Throughout most of history, the piracy of music was never really an issue, however, not that we have entered the digital age, consumers are able to copy and share music with friends very easily. People were then able to burn CDs and duplicate them as they pleased. With the illegal downloading of music being so easy and accessible these days, Digital Rights Management (DRM) aims to control the piracy of music. Copyright holders aim to control the distribution of this music so that it cannot be easily digitized and passed around without charge. DRM refers to the ways that companies plan to control this distribution using technology.
How does DRM work to stop the piracy of music?
DRM works to stop the passing around of free music by using technological means such as movie studios that include a software on their DVDs that limits the number of copies that could be make of that disc. CD companies have a similar tactic in which they include software that confuses piracy software in order to protect the music from being duplicated and shared multiple times. Websites such as bearshare.com avoids these copyright issues by using a peer to peer method which allows users to share a song with one person. This is completely legal and does not violate any copyright laws. However, many people use illegal websites instead of these peer to peer ones because they might find it to be simpler to use. Therefore, every time someone illegally downloads music, that record label and artist loses money.
How DRM effects my daily life
Digital Rights Movement does not particularly effect my life, however, it does effect the lives of people who rely on illegally downloading music in order to have their songs on an iPod or mp3 player. These consumers would think that the DRM should not be able to have total control over music download. I personally do not use illegal websites in order to download my music because I know people who have been caught doing this and have been fined a lot of money. Therefore, I stick to buying my music off iTunes, legally, to avoid getting involved with sites that might get me into a lot of trouble with record labels or production companies.
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