Coaching

DRM in the U.K.

With recently low paid-download reports, frustrated British music retailers are pushing for a DRM-free holiday season. According to Kim Bayley, Director of the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), protection formats such as DRM are โ€œstifling growth and working against the consumer interest,โ€ and โ€œadd to the slow take-up of legal digital services.โ€With recently low paid-download reports, frustrated British music retailers are pushing for a DRM-free holiday season. According to Kim Bayley, Director of the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), protection formats such as DRM are โ€œstifling growth and working against the consumer interest,โ€ and โ€œadd to the slow take-up of legal digital services.โ€

Now more than ever labels are being encouraged to drop their DRM formats with the oncoming, potentially very lucrative holiday season. Recent polls have shown a mere 150 million paid down loads in the region. According to Bayley โ€œthat amounts to an average of less than one 79 pence download per head of population per year.โ€

Discouragingly, annual music sales show an 11 percent decline from the previous yearโ€™s numbers according to BPI and the Official UK Charts Company. A change in formatting at this time could provide a much needed last minute boost in year in sales.