Dave Matthews Barking Up the Wrong Tree

Dave Matthews Band is one of those bands you gotta respect even if you're not into them. Unlike most signed acts, they've encouraged their fans to tape their live shows and trade their music. Instead of being hyper protective of their art, they have a more grounded view where enabling fans is a great way to further connect them to your music.

Unfortunately the recording industry doesn't see it that way. And DRM is their favorite acronym these days. So now mainstream acts are producing CDs that don't rip MP3 files if you're a Windows user. Instead you are given the opportunity of digitizing your music with encrypted WMA files which require license keys to enable playback. Unfortunately protected WMA files are unusable within iTunes; that in turn means you can't convert those WMA files into an iPod playable format such as AAC or MP3. And considering the tremendous market share Apple currently enjoys, a lot of music fans are left in the cold for portable audio purposes.

Enter the workaround. Dave Matthews Band has posted instructions detailing how a Windows user could rip the protected WMA files, burn them to CD and then rip that burned disc within iTunes. But then they blame Apple for not opening up their proprietary format and encourage users to contact Apple to complain. I saw this once before with the latest Life of Agony disc so it begs the question: why blame Apple?

Considering this was a business decision by the label's management, Apple should not be the source of DMB fans' ire. Apple's iPod playsback many open formats and 1 proprietary one: M4P (aka AAC protected). It isn't Apple's decision to prevent Windows users from putting songs on their iPod; quite contrary it's Apple's best interest to support that endeavor. But it does not mean that Apple shoulders the responsibility for content owners' anti-customer stances.

If DMB is really interested in serving their fans needs, they would petition the label and encourage fans to not purchase product that doesn't conform to standard CD audio. Labels will continue to pursue only self-interest because consumers are treated as criminals and not valued for their contribution to the company's bottom line. If you can't use the music on your iPod where you want it, don't purchase the music. Your dollar is your vote, and it's mighty powerful for the music execs that expect your wallet to be open.

Close it for once and see what effect it has...