Comparing the usage of digital rights management systems in the music, film, and print industry

ABSTRACT

The business of content providers is being threatened by technology advances in hardware, software and IP-networks such as the Internet or peer-to-peer file sharing systems. The result is an increasing amount of illegal copies available on-line as well as off-line.With the emergence of Digital Rights Management Systems (DRMS), the media and entertainment industry seems to have found the appropriate tool to simultaneously fight piracy and to monetize their assets. Although these systems are very powerful and include multiple protection technologies, it is currently unknown to what extent such systems are used by content providers.This paper provides empirical results, analyses and conclusions related to Digital Rights Management Systems and the protection of digital content in the music, film, and print industries. It outlines the similarities and the differences of usages among the above mentioned industries. The paper concludes that each industry uses different protection technologies and that password and encryption are the most frequently used. The majority of the respondents are satisfied with their current protection but want to enforce it in the future due to fear of increasing piracy. The requirements for DRMS are perceived differently from industry to industry as is the average amount of investment. Furthermore, approximately half of the respondents from the music industry do not believe in the ability of DRMS to reduce piracy, whereas respondents from the film and print industry believe that DRMS will be able to do so.

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INDEX TERMS

General Terms:
Economics, Legal Aspects, Management, Security, Theory

Keywords:
digital content, digital content distribution, digital rights management, piracy, protection technologies