75% of customer problems caused by DRM

Found on Ars Technica on Sunday, 18 March 2007
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Musicload said in a letter distributed last week that customers are having consistent problems with DRM, so much so that 3 out of 4 customer service calls are ultimately the result of the frustrations that come with DRM. In a business where the major music labels expect to be paid well for their source material, the costs of supporting DRM are borne entirely by the music retailers. If the labels' love affair with DRM is hurting the companies trying to make a go at selling music online, something is horribly wrong.

According to Musicload, DRM "makes the use of music quite difficult and hinders the development of a mass-market for legal downloads." The lack of interoperability is unfair to customers and prevents true competition between music services, in other words.

Championing the "Comeback of MP3," Musicload said that artists choosing to drop DRM saw a 40 percent increase in sales since December, and that more artists and labels are showing interest. The company hopes that DRM-free MP3s make a comeback, though there have been few signs that the major labels are interested.

Just wait. More customers will move to the free mp3, and those artists sticking to DRM will see more losses. Of course the industry will blame filesharing, but in the end, it cannot win.