“Amazon MP3″ Store Adds DRM-free Warner Music

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

iTunes, Wal-Mart, and Amazon’s “Amazon MP3” service sell DRM-free music downloads, but so far only from EMI (along with a “test” by Universal Music Group). Today Amazon.com announced it has beaten Apple (!) to the punch; it’s signed a deal with Warner Music Group to sell MP3 downloads, giving customers the choice of more than 2.9 Million songs on Amazon MP3.

This is a major coup by Amazon.com, which yesterday announced its best holiday season ever. In a emailed press release, Bill Carr, Amazon.com VP of Digital Music said:

“Our customers are delighted with our DRM-free MP3 service. We have received thousands of emails from our customers since our September launch thanking us for offering the biggest selection of high-quality, MP3 audio downloads which play on virtually any music device they own today or will own in the future. With the addition of great Warner Music Group content, our customers will discover even more of the music they love on Amazon MP3.”

Warner Music Group also chimed in, with Michael Nash, Senior VP, Digital Strategy and Business Development for Warner Music Group said:

“Consumers want flexibility with respect to what they can do with music once they purchase it, and we want them to have that flexibility, which is why we’re pleased to offer our artists’ music on Amazon MP3.”

We Say: Interesting that Warner Music Group would do this, considering their response to Steve Jobs’ call to the major labels to remove DRM from all music: CEO Edgar Bronfman flatly rejected that idea.

Could this be more fallout from the stiff negotiations that media companies are having with Apple over iTunes pricing? After all, Universal’s “test” explicitly excludes iTunes as well, and NBCU’s move away from iTunes shows the displeasure media companies are feeling with Apple.

Note: although Apple sells DRM-free music, it’s in unprotected AAC format, not the more universal MP3 format, which gives Amazon.com and other vendors a major advantage. Of course, iTunes’ market share gives it an even larger advantage.