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davidjennings's Archive on May 16, 2008
Description
Quite an interesting overview and perspective on who DRM has actually benefited (Apple), and how its removal has been a tactic to chip away the position that developed. Ends with some speculation from Mark Mulligan on how the market may develop from here.
Clipping
Mark Mulligan, digital music analyst at Jupiter Research, also expects Apple to change its approach. "It's highly likely Apple will get into the next-generation service game. That could be Apple selling iPods preinstalled with unlimited access to music, or with a bundle to a subscription offering," he says. Mulligan sees the market evolving into multiple tiers. At the top end, a minority will be willing to pay a premium for the best quality, DRM-free downloads. The middle tier will be "subsidised offerings like Nokia's Comes With Music, where you buy a device and the cost of the music is included subsidised"; while at the bottom will be advertising-supported services such as Qtrax, SpiralFrog and We7, where free music is paid for by embedded advertising.