If it were up to the music industry we would be paying to whistle while we work! Copyrighted works are truly precious and the product of creativity, hard work and sacrifice, so it is easy to understand why artistes suffer when their works are blatantly copied and reproduced in flagrant breach of copyright rules. However, we are now living in a reality where a handful of influential copyright owners are stretching protection to the limits of reason.
And since copyists are still producing bootleg versions and pirates are illegally making copyrighted material available for download, they have been looking for newer, fancier ways to keep up profit margins.
Where they are unhappy with the law, they introduced technology that stops you from doing certain things with what you have legitimately bought. So if I buy a new CD, I can only listen to it, thanks to Digital Rights Management (DRM) and technological protection mechanisms (TPMs). These are means of copy protection loaded onto CDs and DVDs. DRMs are also applied to software and any other digital files, restricting access to them.
The DRM may control the number of times you are allowed to view the file, or it could be a ban on printing, or it could mean that the file can only be used on a specific machine. For example, when iTunes was first launched, songs downloaded from the site could only be played on iPods. So I cannot make a copy of the CD I legitimately bought to leave in my car. To quote Keith Anthony from the local band, Chasing Pandora, "For the average listener, it means you have to drag your home computer with you to your Sunday picnic".
The TPM is like a watchdog keeping me from breaking the law. But the reality is that in this case, the TPM is actually working against the law. I can legally make a copy of that CD because it is for my own personal use. The artistes and producers are all getting their share of the royalty on the CD I bought because I did buy it - and did so legitimately. And since I own the CD, I am allowed by copyright law to make a copy of it for my own personal use. But the TPM programmed onto the CD does not allow it.
This goes against the exemptions and limitations worked into our copyright law, highlighting the ridiculousness of TPMs.
We therefore are moving from a copy-right to a use-right. I pay in order to use that CD. But I cannot do anything else with it. The access and use are based on technology.
The problem is what to do about it. You can argue your case when it's the law but you cannot argue with a piece of technology-encrypted hardware and its world of yes and no and ones and zeros.
A TPM, being software and code, can be overcome by hackers. However, this is illegal since the same lobbyists who introduced DRM made sure that any action circumventing DRMs is illegal.
The lobbyists are the big players in the music industry. Smaller and independent labels, as well as local artistes, are happy getting their music out there and hopefully reaching the masses. It's the big fish who have the money to spend in developing TPMs.
From the consumer's perspective, the producer is the only one calling the shots, placing the consumer in the worst and most disadvantaged position, with conditions that have been expressly stipulated by the rights' holder.
There is generally a repugnance towards DRMs and TPMs, viewing them as the industry's dirty attempt to make up for losses from illegal downloads and pirating. The move against the imposition of TPMs has prompted many to lobby for alternative solutions. Making legal downloading possible and preferable is at the forefront. For example, consumers now can legally download DRM-free music tracks from internet sites like Play.com and Amazon. Other artistes simply release their albums straight to the internet, asking people who legally download the music to pay or donate only as much as they want to.
This last option is what the band Radiohead went for when it released its new album last October, with consumers paying €6 on average. Of course, the ones who truly suffer in such scenarios are the record labels.
This does not mean that the age of copyright is dead but that copyright must keep up with the changing world, along with an acceptance and realisation that sales are no longer happening over the counter.
• Dr Rizzo is an associate at Fenech & Fenech Advocates.
And since copyists are still producing bootleg versions and pirates are illegally making copyrighted material available for download, they have been looking for newer, fancier ways to keep up profit margins.
Where they are unhappy with the law, they introduced technology that stops you from doing certain things with what you have legitimately bought. So if I buy a new CD, I can only listen to it, thanks to Digital Rights Management (DRM) and technological protection mechanisms (TPMs). These are means of copy protection loaded onto CDs and DVDs. DRMs are also applied to software and any other digital files, restricting access to them.
The DRM may control the number of times you are allowed to view the file, or it could be a ban on printing, or it could mean that the file can only be used on a specific machine. For example, when iTunes was first launched, songs downloaded from the site could only be played on iPods. So I cannot make a copy of the CD I legitimately bought to leave in my car. To quote Keith Anthony from the local band, Chasing Pandora, "For the average listener, it means you have to drag your home computer with you to your Sunday picnic".
The TPM is like a watchdog keeping me from breaking the law. But the reality is that in this case, the TPM is actually working against the law. I can legally make a copy of that CD because it is for my own personal use. The artistes and producers are all getting their share of the royalty on the CD I bought because I did buy it - and did so legitimately. And since I own the CD, I am allowed by copyright law to make a copy of it for my own personal use. But the TPM programmed onto the CD does not allow it.
This goes against the exemptions and limitations worked into our copyright law, highlighting the ridiculousness of TPMs.
We therefore are moving from a copy-right to a use-right. I pay in order to use that CD. But I cannot do anything else with it. The access and use are based on technology.
The problem is what to do about it. You can argue your case when it's the law but you cannot argue with a piece of technology-encrypted hardware and its world of yes and no and ones and zeros.
A TPM, being software and code, can be overcome by hackers. However, this is illegal since the same lobbyists who introduced DRM made sure that any action circumventing DRMs is illegal.
The lobbyists are the big players in the music industry. Smaller and independent labels, as well as local artistes, are happy getting their music out there and hopefully reaching the masses. It's the big fish who have the money to spend in developing TPMs.
From the consumer's perspective, the producer is the only one calling the shots, placing the consumer in the worst and most disadvantaged position, with conditions that have been expressly stipulated by the rights' holder.
There is generally a repugnance towards DRMs and TPMs, viewing them as the industry's dirty attempt to make up for losses from illegal downloads and pirating. The move against the imposition of TPMs has prompted many to lobby for alternative solutions. Making legal downloading possible and preferable is at the forefront. For example, consumers now can legally download DRM-free music tracks from internet sites like Play.com and Amazon. Other artistes simply release their albums straight to the internet, asking people who legally download the music to pay or donate only as much as they want to.
This last option is what the band Radiohead went for when it released its new album last October, with consumers paying €6 on average. Of course, the ones who truly suffer in such scenarios are the record labels.
This does not mean that the age of copyright is dead but that copyright must keep up with the changing world, along with an acceptance and realisation that sales are no longer happening over the counter.
• Dr Rizzo is an associate at Fenech & Fenech Advocates.