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EMI May Remove DRM From Parts of Catalog
An anonymous reader writes "Ars Technica is reporting that EMI may announce on Monday that it will be freeing much of its catalog from the shackles of DRM. The Wall Street Journal, in a subscription-only portion of its site, is saying that that Apple CEO Steve Jobs will be present at the announcement in London and that the music will be sold through the iTunes Store and possibly other online outlets. In early February rumblings were heard that EMI was thinking about ditching DRM, but EMI was unable to entice the likes of Apple, Microsoft, and others. As it turned out, EMI wanted a considerable advance payment to offset what it perceived as a risk: selling DRM-free music online. EMI's position was simple: if they sell music without DRM, then users will find trading it that much easier." There's also rumours of an Apple/Beatles announcement sometime today, perhaps tied into this drm decision.
All this removing DRM is fine, but if i download from iTunes, will i be able to drag-drop the same into a Rio?
Or am i still locked into iTunes iPod combination?
I own only an iPod, so i would not notice it even, but for some who own a Rio/some other music player, can i buy from iTunes, and then listen to it on Rio?
If not, then iam moving from a closer jail to a bigger jail.
"Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
EMI's share price has been plummeting for months. My guess is they're desperate to try anything. Hopefully the risk will pay off, but if the share price continues to fall, it won't look encouraging for other record companies. As of this morning they're only up half a percent.
Argh.
I'd consider paying for and downloading DRM-free music, but it sounds pretty risky to me. I know, CDs have no DRM, but we're talking about unprotected digital files here. I think I'm going to need a considerable downpayment to offset the risks, say in the order of a few million US dollars. Anyone else feel they need a downpayment before risking a download? Sounds like Apple's wallet's open.
What about MP3, getting rid of the DRM makes it easier to put on my MP3 player but I'd still rather just buy the damn MP3 VBR format to start with.
I have to say I'm suspicious, I just want to buy the music, I don't want to sign up to a store that may or may not have DRM'd music, I just want to buy a track and know it will be mp3 vbr, with no nasty surprises, and no complicated EULA, and no BITE ME IN THE ASS drm.
Am I asking too much? I have money, real money with no EULA to sign before you take it, it is yours to spend, I'm not claiming any IP rights over this money. You know, you sell me a copy of what I want, I give you money in exchange. Remember the good old days???
If they do announce this, I will go to the iTunes store and buy $50 worth of EMI music this evening. The only way other companies will follow suit is if Apple is telling them that EMI is selling more songs after DRM is removed.
The idea that Apple would sell non-DRMed music is laughable. DRM is what keeps the iTunes locked to iPods, and iPods locked to iTunes. It isn't like Apple has been begging other companies to let them strip the DRM from their products. On the contrary, indie labels that use iTunes have been begging Apple for years to let them sell their music DRM free and Apple has shown absolutely no interest in doing so.
Personally, I call April Fools. The day Apple doesn't try and tie hardware, software, and content all together is the day hell freezes over. If Apple really wanted to strip DRM from some of their music, they would have already done so for the labels that are begging for it.
Probably.
But now that you mention it, sufficently large amounts of EMI would certainly remove DRM from most types of media but this may be in the category of cures which kill the disease and the patient.
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Reuters and the Wall Street Journal are already reporting it.
To all the people who thought Jobs' statement was PR bullshit to deflect criticism and that it "never really intended" to remove any DRM from any of its tracks, will you now go back and eat your words?
All the folks who erroneously expected/thought that Apple should have been able to do this in "2-3 days, tops" on a massive service and infrastructure like iTunes, will you now go back and eat your words?
To all of the people who think Apple can just "flip a switch" for indies, utterly ignoring the fact that there may be other binding legal or contract obligations that need to be ironed out, will you now go back and eat your words?
For the people who ignorantly don't realize that there is a massive support operation behind iTunes, and Apple doesn't want to break things or confuse customers, and wanted to do it right, and wanted to force the labels' hands such that a big one would jump first, will you now go back and eat your words?
I'm willing to wait at least for the official announcement, but since Reuters and the WSJ have already independently reported this, all you naysayers who kept on saying this was just a big PR conspiracy by Apple and they really were oh-so-in-love with DRM and iTunes/iPod lock-in that they'd never remove DRM, you're welcome to use this thread for your apologies.
This, if all the reports really are true (and no, it isn't the result of an April Fool's joke for anyone who still thinks it is), represents the biggest shift in online media since online media itself: the biggest online store, actively willing to sell content without DRM, proving that Apple isn't interested in DRM and did only apply it because of studio demands.
And then, pragmatically getting ALL of the major studios onboard into online sales, working in countless countries and jurisdictions with different legal systems, doing something that no other company had done before, and just biding its time and dropping the no-DRM bombshell in the form of Jobs' statement.
I know people probably won't thank Apple for this, especially the folks who love to hate Apple. But for all of the people who ask "what Apple ever does", or "how do they innovate", here's yet another answer.
On EMI's website....
http://www.emigroup.com/Default.htm
DRM-free downloads: EMI Music launches DRM-free superior sound quality downloads. From 1pm London time there will be a live audio webcast of this announcement.
Press Release here: http://www.emigroup.com/Press/2007/press18.htm
"Who says nothing is impossible? Some people do it every day!" - Alfred E. Neuman
"EMI... Good-bye"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musicians_sig ned_to_EMI
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
.. could you send me a copy to try ;-)
----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
As they've publicly announced, this will hopefully dispel all of the statements that Jobs was full of it and playing games with his opinion piece. Since I have never purchased anything from the iTMS, I have no copy protection. I've loaded files on a Nokia N880 and they play, so they should play on the Rio if AAC is supported.
/. your not alone in that cell however.
As you can export any of your non-DRM music from iTunes, any jail cell you inhabit is of your own making. Apparently, here on
As I write this, the BBC have a "breaking news" article that appears to confirm that EMI are dropping mandatory DRM.
Short version: you will be able to buy DRM-free files, which will cost you more, but will also be of higher quality. You will also be able to upgrade existing DRM'd music to the "premium" DRM-free format for a small fee.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
with their DRM removed, at a price of $1.29/1.29/£0.99. .
Well thank goodness! With DRM (thankfully) dead, I was thinking for a moment there that people would have to start thinking up yet another excuse as to why pirating music was not only ok, but in fact a good thing.
But here's a ready made one! Let the file sharing and self-serving moral posturing continue!
Yes. Because becoming powerful enough to change something from the inside is always the wrong way to go.
Jobs had next to zero leverage when they started the iTunes store, he couldn't get the labels to do spit. Now he's got a bit of flex, and with EMI in his corner he's helped to open up the market to DRM-free major label music downloads. How horrible of him...
Of course, this won't mean anything if the consumers aren't willing to pay extra for their freedom or higher bitrate encodings.
-30-
Please note that the price is still the SAME for albums, but you will get drm-free 256 bit encoded AAC tracks as of May.
This is also a push to help sell albums (which become even cheaper in comparison to individual drm-free tracks). This is inline with the recent iTunes Store "upgrade to album" offer.
USD 1.29 x 12 songs = USD 15.46 as compared to an album price of USD 9.99.
So if I buy 8 songs from an album, it is cheaper to buy the album. This compares to 10 individual tracks from the same album under previous pricing.
Rubies and Pearls are not what you think.
I said Jobs was hypocritical for arguing against DRM while Apple seems happy to dish DRM out to its customers.
You said
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck