Why DRM and traditional copyright are doomed

Remember that post I said I liked that basically came across as pure stealing (see the comments) and I had to retract my support?

It turns out that Aaron was on to something, but just didn't communicate it well. Here's a guy named Jim Griffin who has a pretty good proposal for a flat-fee music distribution system. One quote"

Now if you fast forward to modern times you can find a situation far more adversarial than copyright. Automobiles kill a million people every year worldwide, but we allow them to proceed with a safety system that's five feet wide and just a white line.

So we create risk, but that actuarial system will tolerate death. Now if that model works for transportation, it can work for copyright. The risks are quite small - no one is dying because of copyright infringement. We have models that let us get over the hump of technological change.

We can make cars faster than we can stop them. But we do not require that cars be controlled, we only require we monetize [and insure] them.

Other thoughts:

- artists would get payed on how much their song is played/downloaded.
- you know I believe, along with Griffin, that this horse is out of the barn: that the war is over and we're just waiting for the markets and laws to sort themselves out.