Despite the lack of a Beatles press announcement, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and EMI are working together to end EMI's use of DRM technology in their entire repertoire (see the article on NME). Obviously this is a big move, because now stores like iTunes can sell a major label's material that is equal in sharing capacity as the free sharing networks most labels and the RIAA deplore so much (perhaps that is why Jobs made the announcement with EMI in the UK, where EMI is based). NME also reports that the DRM-free music will be "superior quality downloads" which are interesting terms to use and may indicate something else on the horizon, like a remastered Beatles catalog. A technological "improvement" would not go beyond how innovative The Beatles as a unit have always been. They would have to try something, since The Beatles music has been kept out of the digital world for so long (thus making it somehow more advanced than the rest of the digital music available).
I'm not satisfied about what Jobs and EMI have announced, but I am glad to hear that music fans (consumers) will not go completely empty-handed from the announcement (the announcement confirmed that The Beatles will be going online, but no release date was stated: see NME). I believe that this is the major shake-up the music industry has needed, as Steve Jobs gets his wish and the DRM falls by the wayside for one label. The digital market now has one more tool at its disposal to eradicate the physical world (because it's war in my head). Album and CD hopefuls, now is the time to rethink how those items should be packaged.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-10-2007 @ 8:11PM
Neil Murphy said...
According to the latest news I saw EMI are using DRM still, but offering a premium track at a higher price (79p standard, 99p premium); The premium tracks are at 256kbps as opposed to the standard 64kbps. Seems like another excuse to screw the customer to me. Still, its a start and hopefully it will become the norm to get rid of DRM.