Sony BMG has become the last of the major labels to announce that it will soon start selling downloads without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
DRM is the copyright protection encryption in music downloads that stops the user from distributing the file from one computer or device to another or copy the file to disc.The Sony BMG launch is expected to be around the time of the Super Bowl in February and involve Justin Timberlake as the face of the campaign. In December, Timberlake filmed a television commercial for Pepsi that will air at the Super Bowl. The campaign is expected to involve a 1 billion song freebie.
The turnaround away from DRM is a major move for Sony BMG. This was the company that embedded CDs with DRM in 2005 and crashed consumer computers.
In December, Warner Music chief Edgar Bronfman Jr announced a copyright free deal with Amazon.
The label rethink is expected to have a major impact on Apple's iTunes. iTunes has controlled the majority of digital download sales through its iTunes store for some years now. Apple is estimated to now have 80% of the global download market. The DRM tracks available through Apple restrict purchaser's ability to move the track from device to device and locks the customer into using Apple products.
In the United States last year, more than 60% of the 1.4 billion music items purchased were downloads, which gave Apple an enormous stranglehold over the music industry and evolved the once vital music industry from an album market to a 99c store.
DRM will continue to be used by the music industry. However, the consumer will have more choice for purchases.
One vocal proponent for DRM to be abolished is former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne. At SxSW last year he labeled the technology "silly". He predicted "DRM will go away and people will start to buy downloads. I've brought about 3 tunes from iTunes because it pisses me off," he said.
"Record companies will not become obsolete but they will have to change very quickly," he said.
With the decision from Sony BMG following closely on Warner's move in December and both behind Universal and EMI, Byrne was spot-on.
