Apple thinks it’s got a good thing with its FairPlay DRM — if a record company wants to sell music via the company’s popular iTunes store, it has to agree that the music will be encrypted with the company’s security technology. The upshot for customers is a whole host of restrictions on what theycan do with the music, including limitations that make the music playable only on iPods, blocks on remixing and curbs on how many PCs can play the purchased songs.
Other online music stores use DRM technologies too, but Apple has the lion’s share of the market is a frequent target for criticism from consumer groups, foreign governments and the record companies themselves, although the music industry cares more about Apple’s hardball negotiation tactics than it does about Apple’s DRM.
That’s why it’s interesting that some major record labels are releasing music in unprotected MP3 format. Britain’s EMI Music, for example, has released via Yahoo! songs from top artists Norah Jones and Relient K in the unrestricted format, which means that the music can be played on Apple’s iPod (which captures well over 80% of the portable music player market) without going through iTunes first.
Sony BMG Music Entertainment also tested the sale of selected pop songs in MP3 format this past summer. So far these are just experiments to see what happens if songs are released in unprotected formats, but Apple is bound to be nervous. What happens if the record companies find out they don’t lose any money by setting music free (once it has been purchased, of course, at prices dictated by the record companies and not iTunes)? iTunes, and other online music retailers, could lose their clout — and ability to demand concessions.
Cynthia Brumfield at 7:56 AM|Comments(0)
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