A P2P Based Secure Digital Music Distribution Channel - Intelligent Music Information Systems: Tools and Methodologies - page 183

tor, regulate, and price each subsequent use
of a computer file that contains media con-
tent, such as video, audio, photos, or print.”
Although there is not a unique definition of
DRM, it provides opportunities as well as
limitations for the different stakeholders in-
volved (Fetscherin, 2002; Rosenblatt, Trippe
& Mooney, 2002).

Figure 2. Matrix distributed systems

components of digital rights
management (drm)

The role of any DRM is to protect and manage in-
tellectual property content as it travels through the
value chain from the content provider to consum-
ers, and even from consumer to consumer (C2C).
While an in-depth analysis of DRM components
and the underlying technologies goes beyond the
scope of this chapter, a short overview of these
is needed to highlight the advantages and disad-
vantages of those systems. Table 2 outlines and
summarizes the key components of any DRM.
It is important to recognize that there is no
unique DRM technology or standard. A DRM will
change to include different components according
to the type of content (e.g., audio, video, text), the
desired level of security and technology vendor
used. Despite standardization efforts like the
Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) for mobile digital
content distribution, this variability and lack of
a common standards in general has ensured that
there are many different DRM in place.

second and thIrd hurdle:
securItY and monItIzatIon

What can content providers do to both, protect on
one hand their digital music and on the other hand
make money with it? DRM has the potential to
accomplish both goals. First, by protecting digital
content through access and usage control by using
a set of technologies such as encryption and by
ensuring its authenticity and integrity through
watermarking or digital signature. Second, to
enable the monetarization of digital music by
providing billing systems processes and systems
enabling to manage rights in the digital environ-
ment (Bechtold, 2002). In their weakest form,
they prevent or make it difficult to copy digital
content, in their strongest form DRM enables
the individual billing of the digital content on a
per usage unit.

Deinition

core entities of drm

The Association of American Publishers (2002)
defines DRM as “the technologies, tools and
processes that protect intellectual property during
digital content commerce,” Gordon (2001) defines
it as “a system of information technology (IT)
components and services that strive to distribute
and control digital products” and Einhorn (2001)
argues “dig ital rights management entails the
operation of a control system that can moni-

There are three core entities involved in any DRM:
The user, the content, and the rights as Figure 3
illustrates. The USER can be any type of user,
such as a publisher, a record company, a film
studio, a corporate enterprise, or an individual.
This entity creates the content, and the same or
another uses the content. The CONTENT is any
type of digital content, such as games, software,
films, or in this case a music file. The RIGHTS