View this article at: http://dev.macnn.com/articles/07/01/22/music.labels.may.axe.drm
Monday, Jan 22, 2007 4:40pm
Music labels ponder removin...
Major music labels are considering removing the copy protection that currently applies to most online music stores' content, according to a report by the International Herald Tribune. Spokespeople for music organization leaders at the Midem expo in France, while officially dedicated to DRM, said that they were investigating the possibility of releasing vast portions of their music offerings in unprotected MP3 format, pointing to slower growth of online music stores in relation to the drop in physical album sales. Organization leaders said the increased interoperability may actually serve as a benefit rather than a piracy risk. "We could release our products without digital-rights management restrictions on [download stores] in the way that consumers want and still make a lot of money," Consumer Electronics Association head Gary Shapiro told reporters.

While holdouts such as the RIAA defended copy protection by noting that DRM is not inherently opposed to cross-platform support, the trend is increasingly leaning towards unrestricted formats, according to Electronista. The effective implosion of physical music stores in South Korea and similar countries has all but made the distribution of MP3 tracks necessary, while online stores such as VirginMega in France and Yahoo! Music in the U.S. have experimented with releasing some or all of their music in unprotected form. The Western market is generally more resistant to such decisions, but may have little choice should the current model fail to convert dedicated pirates or those resistant to the idea. "The question is what is their level of pain," Yahoo! Music's manager David Goldberg said. "What level of sales decline is needed to take that leap?" Online retailer eMusic recently surprised industry watchers by claiming second place behind iTunes last year despite selling its music solely in high-bitrate MP3 format.