Apple And The Pirate Ship: EMI Gives In

Apple (AAPL) has convinced music publishing giant EMI to sell most of its recordings without the protection of digital rights management software. It is a victory of hope over reason.

EMI must now believe that it can sell more music through iTunes and other outlets if it is not protected by encryption that helps prevent it from being copied and redistributed. But, at the same time, it leaves its products open to piracy as the music become easier to share without any means to make stealing it difficult for consumers.

Apple has contended for some time that most music is sold on CDs and that these lack copy protection. This argument further holds that music is already being stolen from CDs and shared on the internet. So, why protect it at all?

Maybe so. But, EMI’s move would be a plain statement that it is willing to let illegal use of the products of its artists become the norm in the name of hoping to sell more music through download services like iTunes.

Refusing to protect content at all is a deal with the devil. It has its roots in the same dispute that drives large video content companies like Viacom (VIA) to prevent Google’s (GOOG) YouTube content from allowing content to be stolen and put on the large video sharing site.

Content companies have to draw the line somewhere or risk having their products lose value over time.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.