• Forbes, Friday, May 4, 2007 11:15 AM

On Wednesday, music execs speaking at an industry conference said removing DRM isn't high on their priority list. Michael Nash, Warner's senior vice president of digital strategy and business development, said the music industry shouldn't back down from the fight to protect its content just because the music industry is being bombarded digital by piracy. Nash said: "The music industry simply has to solve the content security problem or risk the obsolescence of its business model."

Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG's president of global digital business added: "We don't want the whole world to be a college dorm. Because that's what a no-DRM world looks like--it's a world in which all product can just be cloned without limitation."

However, Universal Music Group, the other member of the big four, may be softening its DRM stance. Amanda Marks, the company's executive vice president and GM of digital distribution, said the company was mulling the possibility. "It is a step that we would not take lightly," Marks said, adding that "if further tests prove that this provides us with a net positive sales result, by which I mean sales increase more than piracy, then we will try to work out a reasonable solution."

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