1. A method comprising: receiving a protected piece of content at a computer system, the computer system comprising a computer-readable medium storing software, the software comprising digital rights management software for processing protected content; receiving a request to render the protected piece of content; sending a service discovery request to a registry; receiving information identifying a remote computer system as a provider of a service; requesting the service from the remote computer system, performance of the service being needed to enable the request to render the protected piece of content to be granted; receiving a response from the remote computer system, the response including results from performing the service; using the digital rights management software to make a determination as to whether the request to render the protected piece of content may be granted, the determination being based, at least in part, on the results from performing the service and license information associated with the protected piece of content; and selectively granting the request to render the protected piece of content based on the determination made by the digital rights management software.