Ged Doherty at ITC

It was enlightening to hear Ged Doherty, CEO of Sony BMG Entertainment UK, speak so openly at ITC 2006 about his views on DRM and his belief that the future of the music industry requires a complete re-think. His comments on DRM are completely out of line with company policy and it was brave, even in his senior position, to be so vocal against something Sony BMG have always endorsed, even going so far as to call it “stupid”. It is my belief that artistes are losing money every day their record companies employ DRM in the misguided belief it is protecting their content. Sure, it may slow people down, and in some cases even convince them to buy the track, but this is insignificant compared to the amount of revenue which could be generated by selling music in the format adopted as standard by 99% of the record buying public.