Cutting their own throats
Charlie Stross,
Charlie's Diary,
Dec 01, 2011
OK, on the one hand this is pretty bad. "As ebook sales mushroom, the Big Six's insistence on DRM has proven to be a hideous mistake. Rather than reducing piracy, it has locked customers in Amazon's walled garden, which in turn increases Amazon's leverage over publishers. And unlike pirated copies (which don't automatically represent lost sales) Amazon is a direct revenue threat because Amazon are have no qualms about squeezing their suppliers — or trying to poach authors for their "direct" publishing channel by offering initially favourable terms." On the other hand, it means that the only way for publishers to break Amazon's hold is to start selling books without DRM. As Amazon squeezes harder, publishers are more likely to take the DRM-free route, much like music publishers.
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