Drm Free Mp3s and Their Rewards

DRM Free Mp3s And Their Rewards

There has been an ongoing struggle about whether music being sold through online music retailers should be offered with or without digital rights management. "Digital rights management (DRM) refers to the control and protection of digital intellectual property (content), including documents, images, video and audio. DRM limits what a user can do with that content even when he has possession of it" (Kay, 2003, p. 33). In regards to music, this means that when you purchase a song that is encoded with DRM there are limitations as to what you can do with it. Recently the industry has begun to reposition itself to offering DRM free downloads. This move was initiated by EMI's decision earlier this year to offer their entire catalog DRM free. Doing this allows them to offer their catalog to many different online music retailers, not just the major ones such as iTunes. Independent labels soon followed suit as it allowed them to offer their product through channels that were previously off limits. Universal was the third major company to announce their decision to go DRM free, which was due in part to their contract with Apple, Inc expiring. The decision by these companies "has opened the door for Amazon and Yahoo! to launch their MP3 download stores (Music Week, 2007)." Offering music free of any DRM software will enable music publishers, such as EMI and Universal, and independent labels to reach a larger audience than ever before and promote competition within the online music retailing business.

When EMI announced earlier this year they would be offering their entire catalog to digital media outlets DRM free, "the industry was abuzz about the future of digital rights management." (Hesseldahl, A., & Burrows, P., 2007, p. 9) This "launch completes a near six-month action plan," EMI UK Chairman and CEO Tony Wadsworth stated, and "I think it's an important step because the biggest growth area of our business is in digital and we need to continue that growth" (Benzine, 2007). When this was done, the digital music stores were ecstatic about the decision. "Paul Myers, CEO and founder of digital entertainment service Wippit, said, 'This is the first good news to come from the industry in ten years.'" (New Music Age, 2007)

Another reason labels and online retailers were happy about this was because it allowed competition with more corporate music sites such as iTunes and eMusic. Ben Drury, MD of 7Digital, said, "It's fantastic news for us. We sell a lot of the EMI catalogue and DRM has always been a real problem, but now we can start to sell to the iPod market and see some real competition" (New Music Age, 2007). With the industry raving about how great this was it was only a matter of time before others followed. As Ben Drury states, "EMI has taken a major step in the right direction and I hope that other media owners will see the wisdom in dropping unnecessary protection on the unprotectable" (New Music Age, 2007).

Although some independent labels were offering their catalogs free of DRM software, there were limitations to which retailers they had access. New Media Age (2007) states, "indies have previously sold music in this format but have been blocked from doing so on iTunes, the largest retailer, accounting for 80% of sales." When the decision was made that more independent labels would allow their music to be DRM free the Association of Independent Music boasted, "if the indies have the same deal as EMI and are taking step to offer DRM-free music on a huge service like iTunes, then that's definitely a good move" (Farber, 2007, p. 1). Beggars, one of the larger independents that began allowing their catalog DRM free is looking forward