Datamonitor is a "premium business information company specialising in industry analysis". They've recently released a report on DRM adoption that seems rather clueless, but will certainly please many of their clients (23 Million European Households to Share Rich Media Across Devices and with Friends, Says Datamonitor).

Today much of the work on DRM is focused upon copy protection, from the RIAA and MPAA trying to sue consumers and outlaw peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, to placing software onto music CDs which prevent unwitting consumers from legally copying songs to their PC. But basic copy protection solutions are only one part of a DRM solution.

Huh? What does suing consumers and outlawing P2P networks have to do with DRM, exactly? They might both be part of a comprehensive strategy, but DRM and fighting P2P aren't exactly connected at the hip, are they?

"At present, consumers are wary of copy protection solutions and phrases such as 'rights management'. Partly because of their interest in free content, and partly because they do not want to be unfairly limited in what they can and can't do with content they have bought," says Healey. "Such a system, in which a consumer is an end-user as well as a node of distribution, will require content owners and distributors to radically re-think their marketing plans. It will also offer the consumer more freedom to do what they want with their content, where to do it and when."

Yeah, it's going to take some marketing to convince people that taking away freedom is actually giving them freedom. It will also take some marketing to convince people that doing the distribution work for the publisher really makes sense.

Interoperability will be crucial.

Due to the immaturity of the DRM market, and the fact that almost everyone is offering DRM solutions, suggests that there will need to be consolidation, and perhaps more importantly, interoperability between competing systems.

Well, there is consolidation. Otherwise, interoperability is just a little problematic: A Perfectly Compatible Form of Incompatibility.

You can buy the report for $2295 here: Digital Rights Management: Selecting the Key Influencers of a Nascent Market.

via BillboardPostPlay