Sony BMG launching (DRM-free?) subscription music service this year

Sony BMG boss, Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, was just quoted in an interview saying that Sony BMG is "working on an online music subscription service." The service would cost between €6 to €8 per month (about $9 to $12) when launching later in the year and provide full access to its entire music catalog. He goes on to say that customers could own "some songs" even after the subscription was canceled. Interesting on its own, right? Now the kicker: it will work "for all digital players, including Apple's iPod." That means DRM-free unless Apple agrees to license its FairPlay DRM... which it won't. Hell, Sony BMG is already offering DRM-free MP3s to Amazon. If true, then the move could almost turn public sentiment positive in the wake of Sony BMG's "rootkit" fiasco and its handling of the Jammie Thomas affair. Almost.

[andyo @ Mar 25th 2008 5:19AM]

Yeah, almost, riiight. If they do sell mp3's they will probably come embedded in .exe files.

[Oinquer @ Mar 25th 2008 8:21AM]

hahahah Good one =P

[CB17 @ Mar 25th 2008 6:17AM]

Lol what's wrong with that? J/K

I'm one of the biggest critics of the whole rootkit thing and still very bitter about it and toward Sony in general. Having said that, if Sony keeps this up, they might sway my opinion of them...maybe...a little.

[Chris @ Mar 26th 2008 6:40AM]

There is no way that they would embed them in a .exe file wayyy to dangerous for the idiots who will make fake music files with viruses and Trojans.. not to mention rootkits in them

[Cory @ Mar 25th 2008 6:50AM]

DRM-Free rootkits! w00t!

[Trent @ Mar 25th 2008 7:39AM]

I could be in. Keep up the competition. iTunes is a rip off but I love my Nano ha ha. Thank god for Emusic.

[Steve @ Mar 25th 2008 7:52AM]

If they do this, I imagine it'll be something very similar to emusic. I'm thinking $9-12 for, say 20-25 DRM-free downloads a month (full access streaming, perhaps). Enough to be a "decent" deal, but providing enough incentive to keep the subscription for more than a month.

[Student Driver @ Mar 25th 2008 1:16PM]

This works for me, but then again I like a lot of "indie" musicians so they have enough stuff for me to quickly blow through my allotment. For more mainstream stuff, I go through Amazon to pick-and-choose.

[technophobe @ Mar 25th 2008 7:56AM]

surely DRM-free subsciption isn't going to work, surely you would download all the songs you want in a month and then cancel your subscription...

[Gav @ Mar 25th 2008 9:57AM]

So, what do they do?

Make it so you can ONLY unsubscribe over the telephone, deliberately under staff the call centre so the wait times are very very long, and only use Indian call centres :)

[Shane @ Mar 25th 2008 10:16AM]

And then push you REALLY REALLY REALLY hard when you try to unsubscribe...Offer service credits, etc. Been through it with both Tivo, XM and some internet fax service. Ugh.

I suspect there will be some contract length involved with heavy cancellation fees (e.g. the cell phone model)

[Mr. E @ Mar 25th 2008 11:25AM]

Oh yeah, that makes perfect sense, because there won't be any new music released after you cancel your subscription.

I would subscribe to something like this, probably indefinitely. It would have to have music from all the majors though, not just Sony, and be $20 per month or under.

[Barry @ Mar 25th 2008 12:02PM]

This is a tiny step in the not quite wrong but not exactly right direction but if we need to subscribe to each label's service I'll stick with the "illegal" downloads thank you.

As for any company that forces you cancel over the phone and pulls the understaffed or high pressure tactics, I just change the expiration date on my credit card to the current month. Then they can't bill me and cancel it themselves.

[Oinquer @ Mar 26th 2008 10:21AM]

they will prolly do something like internet radio...you can choose wich to hear and stream it..but can only download a couple without paying extra bucks.
i could be in if the library was huge =P

[fanman @ Mar 25th 2008 9:23AM]

Every DRM free service is another string in their pupating of consumers away from iTunes, which they have disallowed DRM free music in.

[Shane @ Mar 25th 2008 10:14AM]

iTunes has disallowed DRM free music in? Since when? I can download DRM free AAC files from a number of artists. The only reason they have DRM at all is at the request of the record companies (though this would apply to any service, not just iTunes).

[Shane @ Mar 25th 2008 10:12AM]

Maybe there's hope for Sony/BMG yet........
NAAAAAHHHHH.......

[bradwjensen @ Mar 25th 2008 10:33AM]

We want FLAC!!! :p

[catrandom @ Mar 25th 2008 7:22PM]

Positive? First, what use is a service that makes you pay every month for music from only one major label? I don't buy my music based on the label it's on, and I don't think very many people do.

Also, how is a subscription service that lets you keep only "some songs" after the subscription expires going to be DRM-free? DRM-free tracks would not, obviously, go away when you stop paying your 8 bucks a month. Does not compute -- and Sony didn't say it.

I wouldn't be surprised if this means Sony intends to yank their stuff off the other legal services when this thing launches. Sony has a major blind spot in the area of digital music. Aside from the rootkit fiasco, these are the people who released DMPs without native MP3 support -- in 2004!

This does not sound like a step forward to me.

[fanman @ Mar 25th 2008 1:38PM]

Well, at least we have them by the balls through limewire. They have to persuade us that they should be paid. The consumer has never been more powerful, even since the home taping racket. XD

[Joe P @ Mar 25th 2008 6:37PM]

DRM-free...ish

[Joseph @ Mar 25th 2008 11:16PM]

yeah, if this came from the same people who generated the "portable copy" thing,

i'm gonna say no