worry about.

I think that for digital downloads it's more important to tailor your DRM scheme (or lack thereof) toward building sales than preventing piracy. What do you think?

10-19-2008, 11:18 AM	#1
Lemurion eReader Posts: 2,750 Karma: 4968470 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Note 5; PW3; Nook HD+; ChuWi Hi12; iPad	Profit or Prevention: Which is more important? In a previous thread I mentioned that the most important question (from a business standpoint) regarding whether it was a good idea to remove DRM from products was does removing DRM improve the bottom line? HarryT replied by asking if it would reduce piracy. The truth is I didn't know then and don't know now if large-scale DRM removal would reduce piracy. However this does bring up a new question: As a MobileRead member, which do you think is better for the industry? Is it more important to reduce piracy or increase sales. In a physical environment, where there's a fixed cost associated with every copy each loss costs more than the profit from a single sale; but in a digital environment the loss per copy is lower because you don't have the same cost of goods to worry about. I think that for digital downloads it's more important to tailor your DRM scheme (or lack thereof) toward building sales than preventing piracy. What do you think?