Kim Bayley, director-general of the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), is warning that DRM is “stifling growth and working against the consumer interest.” Wait a sec, Kim. Say that again. “DRM is stifling growth and working against the consumer interest.” Come on over here. Give us a little kiss.
Amen, sister. Basically she’s saying what we’re all saying: crap like AACS, Blu-Ray/HD-DVD wars, and locked down hardware are keeping us all from investing in any one format and, for the most part, ignoring them all.
We harp on this all the time — hardware is not the answer. On the aggregate, the software industry still exists despite rampant piracy and open source. On the aggregate, music will still exist if Time Warner or Sony or Universal all go belly up today. Small producers will flock to some sort of distribution point, good producers will go back to producing small, good bands who will then turn into super bands provided they are good and popular enough and the movie industry will never disappear. Straight up. All this fuss about the RIAA and the MPAA etc. is a failure to understand technology and a reactive attempt to step the most obvious and camera friendly culprits — pirates.
So there you have it. UK retailers complaining about DRM, media companies doing nothing about it, and God looking over creation in His benevolence, wondering where He can get a torrent of No Country for Old Men that isn’t fake or a shitty cam.