Groundswell for consumer rights

A new campaign aimed at creating a level playing field for the digital music consumer is picking up speed all across Europe. CDR (Consumers Digital Rights) covers not only music but film on DVD etc and takes aim at the restrictions placed on what consumers can do with a piece of content in digital form. “The time has come to guarantee consumers certain basic rights in the digital world, and to tell them what they can do with their digital hardware/content. This is our message in this campaign.”

The CDR also carried out a comparison test on digital music services and summarised their results very neatly with “consumers purchasing music downloads from major online suppliers are trapped.” The major points are being tied to one hardware or platform, not clearly labelling usage restrictions, licensing terms and terminology are difficult to understand, there’s inconsistencies between services in terms of experience, language and usage rights and the technology in use opens up the possibility for further restrictions in the future.

The ‘taste test’ covers iTunes, MSN Music UK, HMV Digital and Sony’s Connect Music Store.