Idolator: Drm

Wal-Mart Leaves The Light On

Maura Johnston — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:30:00 EDT

Retail giant Wal-Mart has had a change of heart (or at least a panic attack about bad PR in a time of economic crisis): After threatening to shut off its online music store's DRM servers on Oct. 9—you know, yesterday—it's decided to keep those servers up and running, so people who bought protected audio files before the whole enterprise switched over to an MP3-only operation can keep on listening to those songs without burning them to a CD. And it's all because of "customer feedback"! Not to mention the idea that asking people to truck out and buy CD-Rs ($14.88 for a 50-disc spindle!)) in the current economic moment clashes a bit with the company's overall "always low prices, even though the result is basically you shopping yourself out of a job" mandate. [Engadget]

Wal-Mart Pulls The Rug Out From People Who Actually Bought Music From Its Web Site

Maura Johnston — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Retail giant Wal-Mart have notified customers of their digital-music store that, come Oct. 9, they won't be able to play any files purchased before August 2007 and many of those purchased before February, thanks to those files being protected by the Microsoft-crafted digital-rights management software Playsforsure. In the wake of Microsoft stopping development and support of that nasty little bit of DRM, Wal-Mart switched its entire digital-music store to MP3s in February. So now, the higher-ups there have decided that the time is right to shut off the "license key" that allows those files to be played by people who ~~purchased~~ rented them. The Bentonville-issued missive to customers after the jump.

Important Information About Your Digital Music Purchases

We hope you are enjoying the increased music quality/bitrate and the improved usability of Walmart's MP3 music downloads. We began offering MP3s in August 2007 and have offered only DRM (digital rights management) -free MP3s since February 2008. As the final stage of our transition to a full DRM-free MP3 download store, Walmart will be shutting down our digital rights management system that supports protected songs and albums purchased from our site.

If you have purchased protected WMA music files from our site prior to Feb 2008, we strongly recommend that you back up your songs...

by burning them to a recordable audio CD. By backing up your songs, you will be able to access them from any personal computer. This change does not impact songs or albums purchased after Feb 2008, as those are DRM-free.

Beginning October 9, we will no longer be able to assist with digital rights management issues for protected WMA files purchased from Walmart.com. If you do not back up your files before this date, you will no longer be able to transfer your songs to other computers or access your songs after changing or reinstalling your operating system or in the event of a system crash. Your music and video collections will still play on the originally authorized computer.

Thank you for using Walmart.com for music downloads. We are working hard to make our store better than ever and easier to use.

Walmart Music Team

Of course, this has led the more tech-"savvy" types out there to bray about how this is the latest example of DRM being broken, people never needing to pay for music, etc. It would seem that Wal-Mart would agree with the thesis of this statement, although I guess misunderstanding an antagonist's argument never stopped people on the Internet from attempting to filibuster against what they perceive as injustice.

OK, I can't believe I'm sort of taking Wal-Mart's side on something. (I already took one shower today.) So I will add that the right thing for the folks in Bentonville to do would be to somehow allow people who purchased protected downloads to re-download those songs an albums in MP3 format, so as to avoid the aural degradation that occurs when a WMA file gets burned to disc and re-ripped as MP3s. Thanks to the store's ever-present desire to squeeze any bit of profit it can out of its doings, however, the chance of that happening ranges between "not bloody likely" and "haahahahaahahaha."

Blue Light Special: Wal-Mart Ends WMA 10/9 [Hypebot, who apparently thinks that Wal-Mart = K-Mart]
Wal-Mart latest store to shut down DRM key servers [Ars Technica]

Sorry About Your Useless Files, Says Yahoo

Dan Gibson — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:30:00 EDT

Remember when it seemed like former Yahoo! Music customers were going to have to repurchase any music they purchased from the now-defunct company and wanted to transfer to another machine? The company intends to make things right, although in a manner yet to be determined. A Yahoo! Music spokesperson told InformationWeek that customers would be "compensated for whatever you paid for the music... We haven't said exactly what we will do, but we will take care of our customers." I suppose that's comforting in some sense, although that promise is so vague, it could mean that Yahoo! is readying a stockpile of warm milk and blankies. Later in that same article, InformationWeek, through no fault of their own, relayed this gem: "Yahoo's experience with shutting down its music store highlights the problem DRM technology can have on consumers." You don't say. [InformationWeek]

Microsoft To People Who Bought Tunes From MSN Music: "Suckers!"

Maura Johnston — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:30:00 EDT

Microsoft is pulling support for MSN Music's digital-rights management come August 30, which means that any songs purchased through the now-defunct music store—which went dark in November 2006, just as the parent company was going Zune-crazy—will be locked into the computers and operating systems that they're working on at that time, with no further authorizations possible. Microsoft is recommending that affected users burn their unshareable tracks to CD and then re-rip them to whatever new computers they'd like to hear them on, but given that the recommended process results in the fidelity being even worse, what's more likely to happen is that people will be driven to LimeWire, BitTorrent, and leak blogs in search of replenishing their collection. Ah, digital-rights management—it really is good at making unintended consequences turn into reality, isn't it? [Listening Post]

Hypebot is wondering if the stalled effort ...

Maura Johnston — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:45:11 EDT

Hypebot is wondering if the stalled effort to make more digital-music stores' catalog free of digital rights management is the fault of the stores or the major record labels. I have a third theory: The roadblock isn't really because of either side digging in its heels: It's because the "issue" of whether or not music should be free of DRM is one that doesn't really matter to 95% of consumers, as long as they can get the songs they've already purchased online to work on their computer/portable device, and so pouring a lot of money into a "solution" for this overhyped-by-the-tech-nerds problem isn't really as high a priority as, say, negotiating deals for possible subscription services or wrangling holdouts' catalogs onto their stores' virtual shelves. (I know, readers—it's hard to think that the opinions of people on the Internet might not be all that important in the grand scheme of things!) [Hypebot]

Sony Hoping That Convenient Card Format Will Inspire People To Start Giving Music As Gifts Again

mjohnston — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:30:02 EST

Sony BMG has announced more plans for its Platinum MusicPass, the album-in-a-gift-card scheme that will allow people who pony up $12.98 to download MP3s^* of the album touted on the card. In his analysis of the product, Glenn at Coolfer posits that Sony BMG is pitching the Platinum Music Pass as a gift idea; presumably it'll be stocked with gift cards from companies like American Express and iTunes in the checkout aisles of retailers like Best Buy and Winn-Dixie. (And I do have to say that shrinking albums down to card size is an excellent way to respond to retailers' slashing of floor space for music.) But let's be honest: would you get your friend a Jennifer Lopez album on a plastic card as a way to say "happy birthday" or even "you might want to cut down on the blush"? Our poll on your preferred format for gifting music is after the jump.

Sony BMG trades cards for downloaded tunes [USA Today]

^* Yes, they're DRM-free. Welcome to spring 2007, Sony.

It's probably not that hard to believe, but ...

mjohnston — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:15:14 EST

It's probably not that hard to believe, but I was certainly amused by the fact that in the '70s, the music industry tried to copy-protect its vinyl offerings by pressing a high-pitch frequency into albums that somehow ruined the "putting it to tape" process. The big problem? The more you listened to a record, the more this analog-rights management degraded: "Repeated plays of vinyl dampen the ability to reproduce high frequencies, and it seems that often the spoiler signal was either audible during regular playback, or didn't have sufficient impact upon recordings. Either way, after a few plays it was destined to disappear due to regular wear and tear on the record's groove." [Currybet, via No Rock And Roll Fun]

Sony BMG Can't Let Go Of Putting Out Physical Product

mjohnston — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 08:51:46 EST

Sony BMG is leaving DRM behind and entering the MP3 market ... with albums that you can buy in stores. But in a move designed to counteract the ever-shrinking amount of floor space devoted to music, those albums won't be on CD or DVD-Audio or DualDisc some other sort of disc. No, they'll be on cards—you know, the sort of dinky plastic gift cards that you now see offering things like iTunes credits and American Express-mediated money at the checkout counters of your big-box retailers in these high fructose corn syrup-averse times! And they'll also be more expensive than $9.99, natch. What, you thought you were going to get off easy on this?

Apparently modeled on the iTunes digital download album cards, Sony BMG will place 40-50 album cards in about five large retailers. The cards will be a select mix of hit and catalog titles from artists such as Bob Dylan, Pink and Bruce Springsteen, as well as a few compilation releases.

The cards, which sources say are priced at $12.99, will come with a code that can be redeemed at a Sony BMG download store, which is expected to be called musicpass.com. Currently, no such site is live on the web.

The program is scheduled to launch sometime next month—just in time for returns season! or, uh, Super Bowl Sunday?—and so far, it's the only venture into MP3s that Sony has been linked to. You'd think that for a company with a president who can't stop talking about "going green" they'd have worked with an all-digital company like Amazon or iTunes before going back into the physical-product world, but that just sounds too logical, I guess.

Sony BMG To Embrace MP3s [Billboard]

DRM: Does It Even Matter?

mjohnston — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 08:53:10 EDT

We've talked a lot about labels' efforts to break their music free from copy protection around here, but the data on whether or not said unshackling is actually a good sales strategy is still a bit fuzzy. Digital Music News reports that most of the recent experiments with DRM-free music have, up to this point, had results that are confusing at best, although they did get a nice quote from the COO of the roll-your-own-store company Snocap claiming that "Pound for pound, MP3 sells more" to those people who actually decide to pony up for music. But do consumers buy more MP3s because they're actively looking to fight the digital-rights management monster or because they just want a song that can play on their personal-music device of choice? Since you're a bunch of pretty savvy listeners—not to flatter or anything!—let's take this issue to our polling software:

DRM Questions Continue, Experimental Data Remains Foggy [Digital Music News]

Universal's DRM-free files on services like ...

mjohnston — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 16:53:25 EDT

Universal's DRM-free files on services like Rhapsody and Best Buy will be watermarked, but those watermarks won't be used to identify specific users, according to the label. Instead, the watermarks "could provide a way for the label to track which songs —in general — make it onto P2P networks." Color us interested in their studies' eventual results, yet still slightly skeptical. [Listening Post]

Despite Steve Jobs' dreams, an analyst for ...

mjohnston — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 16:53:36 EDT

Despite Steve Jobs' dreams, an analyst for the company In-Stat claims that digital-rights management isn't going anywhere—and that, if anything, it'll get more advanced over the coming years. What's a big reason for DRM's continued dominance? The fact that a good 40% of U.S. consumers have no idea what that three-letter acronym means or does. [Internet News]

Hey, your pals at Sony here. Remember that ...

dangibs — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 11:45:38 EDT

Hey, your pals at Sony here. Remember that program on our compact discs awhile back that locked your computer and possibly opened up massive security issues? I know we settled the case, and admitted some liability, but we just wanted to get back to you, the consumer, and clarify something. It totally wasn't our fault. It was the company that we hired to build the program in the first place. No hard feelings, right? [TG Daily]

Download Service You Probably Never Used Finally Decides To Cut Its Losses

mjohnston — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 09:24:12 EDT

Sony Connect—the Sony-powered download store that was Windows-only and Internet Explorer-only, and that trafficked in the Sony-developed standard ATRAC—will close over the next few months, and 20 people will be laid off. The service's hookup with the PlayStation Portable didn't quite serve as the catalyst that Sony executives thought it did, and we're guessing that its early hostility toward the MP3 format also turned off users. (Hands up if you thought it was even selling MP3s now.)

Sony Connect To Close Music/Video Services; Focus on Servicing Playstation Group; 20 People To Go [paidContent]

DRM-Free Downloads Trickle Into iTunes Music Store

mjohnston — Wed, 30 May 2007 12:36:59 EDT

A follow-up on our earlier item about iTunes' latest version: The iTunes Store has opened its "iTunes Plus" section, which contains DRM-free content. EMI seems to own the bulk of the virtual shelf space—spotlighted releases include Corinne Bailey Rae's album, the remaster of Band On The Run, and, um, the Let's Go To Prison soundtrack—although we also found releases from indie labels like Paw Tracks and Load, which are distributed by the company's indie arm Caroline. The option to "upgrade" existing purchases to DRM-free, higher-quality downloads is now also available to iTunes Plus-enabled songs, although be warned: you'll have to drop a dime or three per song to do so.

Earlier: Apple's Experiment With DRM-Free Music Begins

Apple's Experiment With DRM-Free Music Begins

mjohnston — Wed, 30 May 2007 08:45:00 EDT

For those of you who ignore your computers' "update this software" nagging, a note: The newest version of iTunes—which Apple released earlier today—features support for iTunes Plus, the not-very-well-named edition of the store that will sell music without digital copyright protection. (Perhaps rushing to make the May deadline meant that the "branding" part of launch prep got a little rushed.) There aren't any unprotected tracks available yet; we're guessing that a front page trumpeting the change, and spotlighting unprotected tracks, will launch sometime today, if only because the "New Releases" section there hasn't been updated since Jordin Sparks' and Blake Lewis' EPs were added to iTunes' catalog.

The help area's section on iTunes Plus does reveal two interesting nuggets—users can make DRM-free downloads the default the first time they make an iTunes Plus purchase, and people who have already purchased songs can "upgrade" to their DRM-free versions, if they're available, and if the users are willing to shell out a few extra coins.

Apple Delivers iTunes Store Upgrade, Prepares DRM-Free Catalog [Digital Music News]

Apple Requiring Labels To Deliver Content DRM-Free?

mjohnston — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 12:46:53 EDT

In a Hypebot post calling out Steve Jobs for not being quick enough on the DRM-free draw with labels who already offer their content unprotected at sites like eMusic, a commenter named "Anon y Maus" said that, in fact, unprotected AACs from many labels would probably be showing up on the site soon:

My company is one of the largest providers of indepenent music to iTunes. Apple has written a new clause into our contract to ask us to deliver everything as unprotected master files, to be sold with no DRM. Not only that but we will RE-deliver everything we have ever sent them, as higher bitrate, no DRM.

What's interesting to us about this tip is the fact that Apple will be renegotating its contracts with the major labels soon—and the labels are said to be asking for iTunes to start a subscription service, which gives them a steady revenue stream, or the option for variable pricing, which will up their profits. Will Apple only budge on the variable-pricing tip if iTunes is allowed to offer higher-quality, DRM-free files from the labels that want it? And wouldn't the whole idea of a subscription service require some sort of DRM on the files, unless iTunes used the eMusic model and allowed users to download—and keep—a certain number of files per month, based on how much they paid? If you have any tips on how these negotiations will be going—or when iTunes will let other DRM-free content into its store's fray—send us your tips; we promise to keep them all anonymous (or Anon y Maus, if cute twists on spelling are more your bag).

Does Steve Jobs Really Want DRM Free Music? [Hypebot]

The Amazon MP3 Store: It May Finally Be Happening (Maybe)

mjohnston — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 11:00:50 EDT

According to numerous reports, online retail behemoth Amazon.com is preparing to launch its long-delayed digital-music store in May. Digital Music News is reporting that the store will mostly be a low-key affair, with DRM-free MP3s being rolled into approved albums' current project pages. No word on whether the four major-label groups will be participating yet, but Amazon must have finally realized that they had to launch some sort of digital-music play during this decade:

Over the past few years, Amazon has been considering a broad range of music ecommerce possibilities. In earlier discussions, sources confirmed that meetings had occurred with numerous portable MP3 manufacturers, and most recently with MP3-based independent retailer eMusic. All of those discussions fizzled, leaving Amazon with a solution that plays with, instead of against, the dominant iPod+iTunes ecosystem.

Instead of competing with iTunes, Amazon will encourage users to incorporate their downloads into the Apple store, and transfer tracks to their iPods. "Stick with iTunes, but buy from Amazon," one source quipped.

Yes, that's right—Amazon's proposed naming-the-competitor strategy is basically the equivalent of a jilted suitor saying "Please, please, I know you're with her, but can't you fool around with me on the side?" Which doesn't sound like the best way to go to us, but who knows—maybe if the bitrate's attractive enough, people will be convinced to give it a second glance.

Amazon Readies Simple, Integrated, MP3-Based Entrance [Digital Music News]

Universal Sticking Its Toe Into The DRM-Free Water

mjohnston — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:32:24 EDT

While Warner Music Group has sort-of decided that it doesn't want to sell MP3s, the Universal Music Group is planning on entering the digital-rights-management-free space with some of its classical offerings. From
Reuters:

Amazon, which is considered the best bet to challenge iTunes' supremacy in the digital world, is shooting to launch its MP3 digital download store in May, a target date it has yet to publicly acknowledge. (Amazon declines comment.) Meanwhile, sources familiar with the situation say Universal Music Group plans to test the sale of unprotected digital music files, including some of its classical music catalog conceivably including titles by Andrea Bocelli, at the new Amazon store and other outlets.

Universal has previously tested the sale of some isolated digital rights management-free music, from Jesse McCartney in the United States and French acts Superbus and Emilie Simon in Europe. But now the company plans to expand that initiative significantly by selling classical selections through download stores and subscription services, in the DRM-free format of the retailers' choice. Universal is planning tests in other genres as well, sources say.

It's unclear so far whether iTunes is included among stores slated to sell unprotected Universal music, and the label could not be reached to comment.

Universal's adventures in the DRM-free space should be excellent blog fodder over the coming weeks, given Doug Morris' penchant for cracking down on anyone distributing music in a way that isn't to his liking—and Universal's appointment of an executive strictly in charge of antipiracy measures. Whether or not those tests in other genres will include measurement of purchased files being swapped is up in the air, but the clock has started ticking: Apple announced that EMI's DRM-free offerings will definitely be available on iTunes next month.

Universal, Amazon beef up MP3 sales space [Reuters]

Warner Music Group Is Very Much In Favor Of DRM--We Think

mjohnston — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 10:05:56 EDT

Yesterday we posted an item about AnywhereCD, a new digital-music service that was selling Warner Music Group titles via 192Kbps-MP3. Shortly after the item went up, an astute commenter noted that the article had been altered since our posting, and sure enough, the Billboard.biz article we linked to, which was called "Warner Music Group Ditches DRM?" yesterday, now has the much sterner headline "WMG Issues Termination Notice To DRM-Free Service":

Warner Music Group has sent a notice of termination to the recently launched DRM-free music service AnywhereCD.

The service, which was formed by Michael Robertson, founder of the original MP3.com, is stocked with music from a variety of labels including ones under the Warner Music Group umbrella, as well as several indie labels like SubPop and Roadrunner Records.

"AnywhereCD is selling Warner Music Group content in a manner that flagrantly violates the terms of our agreement," says a WMG representative. "Accordingly, we have sent them a notice of termination and they are required to immediately remove all of our content from their site."

As of this writing, though, the WMG albums are still on the site; a Reuters story published this morning is attempting to clarify WMG's position, saying that WMG was OK with AnywhereCD "[offering] a service to let CD buyers rip their albums into MP3 files." (Like ... iTunes?) We'll keep an eye on this story throughout the day, but we're starting to wonder if our joke about WMG chair Edgar Bronfman Jr. not noticing that this AnywhereCD deal was going down may have actually been rooted in truth.

Warner Music wants unprotected albums off Web site [Reuters via Hypebot]
WMG Issues Termination Notice To DRM-Free Service [Billboard]
Earlier: Warner Music Group Sneaks Into DRM-Free Music World

Warner Music Group Sneaks Into DRM-Free Music World

mjohnston — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:52:08 EDT

EMI made a big stink about dropping DRM from its online offerings, but today Warner Music Group quietly started offering DRM-free files of its own through the site AnywhereCD, which sells full MP3 albums as well as MP3-album/CD bundles. Billboard.biz reports that the site, which was launched by the founder of MP3.com, only offers full albums—not single tracks—and that the MP3s users buy are ripped at 192 Kbps. Whether or not users will flock to the site remains to be seen, but this is definitely a curious move for Warner, given that WMG chairman Edgar Bronfman has been vocally pro-DRM in the past. (Maybe someone thought he wouldn't notice?)

Warner Music Group Ditches DRM? [Billboard.biz, via Coolfer]

Zune's Store May Be Next To Take The DRM-Free Plunge

mjohnston — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 16:21:24 EDT

EMI's DRM-free digital catalog will likely spread to the Zune Marketplace, according to reports:

Music label EMI made waves Monday when it revealed plans to sell songs on Apple's iTunes online store with no digital copy protection.

On Wednesday, Microsoft rode the waves, spreading word that it, too, is negotiating with EMI and other labels to lift copy protection from music sold on its rival Zune Marketplace.

"A primary objective for us within Zune is to figure out how to give consumers what they want while still balancing the rights of the content owner," said Jason Reindorp, Zune marketing director. "Those kinds of discussions have been happening behind closed doors for some time with EMI as much as any other label."

We're not surprised that Microsoft wants to be next in line for DRM-free content; as Hypebot notes, they have the financial resources to match the reported $5 million advance that Apple gave EMI to engage in this experiment. But this strategy seems to play against the Zune's possible cheap-with-a-subscription plan, which was floated earlier this week. Wouldn't those two marketing strategies directly compete with one another—especially if the Zune store made a similar decision as iTunes, and turned the untethered downloads into "premium" content?

Microsoft is seeking DRM-free music [Seattle P-I, via hypebot]
Earlier: Shiny Brown Turd Gets A Bit Of Hot Pink Lipstick Slapped On It

The EMI-Apple Deal: It's All Well And Good, But What Does It Mean For You?

mjohnston — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 14:05:39 EDT

EMI's decision to do away with digital-rights management for its online catalog and Apple's decision to carry DRM-free music on the iTunes store have been inspiring a lot of chatter around the blogosphere. But what does the announcement by Apple CEO Steve Jobs and EMI CEO Eric Nicoli (pictured above, with halos) mean for consumers, labels, and other digital-music stores? While we won't see the results on a grand scale until next month—when iTunes is scheduled to put EMI's unprotected files on sale—we have the answers to a few questions inspired by today's news.

1. Is EMI crazy for doing this?
No—for once, they're actually ahead of the curve. Positioning DRM-free music as a premium product—with better encoding rates and higher per-track prices—has its risks, but they'll likely pay off. After all, this move is one of the few times that a major label has actually acted as if it trusts consumers, and teaming up with the market leader in digital-music distribution is a signal that EMI wants to forge forward in terms of musical distribution. Sure, DRM-free files will make it slightly easier for a user to e-mail a copy of "Smile" to her friend who just went through a breakup, but we don't see entire chunks of people running off to trade their recently purchased files. And those listeners who want to swap entire discographies through private BitTorrent networks will probably continue to do so, whether for reasons of frugality or out of desire for even higher-quality formats like FLAC.

2. Why didn't rates for albums change?
Apple has been getting a lot of flak for offering per-track downloads and taking a bite out of the album market. The EMI deal makes high-quality DRM-free albums standard on iTunes, and not changing a premium price for a premium offering is yet another way for the iTunes Store to encourage people to buy albums instead of cherry-picking songs, thus showing the major labels that they're in at least one fight together. (See also the "Complete My Album" incentive offered to single-track buyers last week.)

3. What does this mean for consumers? Do they even care about what label an artist is on, or about DRM?
People who want to pay for music (yes, there are still a few out there) will have even more incentive to buy EMI's albums digitally, and consumers who were, in the past, stymied by attempts to move their iTunes-purchased music around—whether to different computers or to portable players that aren't necessarily the iPod—will have a slightly easier time doing so now. (Even the Zune will be able to play the unprotected AACs offered by iTunes.) And again, the idea of a major label viewing a consumer as a trusted entity, as opposed to a potential target for lawsuits, should pay off in PR points, at the very least.

4. Are other labels going to follow suit?
It makes sense that they would, although we'd expect indies to migrate to the DRM-free world more quickly than the majors. Many of them already distribute their music in unprotected format through services like eMusic and the forthcoming Other Music digital store. Hypebot today also mentioned rumblings from Universal Music Group about offering certain parts of its back catalog—including its classical offerings—without digital-rights protection. But even though Jobs has said that he expects half of iTunes' catalog to be available without DRM by year's end, we don't see all four major labels moving to DRM-free downloads for at least another two years, if not longer.

5. What about other stores?
So far, the UK store 7Digital has announced that it will offer restriction-free downloads at an even higher quality—although it's clearly appealing to the demographic of Damon Albarn fans, as its entire DRM-free catalog at this point consists of The Good, The Bad, and The Queen. (UPDATE: A reader e-mailed us to let us know that 7Digital is actually run by EMI—which makes sense, given that Albarn's outfit played the launch press conference announcing the DRM-lift.)

6. So when will I be able to buy those Beatles MP3s?
Nicoli said today that Apple and EMI were "working on" getting the Beatles catalog—which will allegedly be remastered—to the iTunes Store's shelves. If the Beatles show up on iTunes first, you'll actually have to buy Beatles AACs. AAC stands for Advanced Audio Coding, and it's the format that iTunes uses for its downloads; audiophiles aren't completely sold on the quality of those files, though, so if you have extra-sensitive ears, you might want to wait until the remasters come to CD.

Earlier: EMI Goes DRM-Free, Says To Online Retail, "C'mon, Jump In"

One Down: EMI Teams Up With Apple, Becomes First Major To Drop DRM

mjohnston — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 22:39:24 EDT

According to the Wall Street Journal, tomorrow's EMI-Apple announcement will have nothing to do with the Beatles. Instead, it will center on EMI's dropping digital-rights management from most of its online offerings:

In a major reversal of the music industry's longstanding antipiracy strategy, EMI Group PLC is set to announce Monday that it plans to sell significant amounts of its catalog without anticopying software, according to people familiar with the matter.

The London-based music company is to make its announcement in a press conference that will feature Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs. EMI is to sell songs without the software — known as digital rights management, or DRM — through Apple's iTunes Store and possibly through other online outlets, too.

DRM has been a contentious issue in the world of online music sales. Record companies have so far insisted that digital retailers employ the software to prevent rampant copying. But because the DRM used by Apple is proprietary and does not work with services or devices made by competitors, it has had the unintended consequence of locking owners of its popular iPod music players into buying the most popular mainstream music from the iTunes store, and not its competitors. Record companies have blamed this lock-in for limiting digital-music sales, which account for around 15% of all recorded music sales in the U.S.

EMI's move comes after months of private discussions and public advocacy by Internet and technology industry executives, including Mr. Jobs, aimed at encouraging the music industry to change its approach to licensing music for sale online.

This is pretty surprising news, and not only because it involves a major label making a smart decision about online distribution for the first time in, well, forever. (Although if we were going to bet which major would drop DRM first, it would have been EMI; they're no strangers to the idea of loosening restrictions on even their biggest artists.) If we could make it to London in time for the 8 a.m. ET press conference, we'd ask a few questions: First: How will Apple open iTunes to these DRM-free downloads, and will labels that have been distributing their wares without DRM—like all of those on the MP3 subscription service eMusic—be able to follow in EMI's path? Second, will EMI make a play to put its DRM-free catalog on that service, which has traditionally been the land of indie labels? And third, how will this move affect the beleaguered label's prospects for eventually being bought? Warner Music, which was chief among EMI's suitors, has a CEO who's pretty stridently pro-DRM; does this mean their dalliances are officially dead? (It's far-fetched to think that Apple eventually swoop in and save EMI's day—or is it?)

EMI to Sell Much of its Music Without Antipiracy Software [WSJ]

Video-Game Company Attempts To Woo Music Fans More Into The Sims Than The Shins

Brian Raftery — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 09:30:56 EST

Electronic Arts—the video-game giant behind such hits as Medal Of Honor, Madden NFL 07, and Def Jam: Rappers Be Fighting—is getting into the music-download business. The company has just launched EA Trax, an online store for people who have always yearned to hear multiple remixes of the Sims theme on their cell phone. According to the Hollywood Reporter:

Gamers will be able to buy this open-source collection (the rights to which are owned by EA) and listen to the music on their PCs, MP3 players or cell phones. The list of music will continue to expand, both with backward catalog content and as new games are released.

Also through the Web site, EA also is offering a large playlist of exclusive mixes, nonalbum cuts and previously unavailable international tracks for sale on iTunes.com.

Here, gamers will be able to purchase such songs as Snoop Dogg's remix of the Doors' "Riders on the Storm" from "Need for Speed Underground 2"; Lily Allen's song "Smile" in Simlish from "The Sims 2: Seasons"; Paul Oakenfold's exclusive song "Beautiful Goal" from "FIFA 07"; Spider Loc's exclusive remix of "When I Get Angry" from "Madden NFL 06"; Chamillionare's exclusive remix of "Grind Time" from "NBA Live 06"; and NFL Films music remixes.

While the EA store is heavy on the iTunes links, any site that offers at least a few DRM-free tracks gets our begrudging respect (even if said tracks are by Paul Oakenfold). But we look forward to the day when video-game manufacturers past and present team up for a all-encompassing retail outlet, one in which "Zelda's Theme" can be found just as easily as "Pac-Man Fever."

EA portal has music for sale [The Hollywood Reporter]

EMI: Still Just As Clueless As Every Other Major Label

mjohnston — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 16:57:04 EST

Talks between EMI and major digital-music retailers about making the beleaguered label's catalog available free of digital-rights management restrictions have broken down, according to Bloomberg:

EMI, the third-largest music company, demanded an upfront payment to compensate for its risk in releasing the music without software that prevents copying, the people said. The retailers countered with a lower offer, which EMI rejected, and negotiations are now on hold, the people said.

Discussions included Microsoft, Apple Inc., RealNetworks Inc., Yahoo! Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., and a deal with some of them seemed close two weeks ago, the people said. CD sales slid last year, giving the idea traction as record companies look to reverse their fortunes. An announcement with London-based EMI had been planned for as early as Feb. 9, one of the people said.

"It's a setback," Harold Vogel, an independent media analyst in New York, said in an interview. "That this industry fights every change tooth-and-nail is not helping reverse the tide.'"

Well, not every change—but we digress. This "pay us more up front" scheme sounds suspiciously like the ~~extortion~~ deal Universal made with the Zune people; it's a smart move, in a way, because it basically provides a financial out should record sales will remain in their lackluster state. Even though one would think that freeing up format restrictions on digital music would reduce interoperability issues, and make more people at least able to buy music. That makes sense to us, anyway, which is probably one reason why we're not major-label executives.

EMI, Online Music Retailers Halt Copyright Talks, People Say [Bloomberg, via Hypebot]
Earlier: Steve Jobs' Music-Industry Rant Might Be Winning Hearts, Minds Of Record Execs

RIAA Not Willing To Give Up On The DRM Dream

mjohnston — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 09:17:44 EST

Steve Jobs' anti-digital rights management screed from earlier this week has elicited a response from the Recording Industry Association of America, who, having already shown off their lousy math skills, are now putting their not-so-great reading comprehension on display:

Apple's offer to license [the Apple DRM] Fairplay to other technology companies is a welcome breakthrough and would be a real victory for fans, artists and labels. There have been many services seeking a license to the Apple DRM. This would enable the interoperability that we have been urging for a very long time.

Perhaps the RIAA's Web-enabled computers, still crippled by the last remnants of the Sony rootkits they inadvertently installed a couple of years back, didn't load the entirety of Jobs' essay? In addition to skipping the essay's anti-DRM railing, they missed this bit:

"Apple has concluded that if it licenses FairPlay to others, it can no longer guarantee to protect the music it licenses from the big four music companies."

Unless that's what the RIAA wants—all of the rigamarole and pain-in-the-ass aspects of DRM, but none of the "security" it allegedly offers. And honestly, given their recent track record, we're not so willing to rule that idea out.

Jobs to DRM: Drop Dead [Bit Player, via Listening Post]
Earlier: Steve Jobs To Record Labels: Tear Down Your DRM Wall

Steve Jobs To Record Labels: Tear Down Your DRM Wall

mjohnston — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 17:58:15 EST

Steve Jobs posted an essay, innocuously titled "Thoughts On Music," on apple.com today; instead of being filled with reflections on what his iPod's been bumping lately, though, he talks about digital-rights management and its future. He closes with a challenge to record labels:

Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven't worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy. Though the big four music companies require that all their music sold online be protected with DRMs, these same music companies continue to sell billions of CDs a year which contain completely unprotected music. That's right! No DRM system was ever developed for the CD, so all the music distributed on CDs can be easily uploaded to the Internet, then (illegally) downloaded and played on any computer or player.

In 2006, under 2 billion DRM-protected songs were sold worldwide by online stores, while over 20 billion songs were sold completely DRM-free and unprotected on CDs by the music companies themselves. The music companies sell the vast majority of their music DRM-free, and show no signs of changing this behavior, since the overwhelming majority of their revenues depend on selling CDs which must play in CD players that support no DRM system.

So if the music companies are selling over 90 percent of their music DRM-free, what benefits do they get from selling the remaining small percentage of their music encumbered with a DRM system? There appear to be none. If anything, the technical expertise and overhead required to create, operate and update a DRM system has limited the number of participants selling DRM protected music. If such requirements were removed, the music industry might experience an influx of new companies willing to invest in innovative new stores and players. This can only be seen as a positive by the music companies.

Much of the concern over DRM systems has arisen in European countries. Perhaps those unhappy with the current situation should redirect their energies towards persuading the music companies to sell their music DRM-free. For Europeans, two and a half of the big four music companies are located right in their backyard. The largest, Universal, is 100% owned by Vivendi, a French company. EMI is a British company, and Sony BMG is 50% owned by Bertelsmann, a German company. Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace. Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly.

Jobs' j'accuse hasn't elicited a response from any of the majors yet, but we have to say, he was awfully nice to not bring up the whole abortive attempt at CD DRM that Sony tried out a while back. Anyway, we're sure Universal Music CEO Doug Morris is hard at work on his reply, and that it will consist of equal parts blackmail threats and "it's hard out here for a CEO" whingeing.

Thoughts On Music [Apple]

Shaggy Denies Suggesting That His Tangentially Related Picture Run Alongside This Post: "It Wasn't Me"

Brian Raftery — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 10:48:55 EST

This week, music-biz bigwigs from around the world are gathering in Cannes for the annual MIDEM conference, which takes its name from the oft-heard phrase, "Midem industry is slowly dying!" One of the talking points this year is whether digital-rights management (DRM) can cut down on piracy:

Its supporters say DRM also offers alternative methods such as subscription or advertising-supported services as the music cannot then be offered onto peer-to-peer networks. But one result of DRM is that tracks bought legally from Web sites such as Rhapsody cannot be used on the market-leading iPod as they are not compatible, potentially restricting the growth of legal sales.

"DRM is like polonium to some people," [John Kennedy, the head of the industry's trade body IFPI] said. "Digital rights management is exactly that, it's the management of digital rights and if we weren't managing it the headlines would be 'irresponsible music industry ... creates anarchy.'"

Clearly, Kennedy has no idea that we're long past the point when people believed the music industry to be merely "irresponsible." But while comparing unrestricted MP3s to the chemical that killed a former KGB agent may seem like a crass aside, when you think about it, the music business is becoming more and more like Russia: They both employ hired goons to do their dirty work; they both hate allofmp3.com; and they both think that Shaggy is still relevant.

Music Industry Debates Downloading Dilemma [Reuters]

Is Microsoft Getting Ready To Phase Out Its Old-School DRM?

mjohnston — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 16:41:45 EST

According to ComputerWorld blogger David Haskin, Microsoft is in the process of letting its first-generation digital rights management service, PlaysForSure, slowly wither away, in favor of putting all of its energy behind the shiny brown turd it unleashed a couple of months ago. (Has it been that long already?) PlaysForSure is used by older Windows Media-based services like Napster and Urge; Haskin, who reviewed the Zune for the magazine, also noticed this bit of nefarious behavior:

I subscribe to Rhapsody software, which I stopped using temprorarily when I reviewed Zune. When I was finished with the review, I shipped the Zune back to Microsoft but forgot about the Zune software on my system. I went back to using Rhapsody but ... Rhapsody didn't work. I couldn't transfer music downloaded to Rhapsody to my media player. It did start working, however, when I uninstalled Zune.

Did Microsoft disable it's one-time ally, Rhapsody, on purpose or was it a coincidence? We'll never know, but one thing is clear: Rhapsody, Napster, Yahoo! Music Service, the imploding Virgin Digital and others that bought into Microsoft's one-time dream of beating Apple will have to figure out what to do now that Microsoft has decided to compete against them and not support them.

While this is bad news for anyone who didn't want to have to shell out more money for yet another digital-music upgrade, we're betting that Microsoft reacted to this item with glee—hey, for once, a Zune did something right.

Microsoft uses Zune to stab friends in the back [ComputerWorld Blogs, via Hypebot]

Record Label Finds New, Exciting Way To Screw Over Fans

Brian Raftery — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 14:42:25 EST

You may recall the great Rootkit Revolution of '05, in which Sony BMG loaded their compact discs with hidden anti-piracy software that wound up crashing many users' computers. Not only did it highlight the labels' willingness to resort to anti-fan subterfuge, but it also made it really hard to listen to My Morning Jacket's Z on your Dell. Several U.S. states investigated the matter, and today comes word of a settlement:

Sony BMG Music Entertainment will pay $4.25 million as part of a settlement with 39 states to resolve investigations into problems caused by music CDs loaded with hidden anti-piracy software, state officials said Thursday. Under the terms of the settlement, which also applies to the District of Columbia, the record company also agreed to reimburse consumers whose computers were damaged while trying to uninstall the anti-piracy software.

Customers will be able to file a claim with Sony BMG to receive refunds of up to $175. A Web site has been established with details of the settlement. Sony BMG also agreed not to distribute any compact discs loaded with copy-protection software that hinders computer users from easily locating it or removing it from their PCs.

So there you go: Sony BMG lies to you and messes up your computer, and you get a measly $175 in return. We're pretty sure no one's going to be spending this at the Sony Connect Store.

Sony BMG settles with 39 states [AP, via San Jose Mercury News]

Renters' Insurance And Digital Music: What's Covered?

mjohnston — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 11:50:06 EST

A blogger who seems to spend as much time thinking about nature's fury as we do wonders:

Let's just say (hypothetically speaking) that I bought all my songs from iTunes at 99¢ a pop. Let's just say. So what if both my laptop and my iPod are destroyed in a horrible, cataclysmic...hurricane? Given that digital music is supposed to be actual property (that can actually be stolen, etc) does renter's insurance cover the $10,000 in lost songs?

We spent a little bit of time poking around insurance companies' Web sites, and we couldn't figure out the answer, either (this post from 1993 suggests that adding a rider for computer equipment to a renters' insurance policy might do the trick to some extent). Anyone out there have experience with insuring their digital music collection, and if so, how'd you do it? We'd hate to lose our extensive collection of drunk-one-night purchases to some global warming-induced cataclysm.

DRM and Renter's Insurance [confectious]

Yahoo's Experiments With MP3: Just How Exclamation Point-Worthy Are They?

mjohnston — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 15:21:38 EST

Coolfer takes a look at the Norah Jones MP3 experiment we reported on yesterday by breaking down the math on recent DRM-free experiments at Yahoo! Music:

Let's look at the two biggest MP3 experiments to date. Jessica Simpson's "A Public Affair" single and Jesse McCartney's Right Where You Want Me don't appear to have changed the status quo. I don't know what Yahoo has sold, but McCartney's album has sold an overall 4% at digital stores (nothing out of the ordinary). There were over 530 different, customized versions of the Jessica Simpson single, and Yahoo! sold a total of 7,636 tracks, according to Soundscan. In contrast, the regular "A Public Affair" single has sold over 414,000 units. Allmost all most certainly came from iTunes. If iTunes is responsible for 80% of "A Public Affair" sales, then sales of the Yahoo! MP3 version are only 2.3% of iTunes' sales of the regular single.

We decided to see what the purchasing process was like, so we attempted to buy the McCartney record (for a younger cousin, we swear) via Yahoo! The process took us through a few clicks even before we had to enter our payment info—and jumping through all those hoops represents a point at which a user can have second thoughts about ponying up the cash for something they can download anyway. To us, finding out an elegant buy-and-play solution is the real hurdle record companies have to think about when they dream of taking on iTunes—after all, there's a reason that supermarkets put their impulse buys, like Jessica Simpson-filled tabloids and Jessica Simpson personalized singles, right by the check-out counter.

Blue Note's Experiment With MP3 [Coolfer]

Norah Jones Makes Legal Downloads More Widely Available, Adorable

Brian Raftery — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 08:37:03 EST

Oh, Norah Jones! We're just nutso about you these days, despite never having actually listened to any of your music. For not only are just cute as a button—stop looking at us like that, will ya? You're gonna make us blush!—but you also just released your new single as a legally downloadable MP3, a rare feat among major-label artists (rock band Relient K also put out a for-sale MP3 this week, but they are decidedly less mesmeric). From today's Wall Street Journal:

The releases come as some high-tech and music-industry executives are becoming increasingly concerned about Apple's growing clout in the music business. Only online music files purchased from iTunes, ripped from users' own CDs or downloaded from pirate services can be played on the popular iPod. Copy-protected songs purchased from Yahoo and other legitimate sources don't work on it. By selling music in the MP3 format without copy-protection software, Yahoo can offer music that works easily on iPods.
Blue Note General Manager Zach Hochkeppel called the initiative "an experiment," adding that he doesn't believe it will cut into sales of Ms. Jones's forthcoming album, also called "Thinking About You," which is due out Jan. 30. That's because even if early copies of the song end up widely copied among friends or online, Ms. Jones's mostly adult fan base is thought to be less likely than teenage pop fans to be satisfied with just one song from the album and thus willing to buy the entire album even if they have gotten one song free. "Nobody gets hurt — we think," Mr. Hochkeppel said.

The article notes that the Buyin' Jones-Sound Massacre could be the first of many battle cries in the war between the music industry and Apple; as the labels realize how much of a bum deal they got from Steve Jobs, they'll start pushing to work around the ITunes store's digital-music domain. If this results in a no-holds-barred cage match between Jobs and Universal nag Doug Morris, we're all for it—especially if we can bootleg the whole thing and put it up on BitTorrent.

In a Turnabout, Record Industry Releases MP3s [WSJ]

EMI Sticks Its Toe In The Murky Waters Of MP3 Distribution

mjohnston — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 14:54:38 EST

EMI is testing out its post-DRM strategy with Lily Allen's forthcoming UK single, "Littlest Things"—users can pre-order the MP3 for 99 pence (plus an extra £1.50 for orders taken via SMS); they'll get it on Dec. 11, along with a "making of" video and some artwork. While we have to applaud EMI for taking this hesitant first step out of the digital-rights management woods, we can't help but wonder why they decided to delay gratification for potential buyers—particularly since this song is already available on Allen's album. Surely anyone who would go to the trouble of ordering this single, and waiting for it, would just buy (or, cough, download) the full-length instead. Is this experiment going to test out EMI chairman Alain Levy's theory that the CD is dead? Or is the curious distribution strategy meant to torpedo this project from the start?

Lily Allen - Home [7digital.com, via Hypebot]

IPod Nerd Hopes To Become Nerdiest Nerd Of All Nerd Time

Brian Raftery — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 14:50:00 EDT

Jon Johansen (pictured) may not look too threatening, but he's the kind of guy who keeps entertainment-industry execs up at night with the heebie-jeebies. A few years ago, he cracked a DVD-copying code that got him lots of press attention (and even more legal attention); now he's come up with a program called DoubleTwist, which will allow iTunes-purchased songs to be used on any device, with no DRM restrictions:

As [Johansen and his partner] explain DoubleTwist in a conference room they share with several other companies, he points to a sheet of printer paper tacked on the wall that has a typed quote [Steve] Jobs gave the Wall Street Journal in 2002: "If you legally acquire music, you need to have the right to manage it on all other devices that you own." As Johansen sees it, Jobs didn't follow through on this promise, so it's up to him to fix the system...

"Today's reality is that there's this iTunes-iPod ecosystem that excludes everyone else from the market," says Johansen. "I don't like closed systems."

Awwww snap! He did not just pull out the old "too-exclusive ecosystem" smack-down line! We can't wait to see how Jobs responds to Jonhansen's ploy (we're guessing a noogie, followed by 2,000 pages of legal paperwork), but we're excited by the prospect of a DRM-free world. Do you have any idea how much of a pain in the ass it is to share that New Pornographers iTunes live session?

Unlocking The Hero [Fortune]

Searching For That One Song ... That You Can Actually Play On Your Computer

mjohnston — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 17:00:36 EDT

The tech-heads at Boing Boing are spearheading today's Day Against DRM effort, where consumers rise up to break the bits of digital rights management that lock your tunes down and turn your digital-music players into useless hunks of plastic.

Worth bookmarking is DRM Free Music Search, which roots through the filesystems of services like Audio Lunchbox for unencumbered MP3s by artists like J Dilla and Bettye LaVette. No, the MP3s offered aren't free, but files that you actually own are something worth shelling out cash for.

DRM Free Music Search [drmfree.org]
Day Against DRM — TODAY! [BoingBoing]