Warner music exec slams Jobs on DRM

Warner Music Group has flatly rejected the idea that it should consider dropping DRM, according to the Financial Times. As part of the company's latest quarterly earnings conference call, Warner chief Edgar Bronfman refuted Apple exec Steve Jobs' open letter advocating the end of DRM, attacking Jobs' statement as "completely without logic or merit." Bronfman reasserted the idea that DRM was necessary to the survival of his label's business and compared it to the protections already in place for DVDs and computer programs.

The disagreement was made at the same time as Warner coped with an especially harsh decline in its fortunes. The company's revenues last quarter fell a staggering 74 percent compared to the same period a year ago, with even online-only downloads experiencing a slower than expected growth.

Bronfman publicly blamed a lack of high-profile albums and the "maturation" of the market but is expected to suffer when attempting to negotiate renewed contracts with Jobs later this year, who FT speculates may point to the apparent failure of Warner's business as an incentive to switch to unrestricted iTunes songs.