Updated: EMI to Sell Non-DRM Music via iTunes

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EMI is taking software locks off some of its digital music songs sold via download sites. The “premium” versions of EMI tracks will lack the digital locks common to songs available via many online sites.
Link: BBC News

Okay, here we go, first breech in the mainstream wall is here. The EMI Press release has some finer print…

Apple has announced that iTunes will make individual AAC format tracks available from EMI artists at twice the sound quality of existing downloads, with their DRM removed, at a price of $1.29/€1.29/£0.99. iTunes will continue to offer consumers the ability to pay $0.99/€0.99/£0.79 for standard sound quality tracks with DRM still applied. Complete albums from EMI Music artists purchased on the iTunes Store will automatically be sold at the higher sound quality and DRM-free, with no change in the price. Consumers who have already purchased standard tracks or albums with DRM will be able to upgrade their digital music for $0.30/€0.30/£0.20 per track. All EMI music videos will also be available on the iTunes Store DRM-free with no change in price.
Link: EMI Press Release

Let’s not kid ourselves, we’re not where a lot of us want to be. For example, if I ‘voluntarily’ allow DRM to be added to my file, that saves me (ahem) 20p. It remains to be seen if iTunes will promote this option equally. But hey, iTunes are doing variable pricing on a piece of music now.

I will be interested to see where this goes, and what reaction the other industry partners will come up with. If EMI wanted to really shake the core, this would have been a perfect “and one more thing, here come The Beatles, DRM Free, legally.” But that would be asking too much.

Maybe tomorrow.

[Update] Deep in the Apple Press Release on this subject is this quote…

…[said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO]. “We think our customers are going to love this, and we expect to offer more than half of the songs on iTunes in DRM-free versions by the end of this year.”

So if every track that is in the DRM format is also available as a regular .aac file, then that means 50%. Add in the tracks from CD Baby and all the other independents, and you have your ‘more than half’ right there. Is Jobbs saying that he expects teh rest of the majors to follow EMI’s lead? Looks like it