Digital Music and the Blame Game

http://blogs.pcworld.com/digitalworld/archives/2007/03/digital_music_a.html

If you thought the skirmishes over DRM and Apple's iTunes had waned, think again. The European Union's consumer protection commissioner Meglena Kuneva recently directed some barbed words toward Apple, criticizing its use of Fairplay DRM and the closed iTunes/iPod system. This is nothing new, but it does make for an interesting companion to another report that the major music labels still don't seem to have a viable digital music strategy other than putting their music on iTunes, then complaining about it.
Like the captain said, what we have here is a failure to communicate. For those who haven't been keeping score: Kuneva (who, a spokeswoman stressed, was airing her own views) and several European countries have been speaking out against DRM in general, and iTunes in particular. Apple's Steve Jobs has pointed the finger at the music industry for requiring DRM. The music industry blames Apple for having a closed system and for locking prices.
What no one has proposed -- at least, not seriously -- is dialogue. The major music labels currently pick and choose where their tracks will go, generally releasing them on iTunes. This cuts out a quarter of the MP3-player-owning market; can you think of any other industry that deliberately ignores such a high number of potential customers?
Apple, meanwhile, quite rightly does not want to be the only one to give up its DRM scheme. All other things being equal, it would put a major dent in iPod sales.
Things would go a lot smoother if the music industry made its content available across all media, like it used to do in the analog world. Or, if Apple found some way to open up iTunes in such a way that would minimize its risk. Neither entity will do these things on their own, so they have to find a third way: sit down, bring Microsoft and the rest of the PlaysForSure community to the table, and work something out. (Apple should initiate this, as right now they're the ones with the upper hand.) Endless finger-pointing isn't doing anyone any good.