Record labels didn’t kill the iPhone’s headphone jack.
Tomorrow, Tim Cook will stand up on stage and, if rumors are to be believed, announce the iPhone 7, which may not have a 3.5 mm analog headphone jack. Multiple tech pundits have claimed this has something to do with major record labels wanting to eliminate the jack. Oddly, they apparently didn’t think to ask any record labels whether this was true.
Turns out, it’s not! Our summer policy fellow Harrison Speck has the full rundown.
It’s no secret that DRM can be really annoying. In a 2015 article for MIT Technology Review, musician Ted Leo recalled common frustrations: “I remember trying to DJ my sister’s wedding and wanting to play a few things from my library off someone else’s iTunes, having to deauthorize and reauthorize computers, and manage iPods and hard drives, etc. — First World problems, maybe, but frustrating impediments to just enjoying music, nonetheless.”
And it’s true that certain implementations of DRM went beyond annoying to downright destructive, as with Sony/ BMG’s rootkit from 2005, which prevented ripping of CDs while potentially damaging users’ computers.
But it’s also no secret that the music industries’ models have changed drastically since 2007, when Apple famously removed DRM from iTunes music files. Has DRM been eliminated? Not even close — DRM is still ubiquitous in the modern music landscape. However, there are many technologies that fall under the broad “digital rights managment” blanket, and the more intrusive implementations have been largely abandoned in favor of technologies that don’t frustrate the user; password protected accounts, watermarked streams, and the like. Today, nearly every streaming service has some form of DRM, including Apple Music. (In fact, without DRM, it’s unlikely such services could exist!)
And the music industry’s tactics in dealing with copyright infringement have changed as well. Remember that the RIAA quit filing lawsuits against individual file-sharers back in 2008, and has largely shifted its focus to battling large-scale commercial infringement. (To the extent that individual end users get targeted for infringement suits, data indicates these suits mostly come from adult film studios.)
Yes, the music industry and tech companies have both implemented nefarious DRM regimes in the past. Yes, there may even be current concerns about certain implementations of DRM on streaming services, but the headphone jack, of all things, is not the last vestige of hope for a DRM-free world and it is somewhat ridiculous to think that the music business would really consider the “analog loophole” on personal listening devices as a high-priority for copyright infringement. There’s simply no evidence that record labels have asked for the jack to be removed, and no clear benefit to them for doing so. (Read the whole thing)
One addendum. In certain corners of the tech blogosphere, there’s a rush to vilify and point fingers at record labels that becomes so ingrained and automatic that it occupies the discursive space that ought to be reserved for actual reporting or critical thinking and curiosity. It gets to the point where you think these people would blame the RIAA for literally anything. Flat tire on the way to the gig? Must be the labels’ fault. Guitar won’t stay in tune? “Curse you, RIAA!”
This impulse would just be funny/sad/annoying, except that it has broad impacts for policy and business discussions. All too often, reflexive label-bashing or RIAA-bashing is used as a derailing tactic, a means of silencing artists, of avoiding real engagement with the thorny and complicated questions of who actually holds power and leverage in the music marketplace. If artists have any complaints about their streaming revenues, we’re told it must be the labels’ fault (ignoring that some of the strongest critics of on-demand streaming payout models are folks who own their own masters for at least part of their catalog and don’t even work with a label.)
Look, we’re an artist advocacy group, and we’re certainly well aware that there are a number of issues where artists’ and labels’ interests don’t necessarily align (and plenty where they do). We’re not afraid to criticize labels for bad decisions, policies, or practices where they’re genuinely culpable.
But simply blaming labels for everything you don’t like is a quick & easy way to miss the real story.
