According to a major new study from Strategy Analytics, the video and music industries are unlikely to follow Apple and EMI's recent decision to abandon Digital Rights Management (DRM). The report, "A Roadmap for DRM: Business Impact for Content Owners and Technology Vendors," from the Strategy Analytics Digital Media Strategies service, draws on extensive interviews with senior executives in the media, entertainment and consumer electronics industries, and concludes that DRM will still play a critical role in the emergence of the digital marketplace. But to remain valid, DRM will have to sink into the background of the value chain, enabling new choices for consumers, while also opening up new revenue streams for creators and content owners.

"In the right form, DRM can help expand the size of the music and video markets," comments Martin Olausson, Director of the Strategy Analytics Digital Media Strategies service. "Ultimately, DRM is needed to harness the commercial value of the `rip, mix, burn and share' culture".

"It is time to shift the focus of the debate over DRM beyond the misleading polarity of 'corporations' versus 'consumers'," adds Dr Andrew Currah, report author. "Ultimately this is a commercial rather than a technological problem. In the coming years DRM will be redefined and fine-tuned - not eradicated completely, as many have suggested."

The report identifies the key factors that will shape the evolution and transformation of DRM from today's disruptive `exploratory' phase of innovation to a more stable `exploitative' era, which will be characterized by clearer standards, commercial diversification and improved consumer choice. DRM will eventually realize great riches in the digital ecosystem by enhancing the consumption of existing content, as well as by enabling entirely new business models and new uses.