Music and Technology Companies Join to Develop Means to Protect Copyrighted Music

(December 16, 1998)  Representatives of the recording industry announced a "Secure Digital Music Initiative" (SDMI) at a press conference in New York on Tuesday, December 15.  The purposes of the initiative are to promote Internet distribution of music, and to protect copyrighted music in digital format from theft.

The music industry has not yet embraced the Internet because of fear of theft of digital music.  However, it has been forced to act by recent technological and legal developments.  The MP3 format has made storage, compression, and transfer for digital music files easy and popular.  The Rio player has provided a cheap and portable device for playing and sharing MP3 files.  The music industry has sought, but recently failed to obtain, a court order enjoining the sale of the Rio player.

Music industry executives, lead by Hilary Rosen, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), held a web cast press conference in the Sony building in New York City.  The group stated that its goals are to provide customers greater access to music over the Internet, develop the technological means to protect copyrighted music, avoid incompatible products, and provide open specifications.

"The mission of SDMI is to enable consumers to conveniently access music in all forms" said a statement released by the RIAA.  But, the mission also is to enable "artists and recording companies to protect their intellectual property."

"To accomplish this goal, SDMI will actively help develop an open and interoperable means for providing security for copyrighted music in all existing and emerging digital formats and their respective delivery channels."

The RIAA is involved in litigation with Diamond Multimedia over the legality of Rio player.   The RIAA filed suit in federal court in California on October 9, 1998.   The suit alleges that Diamond Multimedia is violating the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, 17 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq.  So far, U.S. District Court Judge Audrie Collins has denied the RIAA's request for a preliminary injunction.

The SDMI has the support of many recording industry leaders, including Strauss Zelnick, President and CEO of BMG Entertainment, Ken Berry, President of EMI Recorded Music, Thomas Mottola, Chairman and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment, Doug Morris, chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group, Bob Daly, chairman and co-CEO, Warner Bros. and Warner Music Group, Terry Semel, Chairman and co-CEO of Warner Bros. and Warner Music Group, Hilary Rosen, President and CEO of the RIAA, and Jason Berman, chairman-elect and chief executive of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

In addition, many leading software, hardware, and Internet companies have announced their support, including AOL, AT&T, IBM, Lucent, Matsushita, Microsoft, RealNetworks, Sony Corporation, Toshiba, Aris Technologies, Diamond Multimedia, Headspace, Iomega Liquid Audio, Samsung and Texas Instruments.

The initiative brings together many adversaries, including Microsoft and RealNetworks (who are fighting for dominance of the market for streaming media), Diamond Multimedia and RIAA (who are suing each other), and AT&T and AOL (who are fighting in the FCC's AT&T-TCI  merger proceedings over open access to high speed Internet access via cable).

SDMI will create the SDMI Forum, which is an open body of companies involved in digital music.  The SDMI Forum will be organized in early 1999 to create an open specification for digital music security.  The goals is to have a draft specification by summer 1999.   Once a specification is fully defined, the forum will issue an "SDMI mark" to identify products and services that are compliant with the specification.

The initiative hopes to implement a SDMI specification early enough for SDMI compliant products to be on the shelves by Christmas 1999.

To join the SDMI Forum, contact Pertti Visuri, President, Electronic Markets for Global Integrity, 4180 LaJolla Village Drive, Suite 450, La Jolla, CA, 92037, 619-646-3612, pertti.visuri@globalintegrity.com.

RIAA Press Release.
Re: Secure Digital Music Initiative.
Date: December 15, 1998.
Source: RIAA.

Worldwide Recording Industry Announces  Precedent-Setting Initiative to Address New Digital Music Opportunities

Effort Unites Record Companies with Technology Industries to Create An Open Specification for Digital Music Security

NEW YORK, December 15, 1998 – At a press conference today, leaders of the worldwide recording industry announced the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), a framework to work with the technology community to create a voluntary digital music security specification by next fall.   The open specification will protect copyrighted music in all existing and emerging digital formats and through all delivery channels. 

Driven by the SDMI Forum, an open body of companies involved in digital music, the initiative will achieve three objectives.  It will answer consumer demand for convenient access to quality recordings, ensure copyright protection for artists’ work, and enable technology and music companies to build successful businesses. 

In planning for nearly a year, the initiative was announced by leading worldwide music heads, including: Strauss Zelnick, president and CEO of BMG Entertainment; Ken Berry, president of EMI Recorded Music; Thomas D. Mottola, chairman and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment; Doug Morris, chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group; Bob Daly, chairman and co-CEO, Warner Bros. and Warner Music Group; Terry Semel, chairman and co-CEO of Warner Bros. and Warner Music Group; Hilary Rosen, president and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America; and Jason Berman, chairman-elect and chief executive of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.  Berman also represented the Recording Industry Association of Japan.

In addition to major and independent record labels, many preeminent technology companies –  AOL, AT&T, IBM, Lucent, Matsushita, Microsoft, RealNetworks, Sony Corporation and Toshiba -- support the initiative.  It is expected that many other large and small companies will champion the effort. Enclosed in the press kit are supporting statements already received from Aris Technologies, Diamond Multimedia, Headspace, Iomega Liquid Audio, Samsung and Texas Instruments.

“Creating a voluntary, open security specification benefits everyone,” said RIAA’s Rosen.  “It will enable consumers to conveniently access the music of their choice.  It will encourage artists, producers, songwriters, publishers, recording companies and others in the music industry to make their music available in new ways, knowing that it will be more secure.  It will also encourage technology companies to move forward with interoperable products and services.

“This initiative is about the technology community developing an open security system that promotes compatible products in a competitive marketplace,” said Rosen.  It’s not about the recording industry imposing a standard on technology companies.  We’ll simply provide guidance on the needs of our industry and its customers.”

“The recording industry has long been a beneficiary of new technology,” said IFPI’s Berman.  “Music CDs are household items today because we were quick to adopt this superior technology years ago.  We see the Internet, high-density discs and other music delivery channels as providing enormous opportunities for us.  This global initiative will help us put music in the hands of more people, in more ways, than we could have ever dreamed before.”

“We must establish an appropriate method to protect copyright,” said Nobuo Ikeguchi, president of the Recording Industry Association of Japan.  “It is one of our most important issues. The RIAJ is eager to cooperate fully – offering our knowledge and experience – in the implementation of SDMI.”

The SDMI Forum

The SDMI will be an open forum for all commercial companies significantly involved in technologies relating to digital music.  Participating companies will be encouraged to bring their approaches to digital music security and to work together to establish and document an open architecture and specification for protecting music.  Many companies and established groups are currently developing approaches and solutions to secure digital music. The forum will provide a means to build upon and harmonize these efforts.  Products and services that conform to the open standard will have compatible and interoperable security features, and will be certified as SDMI compliant. 

The recording industry’s role in the forum will be to provide guidance as to the features attractive to artists, record companies and consumers.   The effort will include representatives of independent record labels to ensure that the initiative is inclusive, and that all points of view are represented. Other music industry groups will also be invited so that the forum will understand the important work being undertaken around the world by music publisher and songwriter rights organizations.

The SDMI Timeline

The SDMI Forum is expected to begin operations in early 1999.   The objective is to have a specification completed in time to allow conforming products to be available for the 1999 holiday season.