The NoDRM logo is a quick and easy way to reassure your fans and customers that the CD they are purchasing from you does not use any digital rights management (DRM) and will work as expected. Tell your fans you respect their Fair Use rights. You will allow them to copy your CD onto their iPod or other portable player. And you will not install any spyware on their computers. Your fans will thank you.

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. It is an attempt to protect the rights of the copyright owner of digital content, such as the music found on an audio CD. The goal is to prevent piracy. Ideally the DRM would be transparent to the user. Unfortunately the technology is not yet good enough to achieve this.

There are several ways to implement DRM. At best it is an inconvenience to the user, such as Apple's FairPlay™ technology which prevents songs purchased in the iTunes Music Store from bein installed on any MP3 player other than an iPod. The user is still free to burn the songs to a CD, however. At worst it is invasive and destructive, such as the rootkit software which came on several Sony CDs. That software hid itself from the operating system, made the computer vulnerable to attacks from hackers, and was extremely difficult to remove.

These events, and others like them- especially the Coldplay CD- have made consumers leary about purchasing CDs. Many consumers are now forced to wonder if the CD they are purchasing will install spyware on their computer, will allow them to transfer the songs to their MP3 player, or if it will even work at all.

The NoDRM program was set up as a way for bands and record labels to let their customers and fans know that the CD they are purchasing will work like a CD is supposed to.

Coldplay's record label released their CD X&Y with a Macrovision DRM. Unfortunately the customer wasn't made aware of this until after the CD was purchased and opened, at which point it could not be returned. Inside the CD was a card which explained that the CD was copy protected and warned that it may not work in the user's CD players.

So after the customer purcahsed the CD they find out they can't move the songs to their MP3 player, and on top of that the CD may not work at all in any of their equipment. How does that help them "enjoy high quality music?"

Although the license for the DRM is supposedly only good in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, CDs have been showing up all over the world with the DRM on it.