Sony/BMG Finalizing Deal To Strip DRM From Part Of Their Catalog
Ding dong - DRM is Dead! The wicked restrictions will be buried soon... Last week when WMG announced that it would offer its entire catalog of music DRM-free via the new Amazon digital music store, everyone knew it couldn't be long before Sony/BMG threw in the towel. BusinessWeek.com and Wired (+numerous other site) announced today that the last of the Big 4 record labels to cling to DRM is in the midst of finalizing a deal that will make at least part of their digital catalog available DRM-free. This is great news for music fans, as it will vastly open up the possibilities for new models of music distribution and make the new portable media devices more flexible. According to the report on Wired:
As the major labels abandon DRM, it becomes increasingly likely that new distribution channels will rise up capable of challenging Apple's market-dominating iTunes Store. Amazon's DRM-free store, for instance, offers variable pricing. Social network sites like Facebook and MySpace could also potentially provide outlets for the sale of DRM-free songs as well. The record labels want that type of flexibility, which Apple has been reluctant to provide.This news comes the same week that digital sales reached a record high (Flo-Rida's "Low" sold a record-breaking 470k downloads last week alone) and album sales continue to decline (falling 9.5% in 2007 according to a report from AP). Read more on Wired.com and BusinessWeek.com.While you're over on Wired, be sure to scope Eliot's brief article titled "Why (And How) I Just Canceled All My Music Subscriptions". He explains that even as a paid employee who writes about music and gets his music subscriptions services covered by work and tax write-offs, he's canceled his subscriptions to Yahoo Music, Rhapsody and Napster. He explains that the decision was based on the fact that the Big 4 have dropped DRM, so there is no point in paying money (even if he will be reimbursed) for restricted files. He then goes on to document how easy or difficult it was to unsubscribe from each one and how many minutes it took each time. All in all a great read from someone who knows the biz.
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