The silhouette can be seen anywhere on campus. Emblazoned on iPods that are stashed in everyone’s pocket. Glowing on the back of laptops as students work on papers or chat with friends. It even acts as a bumper sticker on cars and is plastered on notebooks.

Apple, Inc. is not only making hip, must-have technology for everyone from kids to adults, it is also slowly showing signs of wanting to throw its weight around in the technological market. The company wants to revolutionize the digital music industry by getting rid of digital copyrights.

‘Apple is at an interesting crossroads right now,’ said Eunkyu Lee, a marketing professor at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. ‘What they’re known for is creating customer-friendly and innovative hardware. What they seem to want to shift toward is becoming the center for delivering digital content, like it is doing with iTunes.’

On Feb. 6, Apple CEO Steve Jobs released a statement on Apple’s main Web site entitled, ‘Thoughts on Music.’ Within the statement, Jobs addressed the pressure placed on Apple, mostly by European governments, to eliminate the copyrighting system Apple uses in its iTunes system, called Digital Rights Management (DRM).

Apple uses a DRM called FairPlay, which is software that protects theft on music downloaded from iTunes. The system ensures that songs purchased on iTunes can only be played on iPods. European governments believe this restricts the market and want Apple to make songs downloaded from iTunes compatible with all music players.

In response, Jobs suggested getting rid of DRM altogether and opening up the market so music bought on iTunes can be played on any digital music player.

The major record companies, Universal, Sony BMG, EMI and Warner, rejected Jobs’ proposal, saying that getting rid of DRM would cause a huge loss in profit. Getting rid of copyright software could potentially allow Apple to sign direct contracts with artists, thus making record labels obsolete, which is a huge threat, Lee said.

‘The record labels own the copyright and as long as that’s in place, you can’t legally copy the music,’ said Kevin Moore, a music industry professor at the School of Visual and Performing Arts. ‘Once the copyright is lost, people can do whatever they want with the music, and it will cut into the record labels’ sales.’

While it appears Jobs is being generous by opening up the market, it wouldn’t matter to Apple if DRM was abolished because it could still make money from hardware.

‘I think that Jobs will be happy if DRM goes away, but he still knows that he has hardware sales, like the iPod, to fall back on,’ Lee said.

The iPod is the most popular digital music player on the market, and it appears in no danger of leaving that perch. The NPD group, a consumer and retail market research information organization, reported that Apple accounted for almost 74 percent of all MP3 player sales as of July 2005.

The recent introduction of Microsoft’s Zune, for example, did little to hurt the iPod’s sales. Even if DRM was removed and the market was opened up, the iPod would likely retain its top spot as an MP3 player.

Apple’s reputation for quality design and fashionable products may be just the thing it needs to make itself the major player in digital music sales.

‘Even if the market opened up, I would still use an iPod,’ said Mike Pantano, a freshman international relations major. ‘It has a good design, and I just associate Apple with quality.’

The iTunes store is an asset to record labels, in regard to music distribution, but CD sales still generate most of a label’s profit.

‘iTunes is certainly the most important digital distributor we have,’ said Jason Kulbel, a spokesman for independent label, Saddle Creek Records, in an e-mail. ‘That said, digital music makes up only 10 percent or so of a band’s sales, sometimes even less.’

While the major record companies seem heavily concerned with music piracy, illegal downloading is inevitable as CDs, which account for majority of the label’s profit, are not copyrighted.

‘For a long time, illegal music had a low quality, so record labels didn’t think it would be an issue,’ Moore said. ‘But over time, the quality got better and CDs were still expensive, usually $17 for 12 or 14 songs. The record industry should be tapping into the online industry and providing their products that way.’

The high price of CDs is one of the many reasons for an increase in illegal downloading, as students are taking advantage of the ability to download individual tracks. Even though illegal downloading has been an issue for more than 10 years, CD prices are still high and people are still getting music from file-sharing sites like Limewire and SoulSeek.

‘I haven’t bought an actual CD in I don’t know how long,’ said Sean Haley, a freshman biology major. ‘I use iTunes, mostly, and some other downloading sites.’

Apple appears poised to take over digital music distribution, through Jobs’ statement about getting rid of copyrights and the company’s current increase in services iTunes offers, such as the sale of TV shows, audio-books and movies.

But some smaller record labels, like Syracuse-based Aux Records, are not against the recent proposal by Apple. In fact, Ulf Oesterle, owner of the label, supports the music giant’s recent move.

‘iTunes sells the most digital music and built a system to make that music compatible with their player,’ Oesterle said. ‘If Apple opens up to sync with other digital music players, I would support that. It only expands their, and thus our, market.’

SIDEBAR

Pre-loaded iPods?

Apple’s market opened up in a big way when it finally settled a lawsuit with Apple Records, who had the right to the Apple trademark. The settlement could potentially pave the way for The Beatles’ music to finally be available on digital music services such as iTunes.

Now that Apple won’t be sued for putting music in different places from its iTunes store, such as the hard drive of an iPod, the settlement could allow Apple to create pre-packaged iPods that have music on them at the time of purchase.

But not all iPod users eagerly embrace the idea of pre-loaded iPods.

‘I’d rather have a blank iPod, so I can put my own stuff on it,’ said Sean Haley, a freshman biology major. ‘Maybe if they were the same price, I’d consider buying a pre-loaded one.’

With digital music becoming the biggest concern for record labels and perhaps the new big market for Apple, music distribution becoming mostly or completely digital may be something that occurs in the future.

‘The CD-less world is probably quite a ways off, but it’s inevitable,’ said Jason Kulbel, a spokesman for independent label Saddle Creek Records in an e-mail. ‘It’s unfortunate, but when it does happen it will be because that’s how most people want their music. You have to ultimately respond to that.’

Published on February 20, 2007 at 12:00 pm