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Tuesday, 14 August 2007 |
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Universal Music Group tests DRM-less music waters.
Universal Music Group (UMG) has announced that it is continuing the testing of digital sales of tracks and albums without digital rights management (DRM) by making thousands of its albums and tracks available from its digital repertoire in MP3 form without DRM enabling, for a limited time.
The move follows the decision in April of EMI, another of the planet’s music majors, to make its music back catalogue available DRM-free (albeit at a premium) via Apple’s iTunes (click). UMG is not working with iTunes, but with participants that include Google, Wal-Mart, Best Buy Digital Music Store, Rhapsody, Transworld, Passalong Networks, Amazon.com and Puretracks. These will offer downloads to consumers in the DRM-free audio format of their choice in a variety of bit rates. For the most part, the DRM free downloads will be offered at standard wholesale prices.
“Universal Music Group is committed to exploring new ways to expand the availability of our artists’ music online, while offering consumers the most choice in how and where they purchase and enjoy our music,” states Doug Morris, chairman and ceo of UMG. “This test, which is a continuation of a series of tests that UMG began conducting earlier in the year, will provide valuable insights into the implications of selling our music in an open format.”
As UMG’s most comprehensive and extensive testing to date, the experiment will run from August to January and analyse such factors as consumer demand, price sensitivity and piracy in regards to the availability of open MP3s.
Whether this initiative signals the beginning end of DRM restrictions on digital content in general is debatable. Market research house In-Stat is doubtful. Looking at the earlier Apple (and Amazon.com) actions In-Stat suggests that reports of the death of DRM are premature. Instead, says the company, the DRM-free model will likely be viewed as a music industry-only experiment, albeit one that will be closely monitored to see if a viable business model emerges.
“The amount of digital content flowing over telecommunications networks is enormous and growing,” says Mike Paxton, In-Stat analyst. “Much of this content is already protected by some type of DRM or content protection scheme. As the creation of digital content expands, it is, in turn, fueling demand for more DRM solutions and content protection technologies.”
John Williamson |
