Digital Era
Unfortunately for years digital has meant free to many people. Digital copies are just too easy to distribute particularly when Internet data is unlimited for many.
If you own a physical item, be it book, CD or DVD within reason only one copy exists. Once is it digital there is pretty much no control on how many copies of a single purchase can exist. If you loan your book or DVD to someone, you cannot use it yourself. If it is a digital copy then I suggest it is never loaned but is given.
Companies that try to use DRM get criticised as trying to profit from the buyers but at the end of the day, their job is to make money for themselves and their clients.
CDs were seen as a rip because you could get a track cheaper as a download. Whilst there are additional costs in the CD, the costs of the download and the amount that do to the original creator are derisory, fractions of a penny. Unfortunately the big online streaming or download platforms have broken the system such that the creator is not receiving anything worthwhile. There will always be the very few who make money but the majority don't.
With eBooks it is even worse as there is no option of a live performance as you have with music (until COVID19).
Biting the hand that feeds IT
