FairPlay: Case study on why content providers hate DRM too [LWN.net]

FairPlay: Case study on why content providers hate DRM too

Posted Aug 7, 2006 15:35 UTC (Mon) by AJWM (guest, #15888)
In reply to: FairPlay: Case study on why content providers hate DRM too by epeeist
Parent article: A Five Minute Guide to Opposing DRM (Linux Journal)

Are there such things as "laws of the market" (in the same way as laws of physics) or are they merely conventions?

I'd say they were like "laws of physics" the way e.g. Charles's Law and Boyle's Law (gas laws) are: they only apply when talking about sufficiently large numbers (of gas molecules in the case of Charles's and Boyle's laws). Similar to other statistical laws that only apply with a sufficiently large sample size.

When the market (or gas pressure/volume/temperature experiment) is artifically constrained (as in, say, a monopoly situation), it doesn't necessarily follow the laws. The content market has some restrictions in that content isn't completely fungible -- not all music or movies are created equal. Non-DRM'd recordings of didgeridoo music just aren't going to outsell highly-DRM'd pop-50 stuff, because other factors outweigh the DRM/no-DRM decision. (Hey, I like the didgeridoo, but it is a little out of mainstream.)

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FairPlay: Case study on why content providers hate DRM too

Posted Aug 8, 2006 14:06 UTC (Tue) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link]

Don't forget, those laws also only work for a "perfect gas". In other words, where the temperature/pressure is sufficiently above the liquifaction point.

In any area of trade, in a free market, the number of players tends to about 5. In other words, the "molecules" are sticky. In an emerging market, there are lots of players, the energy is high, and the rules work well. As the market matures and "cools", the molecules begin to stick together, and the system breaks down.

A very good analogy :-)

Cheers,
Wol