When media was analog-based, quality would decrease with
each duplication. For example, recording
a cassette tape over and over again would diminish volume and clarity. Now, because of the advent of digital media, copies can be
duplicated over and over, essentially an infinite amount of times without
losing quality. This includes any audio, video, or software-based copies in the
form of discs, p2p transfers or downloads from websites. The ease that users can
acquire and duplicate media has increased through the usage of cheap
personal computers.
According to Pew Research,
92% of 18-29 year olds use the internet. This means that this large demographic can ultimately access pirated songs.
Due to the popularity of the internet, DRM has become a
hot issue today.
It has created a method
for authors and artists of copyrighted work to be able to control the
distribution of their media by requiring authentication of users.
It can also restrict the amount of times that
the media is copied, if it is allowed at all.
Attempting to police the large amount of currently pirated
software is costly and ineffective, so DRM is a way to be proactive by
disabling the user to illegally copy software in the first place. $11.2 billion dollars are lost by the
US software
industry because of illegally copied programs, according to
Wired.com.
DRM allows large groups of people to listen to music
(universities) without causing a huge detriment to the audio industries income. DRM provides more money to the recording industry, which will allow more bands to make a living, which encourages artistic integrity.
Though this was a controversial debate I honestly don't believe that DRM is and will ever be a significant problem. It has never hindered me from doing what I wanted or listening to music. So I'm not sure what the big deal is.