WMG Offers Digital Catalog DRM-Free Exclusively On Amazon MP3

Amazon.com and Warner Music Group announced some BIG news today. Warner Music stripped the DRM from their digital music catalog and are making it available on Amazon MP3. At this time, the WMG catalog is only available DRM-Free via Amazon's digital music store. This adds considerable heft to the idea circulating this month that Amazon MP3 is surpassing iTunes in quality and quantity of music served. WMG has held off on offering the restriction-free format, but the continuing decrease in album sales must speak pretty loudly to even the most stalwart of businessmen. Senior VP of Digital Strategy for WMG made it seem that the corporation had the consumers' best interest at heart when making the decision. According to a press release from WMG and Amazon:

"Consumers want flexibility with respect to what they can do with music once they purchase it, and we want them to have that flexibility, which is why we're pleased to offer our artists' music on Amazon MP3," said Michael Nash, Senior Vice President, Digital Strategy and Business Development for Warner Music Group. "We believe that giving consumers the assurance that the music they purchase can be played on any device they own will only encourage more sales of music. Amazon shares our vision with respect to offering feature-rich music based digital products, and we look forward to making available an array of exciting new digital products over time that will transform the relationship between and among consumers, labels and artists."

Whatever the deciding factors were, I'm relieved that WMG came to this conclusion. DRM restricts everybody: the consumer, the musician and the record labels. I imagine it won't be long before the WMG digital audio catalog is available without restrictions via iTunes as well. Steve Jobs made a big deal about how he was all for DRM-free digital downloads and would eagerly promote them on iTunes when the labels were ready to comply. Warner Music was the third of the BIG 4 record companies to offer their digital audio catalog without DRM. Sony BMG is now the last one holding onto the sinking ship of DRM. Most likely, they too will jump ship and offer their music free of DRM. This will even out the playing field not only for digital music stores, but also for portable music players. It looks like 2008 is going to be a very exciting year for the music industry and music consumers alike!Full press release here.For an idea of what music WMG offers digitally, browse their youTube page:http://www.youtube.com/warnermusicgroupOne example is the #1 Song on the Hot 100 Chart this week - Flo-Rida's "Low":WMG are also home to Led Zeppelin, Regina Spector, Tegan and Sarah, Seal, Saigon, Linkin Park, and many many more...