14 DAY TRIAL // Steve Jobs has really set the music industry aflame with his public statements last week and now, apart from rejecting it as they would have done before such a declaration, the big 4, the major records companies seem to be setting on a non-DRM trend.
While the public has disagreed with the DRM restrictions from the very beginning, the big 4 have kept their demands that iTunes and eMusic sold online DRM-protected tracks only. As you already know, a song you've downloaded from iTunes won't play buy on an iPod and this was the main cause of discomfort when it all came to protecting the musical content by means of Digital Rights Management.
Even if there is no actual official position regarding the ban of DRM from EMI's policy, the company has "made some experiments" and during the last months has released DRM-free tracks from Norah Jones, Lilly Allen and Reliant K. Jeanne Meyer, the EMI spokesman has revealed that this experiment has produced a very good and massive flow of positive response from the general public and it has also added a proof that DRM-free music really has a legal future.
Despite this, when asked, Ms. Meyer refused to comment of the further development of such corporate behavior yet her answer sounded somehow like a very discrete innuendo that EMI could reject DRM for good. Now, why would EMI "test" DRM-free music-selling and state publicly that "the results of those experiments were very positive, and the fan feedback has been very enthusiastic"?
I really don't buy the "yeah, we tested it and saw it's OK, but we don't know what we will do from now on" thing; "testing" and "experimenting", especially when successful, usually mean that the things "tested and experimented" are to become reality in the near future. Anonymous individuals inside EMI have declared that the company is set onto first seeing what the offers will be and the future direction will be judged upon the offers being made. Music retailers have been asked to make offers regarding the size of advanced payments due for selling EMI-owned music in the MP3 format. Today (Tuesday, February 13th) these offers should come in and the new policies could catch a clearer shape.
Yahoo Music and eMusic have already made public statements in favor of the DRM being dumped and the estimations reach up to an explosive 20% more music sold via different online specialized services. More voices claim that the record companies should stop thinking about the music piracy as everybody who wants to pirate some music has already done so or will surely do so; they say that the (honest) paying customer is the one who must be targeted and cared for because he is the one who is spending the pennies on music.
Now, I can't but rejoice seeing EMI making steps (even if they are small) towards a totally free music market with no restrictions and which will also set companies on equal footing much to artists' and customers' benefit.
