The reviews of Steve Jobs’ DRM Manifesto are coming in from the music industry and the lines fall pretty much as you would expect. Take Edgar Bronfman Jr. during Warner Music Group earnings call today, who took the time to stress his company’s commitment to DRM: “The notion that music does not deserve the same protections as software, television, film, video games or other intellectual property simply because there is an unprotected legacy product available in the physical world is completely without logic or merit. But let’s not lose sight of the core issue. By far the larger issue for consumers in the music industry is interoperability. As a content company, we, of course, want consumers to seamlessly access our music and to use the music they have purchased on any platform and with any service, physical or digital. The issue is obscured by asserting that DRM and interoperability is the same thing. They are not. To suggest that they cannot co-exist is simply incorrect. At Warner Music, we continue to seek a balance between appropriate protections for our intellectual property and a robust and satisfying music experience for consumers. Interoperability sure would enhance that balance, while eliminating DRM would do just the opposite. We will not abandon DRM, nor will we disadvantage services that are successfully implementing DRM for both content and consumers.”
He didn’t refer to Jobs by name there but later when asked specifically about Jobs, said more dialog between the industry and Apple could ony be positive but “frankly, manifestos in advance of those discussions I think are counter-productive.”