MarketingVOX: EMI Group plans to sell digital music with no digital rights management (DRM) restrictions via Apple’s iTunes, reports CNET.
All of EMI’s music catalog will be available in May without DRM, which means the tracks will play on any computer or digital-audio player. The intent isn’t to replace the copy-protected EMI music already being sold via iTunes. Rather, the DRM-free songs will be sold at a premium – $1.29 – rather than the standard $0.99 for copy-protected tracks.
Those who have already purchased tracks with Apple’s DRM will be able to upgrade to the premium version for 30 cents, EMI said.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs called EMI’s move “the next big step forward in the digital-music revolution – the movement to completely interoperable DRM-free music.”
Related stories:
- E.U. Lashes out at Apple over iTunes, DRM
- Universal Music Begins Offering DRM-Free Video Clips
- Music Industry Strikes Back at Apple’s Jobs
- Apple’s Jobs Calls on Music Industry to End DRM
- Napster Looks to Mobile in Fight against iPod
- Flat Digital Music Sales May Augur the End of DRM
