EMI Music starts selling DRM-free music

Remember how we told you that Sony had hinted that "DRM would become less important" just a few days ago? Well, it appears that Stan Glasgow's quip wasn't just empty rhetoric. Late last night the wires lit up with reports that EMI Music has begun selling music tracks sans DRM for a buck apiece from Yahoo's online music service, becoming one of the few major labels to take the plunge into unrestricted territory. Of course, Sony dabbled with DRM-free tunes this past summer by releasing a song by Jessica Simpson, and Disney released an entire album by Jesse McCartney -- so consider these baby steps, folks. Meanwhile, if you want DRM-free music from the iTunes Store, you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way.

[Thanks, aneet]

[blueberry @ Apr 9th 2008 1:30AM]

For those DRM music, why they are limit after I purchased?
I always found a converter to help me remove DRM, so I can use as I want.
http://www.wmatomp3-converter.com/digital-music-converter.html

[Paul @ Dec 7th 2006 10:10PM]

The only thing that is really holding me back from these Pay to download services is DRM.

I bought the soundtrack for a couple games from direct song, and the DRM on them is infuriating. I can play the music on my laptop, but not on my desktop. I cant listen to it in my car on a CD, and I cant listen to it on my mp3 player. What the hell is the point of buying it in the first place?

[Michael @ Dec 7th 2006 10:21PM]

I've never really felt restricted by Apple DRM. Granted I'm not the type to buy a lot of music online, only a song every so often. But I'd prefer not to have it if I could. Glad to see soem companies taking some steps. It really is kind useless with all those CD's and torent sites out there.

[Matt B. @ Dec 8th 2006 7:37AM]

here's how it should go:
mp3 + $0.50/song = 192kbps + DRM
mp3 + $1.00/song = 192kbps + no DRM
Lossless + $1.00/song = DRM
Lossless + $1.50-$2.00/song = no DRM


I'd be giving Apple every single extra red cent I had for lossless songs with no DRM... I would personally wash Steve Jobs' feet... but I don't see it happening. I still hate lossy formats and prefer buying the physical media, even if it is a few bucks more...

[NeoteriX @ Dec 7th 2006 11:08PM]

Not when the physical media has a frickin Sony rootkit programmed into it =D

I had two CD with that junk on it... That's what you get for being a respectable CD purchaser.

[riggs @ Dec 7th 2006 10:51PM]

*waiting to see how the sony bashers will turn this back around on sony*

[colek42 @ Dec 7th 2006 11:30PM]

Wow! I might actually buy music online now.


"Lossless + $1.50-$2.00/song = no DRM"

at $2.00 a song for lossless, downloading the music will be much more expensive than just buying the CD.

[JBDragon @ Dec 8th 2006 10:49PM]

I don't buy any downloaded Music because of all the DRM. I want to play what I BUY, on ANY device I want and at any time. If this is the way of the Future, I can't wait. Reasonable prices with no DRM is a huge PLUS.

[tekdroid @ Dec 7th 2006 11:07PM]

Matt B. has some good points. Buying 'originals' in a lossy format for premium prices is still nuts to me.

DRM is only half the picture.

[... @ Dec 8th 2006 2:16AM]

You make it look like being able to dl lossless music is a new thing... have you never heard of allofmp3? You can't get lossless, but you can get mp3's up to 384kb/s, which is more than plenty for most users... I personally prefer a 384kb/s mp3 over lossless since it is compatible with everything, smaller, and I don't have any audio gear good enough to hear the compression.

[JRA219psu @ Dec 7th 2006 11:19PM]

hmmmm this sounds good and all but I think its too good to be true and people here point out some very good points like sony's rootkits and non-lossless media. but no DRM is pretty sweet considering if you really wish to get rid of it its a pretty painful and long process depending on which route you take.

music is the peoples and some day it will be...the glory days of napster and kazaa of old may never return but this def sheds a bit of light on the death or drm...hey maybe its closer than we all think...

[Jeff @ Dec 8th 2006 12:37AM]

change the business model, change the world.

[hellaynnea @ Dec 8th 2006 7:42AM]

Well, I guess some people heard you ! It seems that a new startup is willing to break the music industry: http://www.nomajors.com. Let's just wait and see.

[BlackAle @ Dec 7th 2006 11:27PM]

Sony just need to release a DRM free audio player, one where you can just drop tracks onto it, without the need of sonicstage.

[George @ Dec 7th 2006 11:42PM]

Sony already has a DRM-free audio player. It's called a Walkman.

[Tech^Cellfish @ Dec 8th 2006 2:57AM]

\o/

[Maxim @ Dec 8th 2006 6:30AM]

14.90$ and you have DRM removal software that can unprotect all your purchased music
www.soundtaxi.info

[Jason W @ Dec 8th 2006 8:58AM]

and now we will watch the RIAA sue its own constituents into oblivion.

[Drew Green @ Dec 8th 2006 10:53AM]

The solution is already here. Using Yahoo Music Unlimited (which I believe with the current price increase is $100 a year) download as many songs as you want with DRM in 192kbps and then use FairUse4WM to instantly remove the DRM. FairUse literally takes seconds. I know that no DRM to begin with is the goal everyone wants to reach, but in reality, even though EMI is not requiring it anymore, it's probably here to stay with many of the other labels.

Besides, even if you pay $1.00 a song for non-DRM protected songs, that's still price per song. With a monthly unlimited service and FairUse, you get as many songs as you want for an annual fee of less than 10 CDs.

[hellaynnea @ Dec 8th 2006 11:03AM]

What if it's 10c a song and 1$ an album, would you buy it ? Many artists are not making a lot of money from CD sales anymore. By selling music cheaper or providing it for free they can organise concerts and get paid by bars and concert places. This is what's going on in the indie music scene and it will soon be generalized to "commercial" music. Skipping intermediaries and placing the artist at the center and not at the end of the chain gives him more credit & money for his music. If you take away the music majors' 80-90% commission on sales, he can sell at a cheaper prices.

[The Jeremy @ Dec 8th 2006 12:09PM]

I'd be happier if EMI sold the DRM less music using at the very least AAC (instead of MP3), and hopefully above 128k.

I am still baffled as to why all the car audio decks support WMA instead of unrestricted AAC. Its not like there are millions of Napster and Yahoo Music subscribers, but there certainly are a lot of iPod/iTunes owners who have default ripped their CDs into AAC format.