Digital Lifescapes

Historically, people have disliked digital rights management (DRM) systems that are imposed on them by the entertainment industry. Regardless, the ongoing concern over digital video piracy has motivated big media companies -- such as Warner Bros. -- to pioneer new approaches. The latest effort is known as UltraViolet (UV) -- it's intended to restrict the copying of recorded movies and television shows, and yet still allow some flexibility for the customer who purchased the content. The industry creators say that UltraViolet is a free, cloud-based digital rights collection that gives people greater flexibility with how and where they watch the movies and TV shows that they purchase. Therefore, UV attempts to enable viewing video in a multi-platform environment. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, active UltraViolet accounts -- those with multiple movies and TV shows -- will exceed 65 million worldwide, that's up from the estimated 6 to 8 million at presen...

Mobile phone subscriber identification module (SIM) card annual shipments are expected to rise in 2013 by 5 percent to 5.5 billion units, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. Growth is slowing as markets near saturation and the SIM card becomes increasingly ubiquitous across different mobile network technologies. However, areas of growth remain with new applications, form factors, and an increasing breadth of connected products. As such, the related market value will grow at a higher rate to $2.3 billion this year and ASPs are forecast to increase slightly over the next five years. The emphasis is now on extracting maximum value from the 6.3 -- rising to 7.5 -- billion SIM cards in circulation. ABI believes that 4G mobile network rollouts, Near Field Communications (NFC) and solutions offering more advanced security for payments -- such as DRM, authentication, and encryption -- will all see higher end SIM cards shipping over the next few years. "Follow...

People want to access video content across the various video-capable devices they own, and service providers, content owners, online video distributors and device manufacturers are all keen to provide it on different platforms. However, new technologies are needed to secure multi-platform video content against piracy and unauthorized access, according to the latest market study by Heavy Reading . "Content owners will not allow their content to be distributed on a platform that is vulnerable to piracy," says Aditya Kishore, senior analyst at Heavy Reading. "However, consumers want to be able to access copies of their purchased content across devices." But content protection technology across different platforms is not always compatible, Kishore explains. Also, all content protection mechanisms may not support all usage rules, so users may not be able to access or transfer some content at some times. The networks and devices themselves have differing capabilit...

The highly efficient approach that Google applies to storing and serving digital video content is apparently influencing the legacy video distribution value-chain to evolve. Proving once again, that necessity is the mother of invention -- particularly when meaningful new competition forces an industry to change. According to In-Stat , traditional Video-on-Demand (VoD) services, and their typical siloed video services currently use a great deal of proprietary -- or industry-specific (i.e. very expensive) -- equipment. They see traditional and pay-TV service providers migrating to more efficient Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and data center models based on server virtualization. In-Stat believes that this migration enables content portability and will have a direct impact on equipment vendors, service providers and content owners. Meaning, this will be disruptive to the legacy status-quo. "Increasing usage of over-the-top (OTT) Internet video is driving traditional TV service pro...

According to an Ipsos study, one year following its launch, Amazon.com Music has made a phenomenal first showing. Meanwhile, Rhapsody's increased focus on advertising and partnership appears to be paying off. But neither development has slowed iTunes, with the site continuing to gain dedicated users who perceive it as the best fee-based digital music destination. Awareness and use were steady among most dominant brands this year, but did increase for three top competitors while declining among many lesser-known players. - iTunes continued to grow in terms of awareness, usage, familiarity, and best brand mentions. - Amazon had a strong first year, with initial awareness, usage, favorability and best brand ratings comparable to any of the top brands after iTunes. Moreover, Amazon actually matched iTunes in user satisfaction. - In perhaps the most significant development this year, however, Rhapsody gained in both aided and unaided awareness, usage and favorability. Although some of t...

Sales of digital music represented 10 percent of the total worldwide music market in 2007, up from 6 percent in 2006, according to a market study by In-Stat. By 2012, digital music sales will represent an impressive 40 percent of all music purchased worldwide, the high-tech market research firm says. Factors contributing to this growth include the global expansion of broadband, continued demand for single-track downloads, and expanding music catalogs. Another key driver is the potential for market growth in full-track downloads to mobile handsets in markets other than Japan, which currently is the primary market for this type of digital music format. "Digital piracy continues to represent the primary challenge to online music service providers," says Stephanie Ethier, In-Stat analyst. "Other obstacles still include the lack of interoperability between services and devices due to differing digital rights management (DRM) technologies, and weak consumer demand for subscrip...

Conditional Access (CA) technology -- the protection of multimedia content by requiring consumers to meet certain criteria for access -- is set to generate revenues approaching $1.4 billion this year. A new study from ABI Research forecasts CA revenues to fluctuate in a stable range slightly below that figure as far as 2013, with telcos taking an increasingly large slice of the pie at the expense of the cable and satellite industries. According to industry analyst Zippy Aima, "Cable and satellite aren't going away, but the options now offered by new deployments of telco TV -- including interactive and on-demand content, time-shifting and place-shifting -- are generating a buzz that drives demand for their premium content to a wider audience." A number of factors are converging to drive this market. The increasing prevalence of broadband networks and the ease with which digital media can be cloned and distributed combine great opportunity and great risk for the owners of p...

According to a StrategyEye report, we are now way beyond the tipping-point for upheaval within the traditional music recording industry. In fact, the primary value proposition of a legacy record label seems to have totally capsized and sank. Apparently, the rock band "Nine Inch Nails" is the latest to announce that they will no longer use music labels to market their work. Instead they will operate as free-agents , with online digital distribution a major focus of their direct marketing efforts. The move follows the announcement by Radiohead that they will no longer operate under the control of a music label, releasing their work directly to fans, with consumers able to "set their own price" for the band's latest album entitled "In Rainbows." Visitor traffic to Radiohead's Web site is reported to have increased by eleven-fold following the announcement. Music industry analysts are now warning that many other top recording artists are likely to fol...

BMI will distribute more than $732 million in royalties for its 2006-2007 fiscal year to the songwriters, composers and copyright owners that it represents -- an eight percent increase over the prior fiscal year. The rise in revenues is attributed to the company's robust music catalog, successful licensing of music across a diverse range of media, and revenue growth in foreign markets. BMI also posted record-setting revenues of more than $839 million, up seven percent from the prior year. This milestone represents the highest annual revenues and royalty distributions ever reported by a performing rights society. The increased usage of BMI's diverse repertoire throughout many broadcast mediums has, over the past several years, recast the traditional revenue structure from one dominated by conventional over-the-air broadcasting to a new picture in which cable networks, satellite audio and video services, and emerging digital media contribute increasingly significant revenue strea...

IDC's annual survey of Nordic consumer interest in new technologies reveals that content providers are typically not very good at providing the new services and functionality that technological developments enable. Several results from the latest IDC market survey suggest that consumers are interested in new functionalities, but are unable to find what they are looking for. The most evident examples relate to how they watch TV and listen to music while on the move. Two-thirds of Nordic households have either a hard disk/DVD recorder or a media center PC. Nonetheless, very few people actually make use of the functions that are available. For instance, only 15 percent automate recording of weekly TV shows or series, while 70 percent are actually interested in using this feature. This is apparently because the current products don't work properly -- either because the necessary electronic program guides (EPG) are not good enough or because the user interface isn't user friendl...

The recent "DRM-free" music tracks that were announced by Apple and Amazon.com do not herald the death of Digital Rights Management (DRM) restrictions on digital media, according to In-Stat's latest market assessment. Instead, the DRM-free model will likely be viewed as a music industry-only experiment -- albeit one that will be closely monitored to see if a viable business model emerges, the high-tech market research firm says. "The amount of digital content flowing over telecommunications networks is enormous and growing," says Mike Paxton, In-Stat analyst. "Much of this content is already protected by some type of DRM or content protection scheme. As the creation of digital content expands, it is fueling demand for more DRM solutions and content protection technologies." I also believe that the big media companies will cling to their DRM security blankets for the near-term -- until they can overcome their fear of free-wheeling digital media formats...

Informitv reports that Sky, the UK satellite pay-TV service provider, has announced a joint venture with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe to develop a download service for the PSP portable games player. The new initiative will allow more than 2 million PlayStation Portable (PSP) owners in the United Kingdom and Ireland to download videos and TV related content to their handheld devices. Due to launch in early 2008, it will be the first official PSP video download service in Europe. The platform will offer programming spanning sports, entertainment, movies, music and animation from both Sky and third-party channel partners. Videos will be downloadable to the PSP either directly through a wireless internet link or through a connection to a personal computer. Programs will be made available on a pay-per-view subscription basis. "Sky and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe have complementary strengths in content, marketing and technology," said James Murdoch the chief executive...

In today's consumer electronics products, hardware IC features play little role in protecting copyrighted content. Popular digital rights management schemes that depend on secure software implementations such as Windows DRM, Fairplay, and AACS are routinely targeted and hacked. However, processor companies are enhancing their architectures and embracing security features that will simplify secure software implementations and make it much more difficult to copy and share protected content. By 2013, more than 60 million CE devices are expected to ship with hardware security. That is one of the key conclusions of a new study and market assessment from ABI Research entitled "Hardware Security in the Consumer Electronics Market." "There are basically no secure processors in consumer electronics right now. They will start showing up in commercially available devices in the next couple of years, and will take hold rapidly starting in 2009," says principal analyst Steve...

According to a new study from Strategy Analytics, the video and music industries are unlikely to follow the Apple and EMI recent decision to abandon Digital Rights Management (DRM). The report entitled "A Roadmap for DRM: Business Impact for Content Owners and Technology Vendors," draws on extensive interviews with senior executives in the media, entertainment and consumer electronics industries. It concludes that DRM will still play a critical role in the emergence of the digital marketplace. But to remain valid, according to Strategy Analytics, DRM will have to sink into the background of the value chain, enabling new choices for consumers, while also opening up new revenue streams for creators and content owners. "In the right form, DRM can help expand the size of the music and video markets," comments Martin Olausson, Director of the Strategy Analytics Digital Media Strategies service. "Ultimately, DRM is needed to harness the commercial value of the rip, m...

According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics Digital Media Strategies service, the global online music market will grow 62 percent this year, to reach $2.7 billion, and will ramp to over $6.6 billion in 2011. Strategy Analytics believes that while the U.S. represented almost three quarters of the global market in 2006, the U.S. share of the market will have been reduced to less than half by 2011. "The recent move by EMI and Apple to drop DRM from premium tracks will produce a temperate increase in single track download revenues in the short to medium term," comments Martin Olausson, Director of Strategy Analytics Digital Media Strategies service. "However, long term revenue growth will come from hybrid subscription based services." "The music labels are finally starting to see digital sales having a positive impact on the bottom line," adds David Mercer, VP and Principal Analyst at Strategy Analytics. "This year will likely be the turning ...

Spending on digital rights management (DRM) software and hardware to protect entertainment, commercial software, and other information will exceed $9 billion dollars over the next five years, according to Insight Research Corp. By the close of 2007, total worldwide spending on DRM will reach just over $1 billion, and by 2012 business spending is forecast to grow to nearly $1.9 billion, according to their latest research study. Insight says that DRM involves the combination of software and hardware technologies that enable the content owner and distributors to assign and control rights and conditions for viewing, listening, and employing the content present in digital media and applications -- be it a song, a movie, a medical or financial record, or a software game. DRM Market Segmentation The study focuses on the use of DRM by wireline retail users, wireless retail users, TV and home entertainment network (HEN) users, software application retail users, as well as software appli...

The media world is experiencing an abrupt change in thinking about imposing sharp limits on the ability of consumers to freely move digital content around, according to Kagan Research. Equipment, software and content companies collaborated for years to perfect closed proprietary systems, such as Apple's successful iPod and iTunes combination -- with music and video files intentionally designed not to play on other hardware platforms. But government regulators and consumers are now pressing for content to be open and portable across multiple platforms. They detest digital rights management (DRM) software that defeats cross-platform interoperability -- which in turn forces consumers to buy the same song or video for each of their different devices. Apple chief Steve Jobs says he's in favor of eliminating anti-copying software and there's a growing list of countries pressing to eliminate such draconian DRM barriers, especially France. The U.S. mobile phone s...

The New York Times reports that sometimes even the most unthinkable change can become acceptable when you allow yourself to let go of obsolete and self-destructive biases. Apparently, the major record labels are moving closer to releasing music on the Internet with no copying restrictions -- a step they once vowed never to take. Executives of several technology companies meeting in Cannes, France at Midem -- the annual global trade fair for the music industry -- said that at least one of the four major record companies could move toward the sale of 'unrestricted' digital files in the MP3 format within the coming months. Most independent record labels already sell music tracks digitally compressed in the MP3 format, which can be downloaded, e-mailed or copied to computers, mobile phones, portable music players and a compact disc (CD) without limit. The independents see providing songs in MP3 partly as a way of generating publicity that could lead to future sales. In contrast, i...