What is DRM Protected Content? Definition, How It Works & More

While the internet remains a great place to share and promote creativity, there will always be an inherent risk involved. As a content creator, you may not wish to have your work freely distributed, as it can open the door to piracy and copyright theft. In this article, we’ll look at DRM protection and how it can safeguard your work and the work of others.

What is DRM Protected Content?

DRM protected content is content with certain restrictions on how it can be used.

Digital Rights Management (DRM) handles the authorization and use of copyrighted material. This copyrighted material may include movies, music, books, shows, games, and other digital assets. Before someone uses DRM protected content, they must be authenticated in some way. For example, if someone wants to copy a particular DRM protected file, they might need to enter their username and password.

Some other DRM restrictions apply to media files. DRM protection is coded into the protected file, so its simplicity or complexity depends on the content creator. For example, a content creator might allow their media file to play for only a limited number of times on a device. Or they might want the file to play only on a particular application.

Other types of DRM protection might ask a user for a password before they can copy or edit a file.

How DRM Works

There are four main stages of the DRM protection process:

• Encryption: The content is encrypted so that if anyone gets hold of it, they still can’t use it because it’s scrambled. Only the decrypted content is usable.
• Management: A set of rules apply to the encryption key so not everyone can access it.
• Authorization: A user must be verified (generally with a username and password) to ensure they are authorized to get the key.
• Regular verification: The authorization of a user is verified regularly to ensure they still have the right to hold the key.

Essentially, here’s what happens when you view DRM protected content: 

1. Digital content is encrypted.
2. The key is tied up with a digital license that contains rules on how to use the content.
3. When a user makes an access request, the DRM client authenticates the user and gives them the right key.
4. This key is used to decrypt the content so they can view it.

What are the Rules of DRM?

As mentioned earlier, the DRM license contains certain rules and requirements that must be met before allowing access to a specific user. Here are some rules that can be built into the license:

• Is the user subscription valid?
• Is the content being accessed from a valid location?
• On how many simultaneous devices can the content be displayed?
• What’s the maximum number of hours a user can view content?

When you play a movie or a show on a DRM protected platform, the DRM client checks all the rules in the license and plays the content if everything is correct.

DRM Protected Content Examples

Streaming or hosting services are an excellent example of DRM protected content. Content creators release their content on DRM protected websites to monetize their work. Common applications of DRM include: 

• Online video players: These players don’t allow users to download files on their devices. Users can view the videos in the browser or application upon entering their username and password.
• Video games: When you install a video game, you’ll be asked to enter a unique code that you’ll receive from the website where you registered.
• Music players: An online music player may not let users download files on their devices. If a player does allow downloads, the file will be in an encrypted format to prevent being copied to other devices.

For example, Spotify has DRM built into its platform. While it’s possible to download digital libraries, most users don’t do it. Even when someone downloads the files, it’s not easy to play those files from another device. In contrast, playing music directly from Spotify is easy, which enables Spotify to protect its content and pay the content creators.

Benefits of DRM Protected Content

DRM lets content creators decide what should be done with their content, and it offers many advantages, such as:

• Revenue protection for content creators
• Prevents unauthorized use or sharing of digital content
• Creates multiple levels of access control according to user preferences
• Prevents plagiarization and piracy

DRM doesn’t need any effort from the user, and there are numerous devices, set-top boxes, and web browsers that support DRM. The three major DRM platforms are Google Widevine, Apple FairPlay, and MS PlayReady, but since the decryption happens in the background, users are unable to see which DRM service was used.

On the user’s end, it all happens seamlessly. Compare this with the Sony rootkit disaster of 2005 when Sony secretly installed “security software” on their discs that prevented users from burning the CDs. It also allowed malware to infiltrate their PCs, leading to a big scandal. In comparison, DRM is a much better way to secure intellectual property.

While DRM protects a creator’s work, it cannot completely eliminate piracy. For example, the screen that’s playing a video can be captured by another device. This new video file will not be DRM protected and can be illegally copied and shared. However, DRM does reduce piracy to a great extent.