Contrary to widely held industry beliefs, U.S. consumers are not overwhelmingly antagonistic toward the concept of copy-restricted music CDs, provided these CDs come with the proper incentives, according to Parks Associates’ forthcoming report Digital Rights: Content Ownership and Distribution.
Among respondents in Parks Associates’ survey Profiles of PC Usage, when given a choice between a normal music CD and a copy-once CD priced $5 less, 33% of those who do not rip CDs and 27% who rip CDs preferred the copy-once CDs.
The music industry proceeded with the idea of copy-protected CDs very cautiously last year, releasing only 10 million in the U.S., said Harry Wang, research analyst at Parks Associates and author of the forthcoming report. They were slow to deploy out of the concern that consumers would reject such a product. But our research indicates that it might be time for the industry to promote copy-protected CDs more aggressively, provided they can find the right price points, or other incentives that will attract consumers.
CD piracy has been a serious problem for record labels, Wang continued. The music industry has long been looking for a solution to balance content owner’s interest to protect copyrights and consumer’s need to enjoy music in the ways that they want. The copy-restricted CD is one such move. Our findings might indicate the start of a transition for consumers to embrace the concept of copy-restriction in music consumption.
According to Digital Rights: Content Ownership and Distribution, the long-term success of any digital rights-enabled solutions depends on such a balance, and equally important, a good user experience that meets consumers’ expectations
