Closing the Sale - Part 2

The problem with all these schemes is that they attempt to impose one particular file format or another, none of which are flexible or powerful enough. Consumers in the 00s are not willing to limit themselves to one audio format - or even to audio. We need to be able to deal with video, and even complete multimedia works made up of material in many different formats (see Web Audio 2000). We also need to be able to offer different quality levels and different arrangements of channels. The current standard for top-quality sound is 24-bit, 96 kHz with 7-channel surround sound. That's what I'll take, thank you. But my neighbor, who listens to music on a portable Rio player, may prefer 2-channel (stereo) MP3s.

And what about multi-section musical works? True, "albums" evolved to fit the technical possibilities of the so-called "Long-Playing" record - before that, people thought of music in terms of "sides", which meant the seven minutes or so that could fit on one side of a 78 RPM record. But it's only natural to group musical selections into larger works, whether it's a symphony, an opera or a "concept album". None of the existing musical formats makes any provision for this, mush less for the pictures, text and/or video that may be an important part of such extended works.

What is needed is a standard, but truly flexible system that allows for the sale of multimedia (not just music) by download. It needs to be able to accommodate any file format, and to offer a flexible copy-protection scheme. The purveyor of the product should be able to set the level of copy protection: play once free, then pay to unlock; play as often as you like, but can't copy; or play and copy freely, etc. It should also incorporate a system for tracking performance rights licensing. Only once such a system exists will digital music distribution truly come into its own. And when it does, watch out!

Personally, I suspect that copy protection is a blind alley. Whatever the mind of man can devise, the mind of hacker can get around sooner or later. We live in an age in which it's easy to copy any kind of intellectual property, for fair reasons or foul. No number of lawsuits or attempts to ban this or that technology will change that fact. Someday even physical objects may be easily copied with some sort of cheap home replicator! As I observed above, there's lots of intellectual property that can easily be copied, and the world hasn't gone to Hell in a handbasket (yet). The market will find a way to protect the rights of copyright owners without kludgy technical fixes or heavy-handed regulation. Mine is a minority view, however, and it seems likely that until some standard form of copy protection is available, digital distribution won't receive the stamp of approval of many of the big players.

The Secure Digital Music Initiative is an industry forum that includes many of the major record companies, as well as hardware and software makers. They're trying to hammer out a standard for copy protection that will address all the concerns I listed above. It certainly looks as if they're on the right track. They say that SDMI is "an architectural framework, and is not intended to specify particular technological choices (such as compression or encryption technologies)." Their first specification, which addressed only portable devices, was published in July, 1999. The long-term specification is "targeted for initial public review in the second quarter of 2000." For more info about SDMI, see http://www.riaa.com/tech/tech_pr.htm.

It's an exciting time to be in the music business. Whatever happens, the boring old distribution system we've known is gone forever. Fortunes will be made and lost in the years ahead, and those who would rather make than lose will (perhaps unfortunately) have to stay on top of the technological end of things.

Closing the Sale
Digital Distribution of Music
Online Distribution Today