The results are in. The Guardian last week wrote a comprehensive article on the state of DRM, including statistics detailing the affect that removing DRM from music tracks has had on piracy levels. Quoting from the article: “The industry has finally been able to get some hard data about how removing DRM restrictions from legitimately purchased tracks affects piracy,” says Bill Rosenplatt, DRM specialist and president of GiantSteps Media Technology Strategies. “The statistics show that there’s no effect on piracy.”
These statistics prove our assertion (along with many, many others) that DRM does nothing to prevent piracy, serving only to annoy and alienate legitimate consumers. This is an amazing finding, and one that will hopefully inform the record industry and digital music distribution services that while curbing piracy is a noble effort, DRM does not help achieve that goal and could in fact detract from it.
