Universal, the largest music company in the recording industry, is testing the DRM free waters with a portion of its catalog. From August 21 to January 31 of 2008, UMG will offer mostly its popular content DRM free. The format will be MP3 which can be played on nearly any music device including the iPod ad iPhones and will sell for 99c. RealNetworsk, Bestbuy and Wal-Mart are getting the chance to sell the DRM free music first, not Apple.
According to wikipedia, “Universal Music Group (UMG) is the largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry. With a 25.5% market share, it is one of the Big Four record labels. It belongs to the French conglomerate Vivendi SA.”
The importance of UMG and EMI offering DRM free music is inescapable. If music is sold without restrictions and sells well, then how can print publishers justify selling their products in a crippled fashion?
Via Ars Technica and Teleblog.
Loading ...
Open Threads at Dear Author. Want to know what new releases are out this month and what readers are excited about reading? Check out the threads below. 
We don’t like to censor comments nor do we endorse the comments of any poster. We do reserve the right to moderate comments but most of the time will not, believing, as Justice Brandeis did, that the greater good is in “more speech, not enforced silence.”
