Digital Rights Management(DRM), Meet Digital Asset Management (DAM)

Digital rights management (DRM) is how organizations control access to copyrighted digital assets. This can include assets around a brand's identity, or it can also relate to tracking the rights of licensed digital files or marketing materials. Digital rights management ensures that assets related to a spokesperson, musician, or company branding are used correctly.

For those that don't know how DRM works, let's provide an example. Let’s say you have an image in your digital asset management (DAM) software. That one image can have multiple digital rights (DR) issues at play. For example:

• The image is part of a top-secret campaign that can only be seen by a few team members prior to its release date.
• It features three different models, each of whom have specific model releases.
• The image uses an anniversary-themed variant of your logo that can only be used for one year. 
• The image is approved for use in North America, but not in other regions.

If your DAM software has DRM features, you can organize your assets and protect them at the same time to increase productivity and maintain brand consistency.

Why is DRM important?

Digital rights management (DRM) plays a crucial role in the realm of digital asset management software by safeguarding intellectual property and ensuring compliance with usage rights. One of the foremost reasons for implementing DRM within DAM systems is to protect brand integrity and guidelines. By controlling access to digital assets, organizations can maintain consistency across all channels and prevent unauthorized usage or distribution of assets that haven't been vetted or approved. Moreover, DRM helps in adhering to specific rights associated with different file types, such as images, videos, or documents. This ensures that assets are utilized appropriately, whether it involves adhering to copyright laws, licensing agreements, or contractual obligations with models, musicians, or other stakeholders. Additionally, DRM within DAM platforms assists in mitigating legal risks and liabilities by ensuring that only authorized individuals or teams have access to sensitive assets, thereby reducing the likelihood of infringement or misuse. Furthermore, DRM facilitates compliance with industry regulations and standards, such as HIPAA or GDPR, by offering features that enable secure handling of confidential or personally identifiable information within digital assets. Overall, the integration of DRM within DAM systems not only enhances security and control over digital assets but also promotes brand consistency, legal compliance, and risk mitigation, thereby contributing to the overall effectiveness and success of digital asset management strategies.

Brand security

Digital rights management (DRM) is paramount for brand management within the context of digital asset management (DAM) due to its pivotal role in preserving brand integrity, consistency, and value across various channels and touchpoints. By implementing DRM within DAM systems, organizations can effectively control access to their digital assets, ensuring that only authorized users can utilize or distribute them according to predetermined guidelines and usage rights. This capability is crucial for maintaining brand consistency and identity, as it prevents the unauthorized use or modification of brand assets, such as logos, images, or videos, which could dilute brand messaging or create inconsistencies in visual representation. Additionally, DRM facilitates adherence to copyright laws, licensing agreements, and contractual obligations with stakeholders, such as models, musicians, or partners, thereby safeguarding the brand's legal interests and reputation. Furthermore, DRM within DAM platforms enables organizations to track the usage and distribution of their digital assets, providing valuable insights into how assets are being utilized and ensuring compliance with brand standards and policies. Overall, DRM serves as a cornerstone for effective brand management within DAM, offering robust security measures, compliance controls, and visibility into asset usage, ultimately contributing to the long-term success and sustainability of the brand in the digital landscape.

Liability

Digital rights management (DRM) is indispensable for managing liability within digital asset management (DAM) software, primarily because it provides a robust framework for controlling access to assets and ensuring their proper usage. The consequences of using the wrong asset at the wrong time can be severe, potentially exposing businesses to a myriad of legal challenges and liabilities. Asset managers must contend with various considerations, including model and music release forms, adherence to brand guidelines regarding colors and logos, and compliance with copyright laws and licensing agreements. For instance, a seemingly minor oversight, such as using the wrong font on a landing page, resulted in a telecom company facing a lawsuit. Such incidents underscore the critical importance of implementing DRM mechanisms within DAM software to prevent inadvertent misuse or unauthorized distribution of assets. DRM enables organizations to enforce stringent access controls, track usage rights, and maintain an audit trail of asset activities, thereby minimizing the risk of legal disputes and liabilities stemming from copyright infringement, unauthorized use of intellectual property, or non-compliance with contractual obligations. By integrating DRM into DAM workflows, businesses can proactively mitigate legal risks, protect their brand reputation, and safeguard their financial interests, ultimately fostering a secure and compliant environment for managing digital assets.

Compliance 

Digital rights management (DRM) holds significant importance for ensuring compliance within the realm of digital asset management (DAM), especially in industries subject to stringent regulatory requirements such as healthcare or data privacy laws like GDPR in the EU. Organizations operating within these sectors must adhere to specific compliance standards and regulations governing the handling, storage, and sharing of sensitive data and digital assets. For instance, healthcare facilities are obligated to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which mandates strict protocols for protecting patient information and maintaining confidentiality. Similarly, businesses operating within the European Union must adhere to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which imposes rigorous data protection and privacy requirements. In such regulatory environments, DAM platforms that integrate robust DRM functionalities are essential for ensuring compliance. DRM enables organizations to enforce access controls, track usage rights, and implement encryption protocols to safeguard sensitive assets and mitigate the risk of data breaches or non-compliance penalties. By choosing DAM solutions that are tailored to meet specific compliance standards, organizations can streamline their compliance efforts, mitigate regulatory risks, and uphold the highest standards of data security and privacy, thereby fostering trust among stakeholders and maintaining regulatory compliance in an increasingly complex digital landscape.

How does digital rights management work in a DAM?

Some digital asset management systems have prioritized rights management features, offering tools that can help track the rights and usage of your various digital assets. Here are a few examples of how DAM can help you manage asset rights:

Permissions

Setting which departments, groups or individuals can see an asset is only the beginning. An enterprise DAM platform can offer a host of granular controls that let you manage who can access assets. Make sure your permissions let you control:

• Format: Some permissioning systems allow you to set the resolution or format for an asset. For instance, you could only allow general users to see lower-resolution proxies rather than giving them access to the original format, or require they only download watermarked images.
• Download: Don’t want an asset to ever make it into the public eye? Set permissions to stop users from downloading.
• Share: If you have sensitive assets, you can keep them safe by limiting who can share digital assets.
• Visibility: A change to visibility class or status can quickly move assets into — or out of — the public eye. For instance, you could prevent assets from being shared if they don’t have an “Approved” visibility.

Embargo / Expiration Dates

Rights management often amounts to time management. Knowing when an asset can be safely used is half the battle in shielding a company from liability. DAM software can help by letting you set — and forget — dates for releasing or removing assets from view. The digital asset management system can do the work by changing access automatically when dates arrive.

Some DAM systems even have features that let you send notifications to users when an asset is about to expire, so they can stop using it.

Restrictions 

Restrictions are the mirror of permissions, preventing access rather than granting it. One example would be a DAM letting you add a search restriction to hide assets from unauthorized users’ searches. Some even let you add geographic restrictions, so an asset can only be viewed in certain regions or territories.

Watermarks

Watermarking is a simple, effective way to reduce pirating of your digital media. Many digital asset management systems offer multiple methods for adding a watermark to assets on download or when shared. Watermarks can range from small logos identifying your company to large, aggressive watermarks designed to make pirating assets extremely difficult. For example, videos could feature a moving watermark or documents could have a broad “Confidential” watermark prominently on the page.

Compliance

Some rights management is related to complying with regulatory requirements, like HIPAA or FINRA. For instance, if you have personally identifiable information in the DAM, your DAM should offer specific features that let you keep those assets safe. 

Automatic updates

Worried about sites featuring old assets? If you embed content directly from the DAM, then you can update assets everywhere at once when a new version is released. 

Terms of Service

A DAM solution can let you cover yourself legally by adding Terms of Service to assets. You can have users check that they’ve reviewed Terms of Service or even include Terms of Service as a required part of downloads.

External usage

It’s 10 p.m. — do you know where your assets are? Integrations with A.I. services (like Google Cloud) can show you where your assets can be found outside the DAM, letting you pursue assets that are appearing where they shouldn’t.

Lockdown

Picture this: The spokesperson for your latest campaign has just said something … regrettable on social media. Need to make sure no one touches the assets featuring him for a little while? Search for assets that he’s tagged in and use a lockdown feature to prevent users from finding or sharing them. 

Embedded Metadata

Embedding metadata is a little like tattooing important information onto the asset. This makes it easier to analyze assets when they aren’t in the DAM — and makes it easier to identify assets that show up where they don’t belong.

Adding DRM to your DAM

Digital rights and digital asset management are a natural pairing. Both DRM and DAM are designed to keep your assets secure. And with the right digital asset management solution, you can handle both from the same system.

To learn more about Orange Logic's DRM tools, book a call today!