Dropping DRM: Spotify’s Needs Change
As one of the first companies in the music industry to operate an audio streaming service with unlimited access, Spotify, is still working in the Dark Ages. The use of digital rights management (DRM) tools are an ineffective and cumbersome method of copyright protection, that needs to be left behind.
Spotify uses DRM tools to restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. These tools implement software that will not allow digital manipulation of content and will block certain systems within a device to enforce policies of anti-theft.
DRM is a tool used to protect digital content and property. In the same way locking your safe protects the valuables inside of it. Using DRM software is meant to protect digital content from being stolen or downloaded illegally.
Proponents of these tools cite that strict policies protect digital content from theft. This ensures that content is accessed through the correct way, so artists are compensated fairly based on the number of streams their content receives.
The issue is that no hard evidence has been presented that these tools stop copyright infringement. The issue with stealing content from a digital world is that it incredibly hard to find someone with that content. Therefore, no statistics can verify whether these tools actually stop illegal downloading and piracy of content.
Furthermore, there are examples of DRM tools blocking legitimate customers from accessing their own content or exercising their legal rights to backup, access, lend or use copyrighted materials that fall under the Fair Use Doctrine. In these instances, DRM tools only manage to hinder legal customers rather than provide protection/security.
Similar streaming services such as iTunes and Amazon Music have already dropped the use of DRM tools. These competing companies offer unprotected downloads to their customers. This allows customers to transfer purchased content from one device to another without issues.
Spotify is one of the biggest, if not the biggest businesses in the music industry. The Swedish music streaming and media company lead the charge in reshaping the music industry as we knew it from selling individual records, albums, or later individual songs to offering unlimited access for a monthly subscription. The use of DRM tools has not proven any legitimate effect on content theft/privacy, blocks legal customers from accessing their own content, and has been dropped by other competing companies. Spotify needs to get with the times and drop DRM tools.
