On July 13th, the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) Forum released the Portable Device Specification Part 1, Version 1.0 to the public. The purpose of the Specification is to provide a technical environment for the secure distribution of digital music to next-generation portable digital music players (PDMP). As such, it is of critical importance to all segments of the music industry, including artists, copyright owners, distributors, retailers and hardware/software manufacturers.

This prompted Tag It to launch the fourth MusicDish Industry Survey to try to gain an understanding of the impact the standard will have on the music industry. You will find below the aggregate views of 150 music industry members from all segments of the industry who have participated in the survey. Instead of the standard survey report though, we wish to take this opportunity to open a debate among a broader group of the music community.

As such, we invite all concerned individuals to provide us with their comments and views on how SDMI is impacting your business or career, or on the survey results below.

Send your comments to MusicDish.com:
www.musicdish.com/survey/sdmi/sdmi.shtml#n1

Your comments as well as the survey results will be used in a paper titled "Impact of the Internet/New Media on the Music Recording Industry" to be presented at the International Telecommunications Society Regional European Conference in Turin, Italy next month.

Results from survey conducted from July 22 to August 20, 1999
www.musicdish.com/survey/sdmi/sdmi.shtml

Other MusicDish Surveys:

MP3: Digital Music for the Millennium
www.musicdish.com/survey/mp3/mp3.shtml

Marketing and Promotion in the Music Industry
www.musicdish.com/survey/051799/index.shtml

Music and Copyrights in the Digital Age
www.musicdish.com/survey/040199/survey_results.shtml