Sony BMG dumps DRM — kinda
p2pnet news | Music:- You knew it had to happen, and it has.
Sony BMG, the last of the Big 4 organised music cartel DRM hold-outs, has finally given in —- but with significant qualifications, and with Amazon coming up as what amounts to the first true corporate music download site.
“Sony BMG will join EMI, Vivendi’s (EPA: VIV) Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group in selling music through Amazon’s MP3 store,” says PaidContent, going on:
“Though none of the labels have abandoned DRM entirely (each is has begun selling unlocked tracks in different ways, though all are now on board to support Amazon’s challenge of iTunes), this from Sony BMG would be indicative of the way the wind is blowing.”
‘Wind’ might better be described as a long, drawn-out fart as Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG struggled to convince users and the media such a thing as DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) consumer control was, or is, possible.
However, as the world knows, anything which can be seen or heard can be copied by various means, a hard and unchangeable reality the music mastodons have been unable to grasp.
“Just two years ago,” PaidContent continues, “the label’s attempts to use rootkit software to control how consumers could play their CDs was lamented as spyware and a security risk.”
Now, “An unnamed Sony BMG exec said the label had experimented with selling DRM-free tracks for less well-known artists for six months” and, “A lot of these tests have led people to believe that maybe this works.”
Nooo. Really?
“The details of Sony BMG’s scheme aren’t finalized just yet, but it’s expected to begin with a promotion (teaming up with Pepsi) during the Super Bowl, beginning on February 3,” says CrunchGear, going on:
“Pepsi will give away some 1 billion songs during the promotion, some of which will be Justin Timberlake ones. (Timberlake is signed to Jive, which is owned by Sony BMG.) These songs will be DRM-free. And then the world will explode.”
Four years ago to the month, Pepsi did a similar Super Bowl promotion with Apple and the Big 4’s RIAA when 16 teenaged RIAA victims appeared in a sick iPod promotion commercial.
DRM, “served mainly to frustrate paying customers, forcing them to degrade the quality of music by first burning it to a CD before uploading it for play on the device of their choosing,” says Business Week, adding:
“Last year, consumers filed several class actions against the major record labels (BusinessWeek.com, 1/5/07) and, in a couple cases, against Apple, for restricting the devices and thereby controlling prices.”
Also see:
PaidContent – Sony BMG Joining Amazon Music Store; Final Major To Try DRM-Free: Report, January 4, 2008
sick iPod promotion commercial – Pepsi-iTunes Super Bowl ad blasted, January 31, 2004
CrunchGear – Sony BMG will drop (some) digital music DRM this year, January 4, 2008
Business Week – Sony BMG Plans to Drop DRM, January 4, 2008
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January 8th, 2008 at 10:13 am
There’s a catch to the Sony/BMG MP3 offer: you cannot directly download
tracks from Amazon.com, etc. You have to visit a retail store to buy a
Platinum MusicPass ($12.99 suggested retail) which contains a secret code
which allows people to buy MP3s from only 37 different albums available
only on the Sony/BMG website.
This is the wrong way to do DRM-free music, and shows just how out of
touch with reality Sony/BMG are.