Apple, EMI embrace DRM-free music

In what many will see as a left-of-field and bold move, EMI has just announced it will make it's music available DRM Free. The move is a real win for consumers and will hopefully show other media companies that their restrictive model is fundamentally broken. Many were wary - to say the least - of Jobs when he released his own missive on DRM earlier in the year.

We all know Apple makes a lot of money from it's iPod/iTunes business, but that their slice of the cake is the hardware so in some way the lock in is good for them. Others said the move was just a reaction to criticism from within Europe. Frankly I wasn't bothered either way, DRM is bad and that's why I have never bought anything from the iTunes Music Store despite owning an iPod and loving all my Macs. But I did think Jobs was being serious and discussed why I thought he would be willing to risk it all.

Then EMI came out and said they were willing to investigate DRM-free offerings, but that it would cost the gatekeeper companies like Apple, Microsoft, RealNetworks, Yahoo Music, Napster a lot in up front charges. Again this was seen as posturing more than anything else, including by myself.

But today things have changed. I must admit I didn't expect this and we still don't know how it will pan out. Sure, these DRM free tracks will be at a premium but christ they listened to people! Proof if ever it was needed that companies can be made to change their short-sighted ways with enough pressure, enough incentive and some supporters from the inside. I'm not follower of the Cult of Jobs but he has undoubtedly helped this happen and will be there pushing the other players to join in. It's not a completely altruistic move, Apple will make money and get a lot of publicity for this. Hopefully EMI will too so they can justify this to their bean counters and the rest of the industry.

- DRM-free and 256kbps AAC for $1.29/€1.29/£0.99 per track.
- DRM crippled 128kbps AAC still available at $0.99/€0.99/£0.79 per track.
- Ability to upgrade your crippled purchases by paying the difference ($0.30/€0.30/£0.20 per track).
- All EMI videos on the iTunes Store will be DRM free at the same price.

EMI are not abandoning DRM, just offering DRM-free and higher quality encoding in AAC, WMA and MP3 formats available to resellers at a premium.

It will be very interesting to see how this pans out over the coming months and even years. The battle for the gateways to media consumption and for advertising revenue are if anything just beginning.

But I shall repeat this: Content is King. Don't Let Creativity Be Restricted.

Update:According to EMI's PR people and via gizmodo it was EMI that appproached Apple about this rather than the other way around. Whether this was before or after Jobs spoke out against DRM is not clear. The reasoning from EMI's side is purely a business one. Research showed consumers want it and would buy more music if it was DRM free. They are doing this to increase sales and marketshare. Also, apparently full album's of DRM-free music cost the same as the DRM'd ones, I'm not sure if this means free upgrades of entire albums. The deal includes other forms of music distribution including on mobile phones, this is a big market in many countires and makes the FairPlay controls seem trivial by comparison.