Major record labels pondering DRM-free downloads?

Details are admittedly scant on this one, and we must remember that these disclosures are coming out of France, but nevertheless, word on the street is that "at least one of the four major record companies could move toward the sale of unrestricted digital files in the MP3 format within the coming months." Reportedly, executives of several anonymous technology companies that are meeting at Midem are pondering the move to unrestricted digital music downloads, which just years ago wasn't even a remote possibility. As expected, industry pressures are likely at the forefront here, as digital music sales, although 80-percent stronger than the year before, grew slower than they did in 2005 and failed to compensate for the decline in physical disc sales. Of course, we already knew that EMI Music gave (somewhat) of a green light to the idea, and VirginMega already has the groundwork laid for DRM-free MP3s to be loosed in France, but unrestricted, impartial major label music files flying around on US shores would certainly be a shift from days past. Granted, a few insiders are quite skeptical that these whispers will lead to actual results, and advise to not count on seeing DMR-free tunes for sale here anytime soon. Welcome to the "wait and see" game, folks.

[Jonathan Keim @ Jan 25th 2007 11:33AM]

Well, maybe I won't expect them to do this. But for them to consider doing this is astronomical imo

[K @ Jan 25th 2007 11:34AM]

Wow will M$ do about Vista's DRM capabilities?

[schmic @ Jan 25th 2007 11:43AM]

point is, that I only want to install my MS Vista on one Computer (as I payed for) but I really would like to listen to my music in my car, on my stereo and on my iPod...

[jeraal @ Jan 25th 2007 11:39AM]

Well it would be great if they finally realized that its a waste of time and money. As it is now, it's easier for me to get on bit torrent to find the new music I want. Whenever I actually buy the music it takes more effort to get the DRM taken off than it takes to pirate the damn album. So until I can buy DRM free songs, I say YARGH!

[schmic @ Jan 25th 2007 11:46AM]

oh, got it :D never mind ;) I agree with you on the side that the MS media player is over DRMed!

[Silly @ Jan 25th 2007 11:48AM]

Eliminating DRM is only part of the equation. What I'd be even more concerned about is the quality of the MP3s. It's all very nice to have the DRM taken away but if the music companies still encode at 128kbps, then no thanks. Why on earth would I was my money on junk that only sounds good through cheap headphones when I'm riding the tube...

That's why AllOfMP3.com (yeah yeah, I know) is such an amazing service. You download and pay for the content that you want, at the bit rate that you want. If the music industry adopted the model that AllOfMP3.com had, they would make billions and billions more than they do now.

If the prices were right, the quality good and the DRM lifted, people would start spending serious money on music again...

[Jansson @ Jan 25th 2007 12:04PM]

According to my sources: "Expect major fallout with iTunes and Universal with SonyBMG to follow."

[Flying? @ Jan 25th 2007 12:07PM]

"Granted, a few insiders are quite skeptical that these whispers will lead to actual results, and advise to not count on seeing DMR-free tunes for sale here anytime soon."

this is already a reality on one of the biggest online store in France (http://www.fnacmusic.com/) : alongside to their regular DRMed store, they just started a DRM-free one, based on MP3 tech (256 Kbit/s) with absolutely no DRM, at the same price than the DRMed store.

Not a bad idea ... let's hope they get get successfull with it: they may then extend their catalogue ...

[Joe @ Jan 25th 2007 12:51PM]

Legal, non-crippled, high-quality, MP3's at $1/track or $10/album for download = never spending a penny at iTunes again. Reasonable prices and non-crippling DRM are the best cure for piracy.

[applesucksLeo @ Jan 25th 2007 12:57PM]

Nice knowing you iTunes...hehe

[Jason @ Jan 25th 2007 2:53PM]

iTunes has DRM at the request of the content holders. If major labels lift DRM restrictions then the iTunes store will go DRM free as well.

[Luis @ Jan 25th 2007 1:10PM]

I have wet dreams about the day you can LEGALLY download any song in full quality FLAC at at most $1 per track. All tags and album art included

[Mike @ Jan 25th 2007 1:29PM]

w00t!

[Grant @ Jan 25th 2007 1:48PM]

About time, I've always though DRM was completely pointless. Those who are going to download legally will download legally, those who don't just aren't going to. It's not like taking off DRM will make music any easier to download illegally, it's all out there anyways.

Punishing your few loyal customers with unfair DRM restrictions, such as forcing you to buy the same MP3 players for the rest of your life, or installing viruses on their machines, does little to make them want to continue buying legally. It's just too bad it's taken them this long to figure this out.

[Andrei Vassiliev @ Jan 25th 2007 2:15PM]

I have to agree with Grant. No matter when this comes about it's already some time too late. Many honest customers have suffered through their own trials of frustration with DRM restrictions.

I hope that this is the true wake-up call for all things, not just MP3s.

[Andrei Vassiliev @ Jan 25th 2007 2:16PM]

By the way, it says DMR at the end of the article. Fix?

[applesucksLeo @ Jan 25th 2007 2:19PM]

How would it go over if you went and bought a CD or DVD and it would only play in one brand of player? That wouldn`t last for a minute. Same holds true for DRM. If they want to sell us shitty , overpriced compressed "music" files as a CD replacement , don`t spend your money on such crap and it sends a clear message to the record companies to open it up in the form of DRM-free music including a LOSSLESS format too as a choice. THEN I will buy my music from such services.
DRM and compressed music files equals the DE-EVOLUTION of music as we once knew it.
Maybe DEVO was right...We are all DEVO.

[Dr Chaos @ Jan 25th 2007 2:34PM]

I recently bought a zune have of course, the 3x3 play is still lame beyond all points of stupidity. Given the current release of the DRM stranglehold, the zune is going to be...how do you say...."Fricken Awesome"

[Zoundguy @ Jan 25th 2007 2:39PM]

Interesting... I am at Middle Tennessee U for the RIM recording program. One of my professors just so happens to be attending an audio conference in the south of France... coincidence?

[Flying? @ Jan 26th 2007 2:07PM]

Surely not ... the Midem in Cannes (South of France) is THE major audio "summit" between the right owners :-)

[EnhanceYourCalm @ Jan 25th 2007 2:45PM]

Although I would welcome this with open arms (and open wallet!), I wonder how much of the impetus for this is purely as an act of spite toward iTunes. If it really is merely an attempt to reduce iTunes market share, I don't think it eliminates the possibility of a return to the DRM BS in the future if/when iTunes' market control is reduced.

[Mike Botros @ Jan 25th 2007 4:07PM]

I guess people here aren't getting that the DRM still has to exist, even if they songs don't use them, just incase anyone ever wanted to use it. And media players like WMP that support DRMed music playback have to use it to play unprotected files. And stores like iTunes, or Zune MP, will still be arround to distribute the DRM-free files. You're not gonna go to every lable's page to find the songs that it sells DRM-free. They will have to be through a store. However I don't expect prices to remain at $1 a song. They will probably go up to $1.50 or $2.00 to make up for losses in sharing, which will definately happen.

[Ben @ Jan 25th 2007 4:58PM]

If True ... Go for it, anything is better than having governments forcing down companies mouths. Let the free market decide, that's how it should always be.

[l2k @ Jan 26th 2007 12:18AM]

I, for one, hope this is true. It is LONG overdue.

Next, $.50/song for a high quality DRM-free MP3 is PLENTY fair as the company will be making even scads more than they do on the basically free medium of a CD. Don't forget, a CD costs a couple of bucks to produce, and retails for around $18. How much does it cost to encode and distribute an album via electrons? Considerably even less.

Finally, I've heard it said that even if the labels dropped DRM requirements that Apple has said it would still use it on iTunes (you know, to protect the quality of recordings for iPod users). Again, let this demonstrate how little Jobs truly cares about the end user. He cares about money, just like Bill. He wants to keep the ipod as closed a platform as possible to control the revenue stream. I fail to see how that would continue to work in if DRM free actually happened, so I think he'd need to change, but ONLY because the market changed, not out of the kindness of his heart. He's almost as greedy as the labels, he just puts a more friendly face on it.

[me duh @ Jan 26th 2007 3:27AM]

Ok here's a thought: release more stuff on vinyl. It's harder to rip and put on your ipod and it sounds better.