Roger McGuinn On Industry Moves Away From DRM

Roger McGuinn first came to prominence as the co-founder of The Byrds.  Since then he’s had an illustrious solo career. McGuinn has also become a bit of a maverick when it comes to the music industry.  He embraced the early mp3.com years ago giving away his recordings of traditional songs in a project he dubbed "From The Folk Den".  A CD of the project was nominated for a Grammy. More recently he’s continued to work outside the system releasing his own CD’s even though many labels would love to sign the legendary singer songwriter.

Here Roger McGuinn shares his thoughts on DRM and industry moves towards the mp3 format:

"I was happy to hear talk of major labels moving toward
selling MP3s without DRM. I think the watermark idea makes the most sense,
where the labels can track downloads
and pay artists in the same way that ASCAP
and BMI pay song writers and publishers. It’s good to see a positive move away
from simply suing college kids.

I’m somewhat skeptical of the prospect that major labels
will actually embrace MP3s without DRM, given the past performance of the RIAA,
but I’m hoping they will.

Independent labels will most likely be the first to go in
this direction with majors to follow. It’s anybody’s guess which major will be
first or most aggressive. They all have a lot to lose by not moving away from
brick and mortar sales. They’ll be "dragged kicking and screaming to the
money-tree" as Cory Doctorow so aptly puts it."