Ernesto Rodrigues Interview

Philipp Bohn - Is it right to assume that Independent music usually is not
DRM-protected?

Ernesto Rodrigues - I can only refer to my own experience. All CSR productions have no DRM protection whatsoever.
You have to understand that first of all I’m a musician and this Label was created for my own projects. It kind of went much further than what I was expecting at the beginning. Those DRM matters only recently have come to my mind. This was and still is a home run project by a guy who never really intended to have a business.
Having that in mind, it is only natural that on such matters I’m not experienced.
As for your question, it is likely that most Independent music, at least in my area, is probably not right protected. This is a very, very small fraction of the market with an innate problem of transmission and circulation. In a way it can be almost counter productive to implement strict DRM rules, even if I can agree, as a principle, that to use your music commercially or remix it or even get it from the net or from any other source without any regard for compensation due to the authors is an unethical procedure.

Philipp Bohn - Are songs distributed by Creative Sources Recordings DRM-protected? If so: how?

Ernesto Rodrigues - Not at all.

Philipp Bohn - Are you interested in business models that are made possible by
DRM? – for example subscription services or superdistribution.

Ernesto Rodrigues - Probably yes, was I familiar with all concerning facts, which I’m not.

Philipp Bohn - Will you distribute music via mobile phones? If so: what DRM system would you employ?

Ernesto Rodrigues - Never really thought of it. I’ve been contacted to it but I didn’t even got to really know what it is all about.

Philipp Bohn - Do you use watermarks? If so: is that accepted by your customers?

Ernesto Rodrigues - No, I don’t.

Philipp Bohn - Would you license music under Creative Commons Audio license?
I’m looking forward to learn from your experiences and insights.

Ernesto Rodrigues - As you’ve probably guessed by now, my experiences on these matters is absolutely none. You have to understand that this is a peripheral country away from the center of DRM storms. Now it is a fact that I’m releasing music from musicians from all over the world, some living in the center of such storms and I am aware that somewhere in a near future I’ll have to deal with it mainly if my releases are to be available on line. Yet, I haven’t given it much thought really.
The idea of spreading my music all over is appealing to me even if not for commercial reasons.

August 2005

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