Apple: Drop DRM and We Will Too

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

Today Steve Jobs made the call for the four major record labels to start selling songs online without DRM. These four companies, Vivendi’s Universal Music Group; Sony BMG Music Entertainment; EMI Group; and Warner Music Group, were addressed by Steve Jobs in an open letter, “Thoughts on Music,” on the Apple web site.

Jobs suggested that consumers unhappy with the status quo should urge the world’s four largest labels _ Universal Music Group, EMI, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group _ to sell their online catalogs without the DRM restrictions. Those four labels distribute more than 70 percent of the world’s music.

“Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace,” Jobs wrote. “Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly.” Source: Breitbart.com

We Say: Some of this, undoubtedly, is prompted by the problems Apple is having in Europe, where its dominance and “FairPlay” technology have ended up with “FairPlay” deemed illegal in Norway. However, Norway’s response to the letter was a bit tepid.

While I agree with many of Norway’s points, it’s encouraging to see some sort of statements that might get us to what would eventually be a great world for digital music. On the other hand … I’ll believe it when I see it.