Every drm implementation has successfully sold engineering hours to big media. But no, if anything, annecdotally it drives me to piracy after being unable to use my purchase on my projector.

You think DRM hasn't worked, but it has worked perfectly fine for its intended purpose. The purpose of DRM is not to control the content, it's to control the channel. DRM on DVD's, even though trivially to break and broken since the beginning, has been used quite effectively to control DVD players. Anyone who makes a DVD player without a license can and will be sued, meaning you still can't skip ads on most DVD players. Similarly, DRM in browsers is a means to control browsers, so that they don't become any more piracy-friendly, and in time it may be used as a weapon to lock them down.

The main reason for DRM is old people in positions of power who don't get computers. Locking your door helps against physical theft, so why not do "the same" for digital goods? DRM is a cargo cult.