When Available UK Citizens Choose Legal DRM-Free Music
(crossposted from CreativeFreedom.org.nz)
Mashable reports that 
“A survey conducted on over 1000 music fans, by media and tech research agency The Leading Question, has shown that file sharing among teens in the UK has fallen dramatically. [...] But here’s another nugget, perhaps the most important number from the report: There are now more UK music fans regularly buying single track downloads (19%) than file-sharing single tracks (17%) every month. I’ve long held the belief that the rise of piracy is not only due to the price of pirated content being zero. It’s also due to availability and quality of the product (the entertainment industry has tainted the quality of their products by introducing DRM, and consumers still feel the scars).” With the Telecom XT music store’s DRM that prevents copying your legally bought music to your iPod there are still some aspects of the music industry not responding to consumer demand. Of course we’re now 15 years into the mainstream internet and we’ve yet to get DRM-free movies in New Zealand, despite services like iTunes showing impressive uptake in the face of free, illegal alternatives.
